Kukah, like Achebe, blames Nigeria leaders who feast on national fault lines
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Matthew Kukah – Nigeria’s conscience who refuses to be silenced by Muhammadu Buhari – has reiterated, as Chinua Achebe did, that the core of the national problem is not just bad leadership but one that exploits fault lines to make Nigeria worse.
“The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership,” Achebe thundered in The Trouble With Nigeria, a classic he published in 1984 when Buhari was military Head of State.
Achebe spoke the minds of Kukah and several others in the frontline of agitation for justice, fairness, equity, and good governance when the book was published nearly four decades ago.
And the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese repeated the truth on Monday, saying Nigerian leaders are not just irresponsible, they pour fuel on tribal and religious chasms to divide and rule people, including Christians and Muslims.
He explained on TVC News Breakfast Show that the problem of Nigeria is irresponsible leaders who use religion as a tool of oppression, not of liberation.
This happens in the North where political and religious leaders use Muslims to oppress Christians, which opens the eyes to how a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket will cause Islam to dominate Nigeria – hence Christians oppose the ticket.
“There is no problem between Christians and Muslims. There is a problem with irresponsible leaders who don’t want to govern properly, irresponsible religious leaders who have now seen religion as a tool of oppression, instead of a tool for liberation, Kukah said.
“This has been the thrust of my argument because these are two areas of study. With all sense of modesty, I have spent a good part of my life studying theology and studying religion and society.”
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Related articles:
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Buhari as mini antiChrist wasting Nigeria
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Nigeria proves itself incompetent
Speaking on the roles of religion and ethnicity in Nigerian politics, Kukah said the country has failed at governance that puts the welfare of citizens above everything else, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“If you are watching a football match or any game at all, that’s why there are referees.
“If the referee does not do what needs to be done and allows supporters to jump onto the field, you can see for yourself that referees are punishing coaches who overreach themselves by stepping even if it is just one inch, into the field. They are punished; sometimes they are taken off the pitch.
“Now, this is really what a state is supposed to be, because, without the state, it will be all of us against each other. And that is why the state is called a leviathan. You put so much power so that the state can protect us.
“The Nigerian state has proved itself to be incompetent, grossly malfunctioning, unwilling to commit to the welfare of citizens as the principal basis of governance.”
Kukah urged citizens to carry a ‘Nigeria land’ mentality, which presupposes the knowledge of shared interests, lamenting the current system is only about politics, not science.