Bishop
Kukah has expressed doubts about the future of Nigeria in the current
administration of President Muhammadu Buhari over recent religious
crisis.
Matthew Kukah
Matthew Kukah, Catholic arch-bishop of Sokoto diocese, says though he is an optimist, he has never “been as unsure about the future of this country as I am now", according to TheCable.
Speaking on Thursday at the launch of a book, ‘Religion and the
making of Nigeria’, Kukah said Nigeria may not be able to stop killings
because it has not been able to separate criminality from religion.
He also lamented that the Buhari administration had not been able to deliver on his promises.
“As a Nigerian and a citizen, I have always been an incurable
optimist. But I have never been as unsure about the future of this
country as I am now,” Kukah said.
“People say they are killing for religion, but intentions are
not enough. As it is, we may never be able to prosecute anybody because
we have not been able to separate criminality from religion. In Nigeria,
we have a feeling that somehow, people can genuinely kill in the name
of religion.
“I think that unless Nigeria as a country is prepared to make
laws and ensure that all citizens live by same and be answerable by the
same law, what we are witnessing is a symptom, not the disease. The
creeping inequalities, the inability of this system to deliver has made
us uncomfortable.
“The point, therefore, is not for us to keep praying. Should
religion lead to the un-making of Nigeria? The answer is ‘No’. But the
government of Nigeria should separate religion from politics and
economics and let everybody make his claims.”
The 336-page book launched was written by Olufemi Vaughan, a
professor for Africana Studies and History at Bowdoin College, in the
US.
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