Bishop Kukah berates Buhari over Nigeria’s worsening insecurity
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, on Saturday blasted the President Muhammadu Buhari administration for what he considered as the poor handling of the security challenges of Nigeria.
Kukah threw the bombshell in a Christmas Message titled: “A Nation Still In Search of Truth & Vindication.”
He charged Buhari and his government to move quickly “before Arewa descends into Arewanistan, adding that the President owed Nigerians explanations on the rising kidnappings and killings in Nigeria.
The term “Arewanistan” was coined to remind Nigerians of the August takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, a development that forced more than 30 million Afghans to join President Ashraf Ghani to flee the landlocked South Asian country.
The clerk also berated Christians and others in the North for faulting him when he raised the alarm about the odious state of insecurity in the region.
He said, “At about this time last year when I raised the alarm about the perilous state of affairs in northern Nigeria, all kinds of accusations were levelled against me especially by my northern brethren. When the Catholic Bishops protested openly against the killings of our people in March 2020, we were accused of acting against the government with religious motives being imputed to our noble intentions. Now, we are fully in the grip of evil.
“Today, a feeling of vindication only saddens me as I have watched the north break into a cacophony of quarrelsome blame games over our tragic situation. A catalogue of unprecedented cruelty has been unleashed on innocent citizens across the northern states.
In their sleep, on their farmlands, in their markets, or even on the highway, innocent citizens have been mowed down and turned into burnt offerings to gods of evil. Communities have been turned into gulags of misery, death, pain, and perfidy. We must move quickly before Arewa, our beloved Arewa, descends into Arewanistan!.
“The silence of the federal government only feeds the ugly beast of complicity in the deeds of these evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of our children.
“Every day, we hear of failure of intelligence, yet those experts who provide intelligence claim that they have always done their duty diligently and efficiently. Does the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria not believe that he owes parents and citizens answers as to where our children are and when they are coming home?
“Does the President of Nigeria not owe us an explanation and answers as to when the abductions, kidnappings, brutal, senseless, and endless massacres of our citizens will end? When will our refugees from Cameroon, Chad, or Niger return home? We need urgent answers to these questions.”
