The Arch Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has knocked President Muhammadu Buhari over the increase of insecurity in the nation.
The cleric in his Easter message on Sunday, mentioned that the Buhari-led administration has polarised the nation into ethnic and religious lines and has slid into hibernation mode.
Kukah said the country had been divided by politicians and evildoers who do to want the country to grow and develop, adding that it seems like the presidency does not know that Nigeria is troubled.
He asserted that the greatest challenge for Nigeria was not even the 2023 general elections, but the process of reconstructing the nation and reconciling the people.
He said: “The real challenge is how to find the slippery rungs on the ladder of ascent so we can climb out. Yet, we ask, ascend to where? For us as Christians, the ascent is to the loving embrace of the resurrected Christ who is Lord of history.
“The government has slid into hibernation mode. It is hard to know whether the problem is that those in power do not hear, see, feel, know, or just don’t care. Either way, from this crossroad, we must make a choice, to go forward, turn left or right or return home. None of these choices are easy, yet, guided by the light of the risen Christ, we can reclaim our country from its impending slide to anarchy.
“Here, the Buhari administration sadly has divided our people on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and region, in a way that we have never witnessed in our history. This carefully choreographed agenda has made Nigerians vulnerable and ignited the most divisive form of identity consciousness among our people.“
Kukah said there was the need to start thinking of a Nigeria beyond banditry and kidnapping and the endless circles of violence that had engulfed the nation.
He added: “We cannot continue to pretend that there are no religious undertones to the violence in the name of God that has given our religions a bad name. The way out is for the state to enforce the secular status of the Nigerian state so as to give citizens the necessary freedoms from the shackles of semi-feudal confusion over the status of religion and the state in a plural Democracy.
“We must be ready to embrace modernity and work out how to preserve our religions and cultures without turning religion into a tool for tyranny, exclusion, and oppression.
“In finding our way forward, the President must concede that it is within his powers to decide how we are going to end the war that has engulfed and is tearing down our nation. It seems that the federal government has shown far greater commitment to integrating so-called repentant terrorists than getting our children back from kidnappers or keeping our universities open.
