Father Kukah, FG at war

“It 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”.

Information Minister Lai Mohammed said the Dec 26, following the news of a statement credited to Catholic Bishop Father Matthew Hassan Kukah who said there should have been a military coup or war in Nigeria because President Muhammadu Buhari jobbed in northern Muslims alone into his government..

In a statement titled ‘FG Urges Religious Leaders To Eschew Message of Disharmony’, Mohammed  also warned religious leaders in the country to “refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity” which could “trigger unintended consequences”.

Kukah, in Christmas homily, had hinted God is now fighting for the Christians.

“He may be right and we Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to draw from or threaten our country. However, God does not sleep. We can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North,” he said.

But the federal government fired back.

“While some religious leaders, being human, may not be able to disguise their national leadership preference, they should refrain from stigmatising the leader they have never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever,” Mohammed further stated.

The information minister advised that whatever 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.