Mind Your Utterances, FG Warns Religious Leaders

The Federal Government, on Saturday, warned religious leaders in Nigeria to refrain from adding fuel or encouraging hatred and disunity in the country. The government in a reference to the Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Archbishop Kukah consequently warned that resorting to military strategy at this time could trigger unintended consequences. It was reported Archbishop Kukah had, in his 2020 Christmas message titled ‘A nation in search of vindication,’ accused the President, Muhammadu Buhari of nepotism. Kukah had said, “Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non Northern Muslim president could have done a fraction of what President Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it. There would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will do nothing and will live with these actions. He may be right and we, Christians, cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to draw from. However, God does not sleep. We can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North.” But the Minister of Information and Culture, on Saturday warned Kukah to desist from fanning the embers of disharmony. According to him, it would be “particularly graceless and impious for any religious leader to use the period of Christmas, which is a season of peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife and national disunity.” He added “Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically elected government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a particular region as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace.” The minister stressed that instigating regime change outside the ballot box is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.