The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has submitted that the Catholic Arc. Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah should be arrested for statements capable of inciting violence.
The AYCF in a statement by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, on Monday said Kukah’s statement is capable of destabilizing Nigeria and shouldn’t be treated with mild hands.
The Northern youth group further lashed out at the cleric, urging him to join a political party if he is interested in contesting the 2023 presidential elections rather than use the privilege of the pulpit to push his views and opinions.
The group noted that Kukah’s message is an attempt to use “nepotism as weapon of calumny against government and people of Nigeria,” and therefore urged the federal government to place him on a security watch list.
The AYCF statement noted in part that Kukah tried to “set the South against the North in order to destabilize our country and further complicate matters.”
It added that “Kukah’s latest role in devil’s advocacy, as the North struggles to restore peace and enduring security in the region and indeed Nigeria.”
And therefore warned that “such a reckless statement by Kukah betrays something much more sinister against both the North and the nation as a whole because Nigeria is at a stage that it requires responsible advice for attaining peace and stability, not deliberate attempt to mischievously compound our problems.
“If Kukah wants to play politics, he should not do so in the pulpit and he should keep the Bishop’s office aside and chose any Nigerian political party platform to contest President in 2023 and stop all the pretences.”
Shettimah also submitted that nobody should be allowed to threaten Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy, saying “We will not allow opportunists who did make any contribution to scuttle the democracy achieved through the our sweat and toil and the sacrifice of our liberty.”
Meanwhile, the Catholic Church has described those attacking and calling for the arrest of the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Most Reverend Father Mathew Hassan Kukah, as agents of evil.
Bibian Anekwe News reports that the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese while delivering his Christmas message accused President Buhari of nepotism and incompetence.
He also faulted the Nigerian leader for failing to solve the insecurity situation in the country. The clergyman opined that all that Buhari has done would have led to a coup had it been he was not from the north.
