Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has fired back at bishop of Sokoto Catholic diocese, Mathew Kukah over his comment about President Buhari.
Recall that the Catholic Bishop who alleged that President Buhari is nepotistic, also averred that there would have been a coup if a non-northern Muslim president tried a fraction of what Buhari did. He accused Buhari of institutionalising northern hegemony by “reducing others in public life to second-class status”.
Reacting to this, Mohammed insinuated that Kukah was instigating regime change outside the ballot box which is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.
He added that while religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to power, such truth must not come “wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity and religious disharmony”. The Minister further stated that the challenges Nigeria may be going through at this moment can only be tackled when all leaders and indeed all Nigerians come together, not when some people “arrogantly” engage in name-calling and finger-pointing.
The statement read;
“The Federal Government has urged religious leaders in the country to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity, warning that resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric at this time could trigger unintended consequences.
“It is 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.
”Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a particular religion as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace.
“Instigating regime change outside the ballot box is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.
“While some religious leaders, being human, may not be able to disguise their national leadership preference, they should refrain from stigmatizing the leader they have never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever.”
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