Islamic cleric threatens Kukah with crucifixion

An Islam cleric in Sokoto has warned the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, to stop challenging the Nigerian government or risk being crucified.

In a video online, Mallam Abubakar Malami, during a sermon, said if Kukah continues challenging the government, the bishop will be crucified and there will be no one to stop it.

“Matthew Hassan Kukah is already cursed by Allah. Therefore, if Kukah challenges the government, he will be crucified. We will not listen to anybody when we are crucifying him, not the government, not even the Sultan of Sokoto,” the preacher said.

Malami’s video joins the list of growing angry responses to Kukah’s Christmas Day message which accused President Muhammadu Buhari of nepotism—populating his government with Muslims and northerners. He added a coup would have happened had the president come from another region with a different faith.

It was the Muslim Rights Concern that first responded, describing Kukah as anti-Islam and political.

Similarly, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), headed by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, had attacked Kukah for allegedly denigrating Islam and Muslims.

The organisation described the message as a calculated attempt to insult Islam.

JNI, in a statement in Kaduna by its Secretary-General, Dr. Khalid Abubakar Aliyu, said the bishop “should not take Muslims kindness for timidity or foolishness.”

It said despite the status of Sokoto to Muslims and Islamic history, Kukah was warmly welcomed, accepted, accommodated and accorded respect deserving of his position as a religious leader.

“The bishop’s statement was a prepared address considering the occasion and the audience, one cannot but agree that it was a calculated attempt to insult Islam, which is typical of him,” he said.

“How can the Muslims continue to be hospitable to the one who proves to be ingrate many times over?

The Muslim Solidarity Forum also asked Kukah to tender an unreserved apology to the entire Muslim Ummah over his recent “malicious comments” against Islam or leave Sokoto.

The Catholic bishop has however insisted he was misquoted.

Malami’s threat was coming on the heels of the presidency warning MSF has no right to threaten anybody’s freedom of movement.