The Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU) has asked the Nigerian government to arrest members of an Islamic group based in Sokoto, Muslim Forum, for issuing a threat to Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah over his Christmas Day homily.
SOKAPU’s National President, Jonathan Asake, at a world press conference in Kaduna, said the Forum’s threat puts the life of Bishop Kukah at risk.
Asake warned that since nobody has the monopoly of violence, SOKAPU would not take it kindly should any harm befall the Catholic bishop.
Asake wondered why the presidency feels at home with criticism coming from only the likes of the Sultan, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, and emirs from the core north but becomes offended when the critics are from the middle belt and the Southern part of the country.
According to Asake, there was nothing different in Kukah’s sermons that had not been said by prominent Nigerians such as the Sultan.
He cited how the comments of former Minister of Defence, TY Danjuma, and the former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, were treated as treason simply because it came from the group the presidency sees as ‘second class citizens.’
“It appears to us, therefore, that comments by Nigerians attract different reactions from the government, depending on the region, ethnicity, and religion of the person making such comments.
“It’s sad to note that when persons of core Northern extraction criticize the government; they are taken as kind words, but when the same statements are made by people of Southern or Middle Belt extractions; they are harassed and tormented and their comments branded as treasonable by the government.
“This discriminatory posture of government clearly shows that the Buhari-led administration treats Nigerian citizens differently; some as first-class and others considered as second class.