By Emma Ogbuehi
Apparently miffed at the prevailing injustice in the country, 50 years after the civil war, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has observed that the wounds of the war are yet to heal. Kukah made the startling disclosure at a zoom meeting organized by Dele Momodu of the Ovation Magazine and Mazi Ezeoke. Speaking on the theme: The Second never again conference: 51 years after Nigerian-Biafran Civil war, the Bishop, advised Nigerians to compile a history of the country, noting that knowing the history will lessen the taste for violence.
Kukah highlighted, poor economic policies, insecurity and poor education/health systems as issues bedeviling the country and advised the current administration to fix them. “We are failing in almost all the sectors. We must stand up and fix them”.
He stressed that everyone should be blamed for the ills plaguing the country, adding that it requires collective efforts to salvage the situation on ground. “If we are saying NEVER AGAIN, we must identify some fundamental issues. We must have our history written down or acted as a movie. We must understand the role of religion in Nigeria. The issue of consequentiality should also be of great essence. There should be consequences for good and bad behavior”, he said.
The Bishop has been on the news lately following a Christmas message in which he criticised President Muhammadu Buhari for not presenting Nigerians with purposeful leadership. On the strength of his remarks, some Muslim groups had accused him of attacking Islam, insisting that must render apology of leave Sokoto. The cleric has however challenged any of his critics to point out anywhere in his speech where he denigrated Islam. None had done so, before the presidency waded in, stating that he should be left alone.
