*Muslim coalition, others condemn attacks on Bishop
• Muslim professionals say cleric’s sermon timely call for good leadership
- The bishop simply spoke the truth to Buhari, it declares • ‘Nigeria will be great if it has three persons like Kukah’
- Muslim group flays marginalisation of the Igbo
- SOKAPU chides Arewa youths for seeking Kukah’s arrest
Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Sokoto Catholic Archdiocese., yesterday, responded to attacks on him over his Christmas Day message, urging Nigerians to ignore the lie against him.
He disclosed this in a chat with journalists yesterday, and asked Nigerians to dwell on the statement he made, not on lies against him, He explained that his message, titled ‘Another Christmas with Dark Clouds of Death,’ was based on his love for the country without any political or ulterior motive.
On the attacks on him, he said he was pained that his critics had failed to see that many innocent lives were being lost on daily basis and had failed to show concern for the loss of lives in the last ten years, even before the advent of this administration.
He said: “The reactions are a reflection of every citizen that make up Nigeria. It is sad that when you drop something in Nigeria, everybody goes back to their enclave and abandons the larger picture. I am someone who never takes offense to what people say about me.
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“What I said was my opinion based on evidence and what has happened in Nigeria, and if you looked into the records, there is evidence that justifies that statement, and if anyone thinks I am wrong, they should come out with a superior position.”
He described as unfair news reports that he called for a coup while expressing his personal view about Nigeria.
To those calling him to drop his priesthood cassock and join the political fray, Kukah said if he was to join politics, it would have been during the time of the late Aminu Kano and not now.
He said: “I have no plan and will never play partisan politics for any reason. Those who link my message to partisan politics are only playing to the gallery.”
He argued that his views on governance and politics would not make him a politician, saying: “Take, for instance, brilliant Nigerian youths making comments about Chelsea or Arsenal and have never been to England, does that make them players of such club sides?”
He argued that people who called him a politician because of his comments on governance were totally ignorant of elementary politics and the role of a priest.
“Whatever I said can please or displease anyone, but that is my own. I have no problem with Muslims, Christians, or any other religion but what I don’t like is when someone is using a religious issue to play politics, it is wrong.”
The Guardian
