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Tag: Matthew Kukah

  • Presidency accuses Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings

    Presidency accuses Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings

    The Presidency on Monday told the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, to leave government to the voters and the politicians they elect, while he concentrates on his job, “as it is expressed in James 1:27″.

     

    Last Sunday, Kukah, in his Easter message, spoke at length about Nigeria and lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari administration over security challenges, corruption and disunity being witnessed in the country, quoting verses in the Bible.

     

    The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the Presidency’s position known in a statement titled ‘Kukah’s virus of hate.’

     

    Quoting different biblical passages, the presidential spokesman faulted the bishop, saying “from his pulpit, he devoted his Easter message not to Christ’s death and rebirth so man might be saved – but to damning the government in the most un-Christian terms.”

     

    While accusing Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings, Shehu said Easter should be a time for renewal, and for hope and “not a time for religious leaders to play politics, or politicians to play religion.”

     

    He added, “Nigeria knows too well Bishop Kukah’s views of the government. He has made quite clear how much he dislikes them from the day they were elected.

     

    “Whether expressing his political views is a good use or an abuse of religious office is for others to decide. But the people of Nigeria have spoken- twice: they support this government at the ballot box. They have not been swayed by hateful talk from any bully-pulpit.

     

    “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

  • 2022 Easter message by Bishop Matthew Kukah

    2022 Easter message by Bishop Matthew Kukah

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, did not mince words during his Easter message as he lampooned President Muhammadu Buhari administration of having shown far greater commitment to integrating so-called repentant terrorists than getting school children and thousands of others back from kidnappers or keeping Nigerian universities open.

    Homes are broken. Churches, Mosques, and infrastructure are broken. Our educational system is broken. Our children’s lives and future are broken. Our politics is broken. Our economy is broken. Our energy system is broken. Our security system is broken. Our Roads and Rails are broken. Only corruption is alive and well

     

    His message, where he accused the President of having broken every aspect of Nigerians’ lives, was entitled, “To MEND A BROKEN NATION: THE EASTER METAPHOR.” It was dated April 17.

     

    It reads in full:

    Hello brothers and sisters in Christ, men and women of goodwill everywhere, I send you hearty greetings and felicitations as we celebrate the risen Christ. Easter is here again. For all Christians, Easter is a metaphor for our lives as individuals, families, communities or nations.

     

    Easter is a metaphor for how shame, scandal, powerlessness, weakness, and opprobrium suddenly transform into glory, honour, pre-eminence, laudation and applause.

    The real challenge before us now is to look beyond politics and face the challenge of forming character and faith in our country

    It is a fulfillment of what the Master himself had foretold when He said, ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (Jn. 12: 24). And the Psalmist had said, ‘Those who sow in tears will sing when they reap.’ (Ps. 126:5).

     

    The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are central to the Christian faith and yet, as St Paul said, ‘We preach Christ crucified, a scandal to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles’ (1 Cor. 1: 23). St Paul continues: ‘What seems to be God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength’ (1 Cor. 1:25).

     

    Without the claims of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, millions of people would be Christian today. As with the times of Jesus, the very idea is preposterous and incomprehensible yet St. Paul still insists that ‘If Christ has not been raised, then our faith is a delusion and we are still in our sins’ (1 Cor. 15:17). It is faith in the resurrection of Christ that inspires us Christians to hold firmly to the fact that, like the people of Israel, our dry bones shall rise again (Ez. 37: 11).

    As a priest, I cannot be against a repentant sinner or criminals changing their ways

    Our dear country, Nigeria, still totters and wobbles as we screech towards a dangerous and avoidable canyon of dry bones. Nonetheless, we still cling to hope, a hope in the resurrected Christ, knowing as St. Paul said, ‘this hope does not disappoint us’ (Rm.5:5).

     

    Nigerians can no longer recognise their country which has been battered and buffeted by men and women from the dark womb of time. It is no longer necessary to ask how we got here. 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, ascent is to the loving embrace of the resurrected Christ who is Lord of history.

    It is hard to know whether the problem is that those in power do not hear, see, feel, know, or just don’t care

    One would be tempted to ask, what is there to say about our tragic situation today that has not been said? Who is there to speak that has not spoken? Like the friends of Job, we stare at an imponderable tragedy as the nation unravels from all sides. 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.

     

    The greatest challenge now is how to begin a process of reconstructing our nation hoping that we can hang on and survive the 2023 elections. The real challenge before us now is to look beyond politics and face the challenge of forming character and faith in our country.

    The greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections

    Here, leaders of religion, Christianity and Islam, need to truthfully face the role of religion in the survival of our country. The Nigerian Constitution has very clearly delineated the fine boundaries between religion and politics. Yet many politicians continue to behave as if they are presiding over both the political and the spiritual realms in their states rather than governing in a Democracy.

     

    This conflict between Caesar and God is inbuilt in faith and is part of world history. Many religious leaders often measure their power by how close they are to Caesar, yet Caesar’s embrace is often full of thorns. The challenge is for the religious leader to know that both Caesar and those he represents are answerable to God who created them.

     

    The welfare of citizens constitutes the cornerstone for measuring the legitimacy of any political leader. As such, religious leaders must focus more on the issues of welfare, safety and security of ordinary citizens. They must raise their voice when these rights are being trampled upon. A leader must know when to call Caesar a fox and not a horse (Lk. 13:32).

    We cannot continue to pretend that there are no religious undertones to the violence

    The greatest challenge for Nigeria is not even the 2023 elections. It is the prospect for the reconciliation of our people. 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. Years of friendships, cultural exchange, and collaboration built over time have now come under serious pressure from stereotyping. Notwithstanding these challenges, religious leaders must recover and deploy their moral authority and avoid falling victim to the schemes of politicians and their material enticements.

     

    Today, the values of Interfaith dialogue have come under severe strain and pressure with extremists from both sides of our faiths denigrating the idea of dialogue with their counterparts of other faiths. Ignorance and miseducation have combined with prejudice to create the falsehood that somehow, one religion is superior to the others. With so many ill equipped fraudsters posing as religious leaders, there is an obsession with defaming others and widening our differences.

     

    Religious leaders must face the reality that here in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world, millions of people are leaving Christianity and Islam. While we are busy building walls of division with the blocks of prejudice, our members are becoming atheists but we prefer to pretend that we do not see this. We cannot pretend not to hear the footsteps of our faithful who are marching away into atheism and secularism. No threats can stop this, but dialogue can open our hearts.

     

    Thank God, in the last few years, we have had some good news from outside the shores of Nigeria. The most noteworthy is the initiative undertaken by both Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, Egypt, Shaikh Mohammed Al-Tayeb in 2019, when both of them met and signed the Document on Human Fraternity.

    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

    Pope Francis followed up with the publication of an Encyclical titled, Fratelli Tutti, We are all Brothers, in 2020. The following year, the United Nations’ General Assembly declared February 4, World Day of Fraternity. Both leaders agreed that: ‘We need to develop the awareness that nowadays, we are either all saved together or no one is saved. Poverty, decadence, and suffering in one part of the earth are a silent breeding ground for problems that will end up affecting our entire planet.’

     

    We need to start thinking of a Nigeria beyond banditry and kidnapping and the endless circles of violence that have engulfed our communities and nation. 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.

    It speaks volumes when the President and his military hierarchy choose to believe these young men who took up arms

    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.

     

    Earlier last month, Operation Safe Corridor announced that it had graduated 599 members of various terrorist groups who have acquired new skills and are now ready to be integrated into society.

     

    The total comes to over a thousand now. It is plausible to note that the programme involves psycho-social support, rehabilitation, vocational training, skill acquisition and start-ups. Despite all this, the larger issue is that their various communities have expressed their reluctance to receive their erring sons back.

     

    Nigerians have no access to the transcripts of the texts of the confessions of these terrorists not to talk of evidence of their commitment to not sin again. We have only the words of the terrorists and the same military that they have been fighting a war with.

    Are we to assume that they (terrorists) have become acknowledged models for Nigerian youth?

    It speaks volumes when the President and his military hierarchy choose to believe these young men who took up arms and for years waged war against their country, killed, maimed and wasted thousands of lives, destroyed entire communities and now, they are being housed, fed, clothed with public funds. All this while their victims have been forced to make the various IDP camps their new homes! Where is the justice for the victims and the rest of the country they have destroyed?

     

    As a priest, I cannot be against a repentant sinner or criminals changing their ways. After all, the doors of forgiveness must always remain open. However, in this case, Nigerians have very little information as to the entire rehabilitation processes. Have these terrorists felt the heat or have they seen the light or, is their repentance a mere strategic and tactical repositioning? So far, we have no evidence that these terrorists have been able to confront their victims not to talk of seeking forgiveness from them.

     

    Something is wrong. We see these terrorists adorned in our national colours in their green and white kaftans, trousers, and looking like heroes of the state! Are we to assume that they have become acknowledged models for Nigerian youth? Perhaps the next graduating set might be treated to Presidential handshakes, receptions at the villa with full national colours!

     

    Only last week, as if in delayed solidarity, the Jama’atu Nasril Islam, JNI, in a Statement stated that: ‘It appears that the continuous callous acts of mayhem, killings and arson happening almost on daily or weekly bases around us; either within communities or on the roads we ply, has automatically reset our human psyche that we now have accepted such dastardly acts as part of our lives, to the extent that we no longer feel it.

    Our humanity is being eroded and that erosion is becoming a new normal

    Any government that is incapable of protecting the lives of its citizens has lost the moral justification of being there in the first place. Our humanity is being eroded and that erosion is becoming a new normal. Similarly, the Northern Elders Forum, NEF, and the House of Representatives have finally called on the President to resign since, in their view, it is now clear that he cannot protect his citizens. This has come three years after the Catholic Bishops’ Statement issued on April 26th, 2018 made the same call that was greeted with cynicism.

     

    The challenge of fixing this broken nation is enormous and, as I have said, requires joint efforts. With everything literally broken down, our country has become one big emergency national hospital with full occupancy. Our individual hearts are broken. Our family dreams are broken.

    The next President of Nigeria must be a man or woman with a heart, a sense of empathy and a soul on fire

    Homes are broken. Churches, Mosques, and infrastructure are broken. Our educational system is broken. Our children’s lives and future are broken. Our politics is broken. Our economy is broken. Our energy system is broken. Our security system is broken. Our Roads and Rails are broken. Only corruption is alive and well. So, we ask with the Psalmist, We look up to the hills, from where shall come our help? Our help shall come from the name of the Lord (Ps. 121:2).

     

    2023 beckons and the stage is set. The challenge is whether we have learnt any lessons from the tragedy that has afflicted us in the last few years. The Presidency of Nigeria is not a human right based on ethnic, religious or regional sentiments.

     

    The next President of Nigeria must be a man or woman with a heart, a sense of empathy and a soul on fire that can set limits to what human indignities visited on citizens that he or she can tolerate. We have no need for any further empty messianic rhetoric laced with deceitful and grandiose religiosity. We need someone who can fix our broken nation, rid our people of the looming dangers of hunger and destitution.

     

    Our Presidential aspirants must show evidence from their legacies and antecedents that they know the country well enough and its severe wounds. Whoever wants to govern us must illustrate that he or she understands what has turned our nation into a national hospital and show us plans for our discharge from this horror. Support for INEC and its infrastructure is fundamental to a free and fair election and we condemn in very strong terms all those criminals who continue to threaten the society with violence. They should meet the full force of the law.

     

    I thank the President for accepting the report of the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy and granting pardon to over 150 Nigerians serving various terms of imprisonment. The more serious challenge is to immediately free all innocent Nigerians who are held captive and whose only crime is that they are living in Nigerians.

    We Christians believe that to redeem the world, Christ allowed His body to be broken. We know He can heal our broken nation

    With the news of the purchase of new sophisticated weapons, we hope that the President and the military will quickly roll out a strategy for routing this cancer that has afflicted our country. The general feeling is that the military has the capacity to end this tragedy. In reality, the military cannot fire beyond the radar set by their commander-in-chief. If the President can end this tragedy, he will immediately get the support of all citizens and hopefully leave office with his head held high.

     

    We cannot end this Message without sparing a thought for the untold sufferings being experienced by the people of Ukraine as a result of the invasion of their country by Russia. We turn in prayer to the Lord to touch the hearts and minds of those in power and in position to reverse this avoidable loss of human lives. May the spirit of the resurrected Christ and the appeals of all men and women of good will help to bring an end to this human tragedy.

     

    Finally, in the last few years, my Messages have been borne out of a sense of moral revulsion over how life has been destroyed in my country. No country anywhere in the world is undergoing these self-inflicted wounds, citizens randomly murdering innocent citizens and getting away with it. For me as a Christian, there is a minimum threshold of human indignity that I can live with because the reason why Jesus came is so that all of us will have life and have it to the full (Jn. 10:10).

     

    We must shout at what diminishes any and every life in our society. Once human dignity is respected and restored, we will change our tone, but for now, our voice must have a sense of urgency. We Christians believe that to redeem the world, Christ allowed His body to be broken. We know He can heal our broken nation. May the light of His resurrection scatter the clouds and rout the men of evil, inspire a new birth in our dear nation and restore us to wholeness. A happy Easter to you all.

  • Constitution amendment: Kukah frowns at NASS

    Constitution amendment: Kukah frowns at NASS

    Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto says there is nothing wrong with women requesting to have more of them in government and in political offices for social, economic development of the country.

    He said this on Saturday in Abuja in a keynote address he read at the Lux Terra Foundation Book Festival and the unveiling of seven books by Rev Fr George Ehusani.

    Recall that some Nigerian women had on March 3 protested against the rejection of pro-equality bills by the National Assembly (NASS).

    The women, who converged on the entrance of the National Assembly in Abuja, demonstrated against parliamentary votes which discarded five bills that were meant to grant more autonomy to Nigerian women.

    The bishop said it was not fair for the role of women not to be recognised in the country.

    He said, ”For me, I don’t mind the quota the women are demanding and asking for; but if for any reason such request will be granted, such positions should be rotated and not given to the same known women who had ruled before or who have continued to take the space.”

    He advised women not to give up on their struggles as they were well recognised and appreciated, urging them to keep up the good works they have always been doing in helping to build society.

    The bishop also commended Fr George Ehusani for his good work of contributing toward reviving the reading culture in Nigeria, adding that the book launch was initiated to bridge the identified reading gap among school pupils too.

    He, however, maintained that the reading abilities of children would greatly improve if they had role models to look up to.

    Kukah said that children should have role models that would guide them on how to pronounce words correctly, read books and think critically for a better country.

  • Catholic Church refutes DSS’s invitation to Bishop Kukah

    Catholic Church refutes DSS’s invitation to Bishop Kukah

    The Catholic Diocese of Sokoto State has refuted claims that Bishop of the Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah was invited by the the Department of State Service (DSS).

    Director Social Communication, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto State, Reverend Father Christopher Omotoshop made this known in a statement on Monday.

    Reverend Father Omotoshop made this known while speaking to newsmen in Sokoto State, describing as untrue Bishop Kukah was invited by the DSS.

    He stressed that the news that the Bishop was summoned for questioning by the DSS regarding his Christmas message cannot be true, noting that the Bishop is yet to receive either call or mail from the DSS.

    Omotoshop regretted that the social media was awash at the weekend with stories of the summoning of the Bishop by the DSS, a situation he said has confused the relationship between Nigerians.

    He advised the general public to discard the rumour, saying the Bishop is in his residence with his family.

  • Bishop Kukah: Two issues that bother me with Buhari’s administration

    Bishop Kukah: Two issues that bother me with Buhari’s administration

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah has opened up on two key issues that bother him with the President Muhamamadu Buhari-led government.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Bishop Kukah made the two issues known during an exchange with journalists at St Bakhita Catholic Secretariat, Sokoto.

    Kukah said that one thing lacking in this administration is the inability to manage the diversity of the nation and that the other issue is the quantum of loss of lives.

    The revered cleric made this known while saying that despite being a major critic of the President, he [the President] still picks his [Kukah] calls.

    The Bishop stressed that there was no hard feelings between him and the nation’s number one citizen, and that the president still picks his calls.

    “If I pick up my phone and call Mr. President now he will pick it up. The other time he missed my calls, he called me back and we greeted each other.

    “But you know some people cry more than the bereaved. All what I have been clamouring for are not personal.

    “There are two issues that bothered me with this administration. One is the quantum of loss of lives and I don’t think there is anybody who is happy about this.

    “The second is the allocation of positions with favouritism and nepotism. One thing lacking in this administration is the inability to manage our sense of diversity.

    “I have always been a critic of government before this administration and I stand on my challenge to those who don’t reason along with me to counter my position with superior argument.

    “Nigerians are still to learn how to disagree on the disagreeable. We are still to learn how to debate without argument and we are still to agree that some of our best friends are those that criticize us. Criticism is not an abuse; it is what purifies democracy,” he added.

    Kukah also blamed overzealous aides for trying to drive a wedge between him and President Buhari.

  • Presidency blasts Kukah for castigating Nigeria before U.S. Congress

    Presidency blasts Kukah for castigating Nigeria before U.S. Congress

    The Presidency has described as unfortunate and disappointing the way and manner Bishop Matthew Kukah castigated his country, Nigeria, before the United States Congress.

    A statement by the President’s spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, on Sunday in Abuja, advised Kukah to desist from sowing discord and strife among Nigerians.

    The presidential aide believed that the opinions expressed by Kukah before the US Congress were personal, and not opinions held by majority of Nigerians.

    According to him, religious leaders who preach respect for truth have a duty to practice it, and it is a moral and practical responsibility to stand up publicly for the truth.

    He said: ”There is no place in mainstream civil discourse for those who actively, negatively, and publicly label an individual ethnic group, especially before a foreign audience.

    ”These are not the views expressed or opinions held by the vast majority of the citizens of Nigeria.

    ”For all our challenges as a nation, nearly all of us seek to live together in harmony, celebrating differences, and finding a common ground as Nigerians above all.

    ”But people like Kukah are doing their best to sow discord and strife among Nigerians.

    ”More than any other set of people, leaders – in politics or religion who preach respect for truth have a duty to practice it. It is a moral and practical responsibility.

    ”Going by the history of the Church as is well known, it will stand up publicly for the truth.

    ”It is time others did the same.”

    Shehu described Kukah’s mission statement in the US as a familiar ”overseas political tours that opposition politicians take – visiting foreign leaders and legislators in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.”

    He said such ‘tours’ were meant to attract maximum media attention back home to score cheap political goals.

    ”So, the argument goes, if they are heard seriously abroad, then Nigerian citizens back home should surely listen to them too.

    ”But in order to be heard at all, and to maximise media coverage back home for their activities, inevitably these visits involve painting the worst possible picture of our country before their chosen foreign audience.

    ”Soon enough we inescapably hear an identical list of racist tropes against northerners, how one religion dominates governance above all others, and how the government is doing nothing to address herder-farmer disturbances.

    ”And how the government spends money on infrastructure to benefit everyone but the group and religion of the speaker.

    ”Of course, in order not to disappoint their western audience, regardless of fact, the list is always the same-and always slanted for whoever wishes to cross-check,” he said.

    According to Shehu, Nigerians expect this from their unimaginative opposition.

    He, however, maintained that ”it is troubling when a so-called man of the Church copies the worst excesses of those seeking personal advancement in public office.”

    He noted that it was only the Buhari administration that had so far put forward the first and singular plan in nearly a century to address herder-farmer challenges – a fact recognised by international NGOs, including the International Crisis Group.

    ”To declare to a foreign audience that this government does nothing is an incredible falsehood.

    ”To suggest that investment in infrastructure between Nigeria and Niger is wasteful and biased – when a similar infrastructure project between Lagos and Benin has revolutionised the two neighbouring economies to the advantage of both our countries – is quite disturbing,” he further maintained.

    The presidential spokesman also frowned at Kukah’s attempt to accuse the Buhari administration of promoting ethnic and religious sentiments in the country.

    ”There is no bias in this government when the president is northern and Muslim, the vice president southern and Christian, and the cabinet equally balanced between the two religions.

    ”But neither is there anything in our Constitution to state that political posts must be apportioned according to ethnicity or faith.

    ”It takes a warped frame of mind for a critic to believe ethnicity is of primary importance in public appointments.
    It is yet more troubling to hear a Churchman isolating one group for criticism purely on ethnic lines,” he added.

    Shehu also condemned Kukah’s position that only Christian students were largely being targeted or kidnapped by bandits in the Northern part of the country.

    He said: ”With due respect to the esteemed position he holds, the Bishop’s assertion that only Christian schools are being targeted by bandits or terrorists is not supported by the facts on the ground.

    ”It is sad to say but also true that victims of crime, kidnapping, banditry and terrorism cut across all strata of the society.

    ”Sad but true that Kankara students in Katsina State were kidnapped by bandits of the same Islamic faith as those they took away.

    ”The same may be true of those who are still holding the 134 students of the Islamic School at Tegina in Niger State.

    ”The nation witnessed the sad incident of the female students abducted by bandits at Jangebe in Zamfara State and the over 100 predominantly Muslim students of the Federal Government Girls College Birnin Yauri in Kebbi State.”

    The Birnin Yauri students are still in captivity as the nation’s security agencies are hard at work to release them unharmed.

    He added: ”The attack on Christian students is sad and unacceptable; so also is the abduction of students of other faiths.

    ”The claim that only Christian schools are being targeted is totally untrue.

    ”As a nation and a people, we must together define evil as evil. We must not allow our religious differences to divide us.

    ”No one gains but the evil doers when we divide our ranks according to ethnicity and religion in confronting them.”

    According to him, the bandits, kidnappers and terrorists are the enemies of the people who should be confronted in unison.

    The presidential aide quoted some sections of the Holy Bible to justify his condemnation of those using ethnic and religious sentiments to promote social discontent among Nigerians.

    He said: ”To be clear, The Bible is definitive on matters of ethnicity and racialism:

    ”In Romans 2:9-10, it says: ‘There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good’.

    ”And in Galatians 3:28: ‘There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’.”

    He added that: ”Whether Christian or Muslim, we stand by these beliefs and are steadfastly committed to them in governance.”

  • BREAKING: Finally, police arrest killers of Nnadi Michael, unravel other killings by gang [PHOTOS]

    BREAKING: Finally, police arrest killers of Nnadi Michael, unravel other killings by gang [PHOTOS]

    The Nigeria Police Force on Sunday has finally arrested and released the names of the kidnappers and killers of Nnadi Michael that left the Catholic Church in mourning in February.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Nnadi Michael was kidnapped and subsequently murdered in cold blood, and was buried February 11, with Bishop Matthew Kukah berating the President Muhammadu Buhari government at the burial.

    DCP Frank Mba, Force Public Relations Officer, Force Headquarters, Abuja, who made the arrest known in a statement on Sunday, said the suspects are all of Igabi LGA of Kaduna State.

    The statement reads: “Police Operatives have arrested a deadly criminal gang responsible for the kidnap and murder of a Catholic Seminarian, Nnadi Michael of the Catholic Good Shepherd Major Seminary at Gonin Gora, Kakau in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.

    “Recall that, on January 9, 2020, the criminal gang stormed the Catholic Seminary and kidnapped four (4) seminarians, murdered one of them in cold blood and released the remaining three on 31st January, 2020, having obtained a ransom. The remains of the fourth Seminarian were found in a bush where abandoned.

    “The suspects: Tukur Usman ‘m’ aged 37, father of 7, Shehu Bello ‘m’ aged 40, father of 5 and Mustapha Mohammed ‘m’ aged 30, father of 1, all of Igabi LGA of Kaduna State were arrested after several months of intensive and extensive intelligence-led operations by crack detectives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

    “Discreet investigations so far reveal that the arrested suspects are part of a 19-man gang that also carried out the kidnap of Dr Phillip Ataga’s wife and two daughters on January 24, 2020 at Juji Community in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State. Mrs Ataga was killed by the gang following her heroic resistance to the despicable and inhuman attempt by the leader of the gang to rape her. The suspects after killing her released the daughters and corpse of the slain woman to the family after collecting ransom.

    “Further investigations reveal that the same criminal gang is responsible for the kidnap of six students and two teachers of Engravers College, Chikun LGA, Kaduna, from their school premises on October 3, 2019.

    “The suspects, known to belong to a hybrid terrorist criminal network causing untold havoc in North-Central, Nigeria, have confessed to several other random operations along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway where they kidnapped, killed and robbed motorists, collecting ransom and valuables running into millions of naira.

    “The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni while reiterating that the Force will remain unrelenting in ensuring that crimes across the country are reduced to the barest minimum, assures the nation that the Force will not rest until the other members of the gang also responsible for the above crimes, but currently on the run, are apprehended and brought to book”.

  • Weeping, wailing as Catholic Church buries Michael Nnadi; Bishop Kukah berates Buhari

    Weeping, wailing as Catholic Church buries Michael Nnadi; Bishop Kukah berates Buhari

    Matthew Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese has lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari amid tears and weeping as the Catholic Church in Kaduna State buried slain seminarian Michael Nnadi on Tuesday.

    TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Bishop Kukah said, in his lengthy homily at the funeral mass for the slain seminarian, which held at Good Shepherd Seminary in Kaduna that “Nigeria is at a point where we must call for a verdict” and that “Nigeria needs to pause for a moment and think”.

    “No one could have imagined that in winning the Presidency, General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary Security Agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink.

    “This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity. He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women.

    “The impression created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian,” Bishop Kukah stated.

    Read Bishop Kukah’s homily at the funeral mass of slain Michael Nnadi below:

    Homily by Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese at the Funeral Mass of Seminarian Michael Nnadi (Sokoto Diocese), on 11th February 2020 at Good Shepherd Seminary, Kaduna

    We have gathered around the remains of Michael in supplication but also as solemn witnesses to the penetrating darkness that hovers over our country. I have the rare honour of being considered the principal mourner in this ugly tragedy. It is not an honour that I am worthy of receiving. The honour belongs to God Almighty who created Michael and marked out this moment and pathway for him.

    The greater honour goes to his immediate family whose devotion as Catholics laid the foundation for his faith and vocation. To his grandmother, Mrs. Eunice Nwokocha, a most simple, beautiful and devout Catholic woman whose devotion and dedication saw Michael and his siblings, Chukwuebuka, Francis, Augustine and Raphael brought up in all the fine principles and disciplines of the Catholic faith.

    The way that Mama and her grandchildren handled this family tragedy has shown clearly the depth of their faith. I got to know Mama only after the sudden death of her daughter, Caroline, who had been a devoted Lector in our Cathedral. On the day we learnt that Michael and the other Seminarians were kidnapped, breaking the news to Mama and the children was not an easy task. She took the news with equanimity and we focused on praying for their release. She and the grandchildren lived through the torments of the brutal, harsh and senseless haranguing of the kidnappers who are totally empty of any show of human emotions.

    When the worst finally happened, breaking the news to her and the grandchildren proved to be one of the most emotionally challenging moments for me. She had called me three days earlier to say that the kidnappers had told her that they had killed Michael. I dismissed it by telling her that first, I had discouraged her from taking their calls, and secondly that this was part of the psychological warfare by these evil men.

    On Wednesday 29th, Peter Paul, the brave young man who had served as the main negotiator with the kidnappers, had already told us that they had gone to the village where the kidnappers said they had dumped the bodies of both Michael and Mrs. Ataga but found no corpses. This was the thread of consolation we held on to as a means of solace that Michael was still alive.

    When we concluded the negotiations with the kidnappers on Thursday evening, I was in the Seminary to receive the three Seminarians and, although we received only two, I was still confident that Michael was still alive. We were simply going to sit and wait out for the next call and the agonizing round of negotiations again. I left for Abuja that same evening to continue my trip to Sokoto the next day. It was on my way to the airport to catch a flight back to Sokoto on that Saturday morning that Fr Daboh called to tell me that the corpse of Mrs. Ataga had been found and that there was a second unidentified corpse which they were being asked to come and identify if it was Michael. My heart sank.

    After the call, I switched off my phone in denial, but hoping for some reprieve to enable me board my flight with some sanity. I arrived Sokoto and refused to switch on my phone for some time. When I finally did, I refused to read the text messages, but then, Fr Habila’s call came through at about 1pm with the news that, sadly, they had identified the corpse as that of Michael. I did not know where to start and how to break the news to Mama.

    Happily, two of our senior Parishioners, Sir Julius Dike and Mathews Otalike, were on hand and I summoned them to my house. It took us the better part of seven hours to negotiate how to break the news because, first, Mama was in the market and I felt she should at least finish the day’s business in peace.

    Finally breaking the news opened a different chapter in this ugly, painful but memorable tragedy. Like the death of Lazarus, it would become clear to me that Michael’s death would bring glory to God.

    Later that evening as I sat down to try and console Mama, she looked up at me and said tearfully, “My Lord, you said Michael was still alive. Is he really dead?” Before I could say anything, she provided a moving answer: “My Lord, but Michael entered Seminary with all his heart and body, all”, she said with finality.

    From that evening, I watched her regain her composure and right up to Saturday, the evening before I left Sokoto, she had become a consoler and an inspiration to others.

    The depth and impact of this tragedy belongs first, to the three surviving colleagues of Michael, the entire Seminary community led by the Rector, Fr. Habila Daboh, his team of formators and entire family of Good Shepherd Seminary. All have lived through almost two months of trauma, agony, pain and despair. They have been held together by the glue of deep faith, hope and family solidarity. I commend all the Formators for standing together and guiding the Seminarians through this dark tunnel of emotional pain in the days that turned to weeks, and weeks that turned to months.

    The entire Catholic community in the Province, led by our Metropolitan, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso, all shared in this burden. His Grace and the Rector will both speak to us at the end of the Mass.

    The third layer of pain has been borne by the entire country and the Catholic world. The national and international reactions to the death of this young man have made me step back and ask what message God has for our country.

    Michael is the first Seminarian to carry the mark of this brutality and wickedness. Priests have died in the hands of these wicked human beings. Michael was only a Seminarian in his first year of training. I had seen him in his cassock which he wore in my presence, not with pride but with dignity. Why would the tragic death of a young man such as him elicit such an unprecedented level of emotions here and around the world?

    Maria Lozano, a staff of the Aid to the Church In Need, an organisation dedicated to the cause of the persecution of Christians around the world, called me frantically immediately after the news of the kidnapping of the Seminarians went out.

    The next day, she sent me an emotional voice message to say that she heard that Michael was an orphan and that since the kidnappers will be looking for money might his life be in danger if they realise that he is an orphan? Could she mobilise especially mothers to become parents for him, to keep him and others in their hearts and to continue to pray for him? Maria remained with us emotionally and requested for information about the burial.

    When the Archbishop approved the date of the burial, I passed the information to her immediately. By the next day, February 5th, she sent me a message to say that when she asked people around the world to light a candle for Michael on the date of his burial, 2, 436 persons from Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States of America, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Madagascar, South Africa, Congo, Mali, Spain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia responded.

    Germany alone had a total of 3,305 persons in a matter of hours. In the light of this, I wondered, who are we to mourn? Who are we to refuse this crown of honour and glory? We ceased to mourn for Michael thereon.

    Your Grace, my brother Bishops, Rev Fathers, Rev. Sisters, and all the good people of God, I therefore bring you only greetings and praise to God from all of us in Sokoto Diocese.

    This is a solemn moment for the body of Christ. This is for us the moment of decision. This is the moment that separates darkness from light, good from evil. Our nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids.

    Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud and Pharisaism have caught up with us. Nigeria is on the crossroads and its future hangs precariously in a balance. This is a wakeup call for us. As St. Paul reminds us; The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast away the works of darkness and put on the armour of light (Rom. 13:12). It is time to confront and dispel the clouds of evil that hover over us.

    Nigeria is at a point where we must call for a verdict. There must be something that a man, nay, a nation should be ready to die for. Sadly, or even tragically, today, Nigeria, does not possess that set of goals or values for which any sane citizen is prepared to die for her.

    Perhaps, I should correct myself and say that the average office holder is ready to die to protect his office but not for the nation that has given him or her that office.

    The Yorubas say that if it takes you 25 years to practice madness, how much time would you have to put it into real life? We have practiced madness for too long. Our attempt to build a nation has become like the agony of Sisyphus who angered the gods and had to endure the frustration of rolling a stone up the mountain. Each time he got near the top, the gods would tip the stone back and he would go back to start all over again. What has befallen our nation?

    Nigeria needs to pause for a moment and think. No one more than the President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari who was voted for in 2015 on the grounds of his own promises to rout Boko Haram and place the country on an even keel.

    In an address at the prestigious Policy Think Tank, Chatham House in London, just before the elections, Major General Buhari told his audience: “I as a retired General and a former Head of State have always known about our soldiers. They are capable and they are well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty. If am elected President, the world will have no reason to worry about Nigeria. Nigeria will return to its stabilizing role in West Africa. We will pay sufficient attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service. We will develop adequate and modern arms and ammunition. We will improve intelligence gathering and border patrols to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels. We will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development and promoting infrastructural development…we will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester. And I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front.”

    There is no need to make any further comments on this claim. No one in that hall or anywhere in Nigeria doubted the President who ran his campaign on a tank supposedly full of the fuel of integrity and moral probity.

    No one could have imagined that in winning the Presidency, General Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary Security Agencies, that his government would be marked by supremacist and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink. This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity.

    He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women. The impression created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian.

    Today, in Nigeria, the noble religion of Islam has convulsed. It has become associated with some of worst fears among our people. Muslim scholars, traditional rulers and intellectuals have continued to cry out helplessly, asking for their religion and region to be freed from this chokehold. This is because, in all of this, neither Islam nor the north can identify any real benefits from these years that have been consumed by the locusts that this government has unleashed on our country.

    The Fulani, his innocent kinsmen, have become the subject of opprobrium, ridicule, defamation, calumny and obloquy. His north has become one large grave yard, a valley of dry bones, the nastiest and the most brutish part of our dear country.

    Why have the gods rejected this offering? Despite running the most nepotistic and narcissistic government in known history, there are no answers to the millions of young children on the streets in northern Nigeria, the north still has the worst indices of poverty, insecurity, stunting, squalor and destitution.

    His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto, and the Emir of Kano are the two most powerful traditional and moral leaders in Islam today. None of them is happy and they have said so loud and clear. The Sultan recently lamented the tragic consequences of power being in the wrong hands.

    Every day, Muslim clerics are posting tales of lamentation about their fate. Now, the Northern Elders, who in 2015 believed that General Buhari had come to redeem the north have now turned against the President.

    We are being told that this situation has nothing to do with Religion. Really? It is what happens when politicians use religion to extend the frontiers of their ambition and power. Are we to believe that simply because Boko Haram kills Muslims too, they wear no religious garb? Are we to deny the evidence before us, of kidnappers separating Muslims from infidels or compelling Christians to convert or die?

    If your son steals from me, do you solve the problem by saying he also steals from you? Again, the Sultan got it right: let the northern political elite who have surrendered the space claim it back immediately.

    The persecution of Christians in northern Nigeria is as old as the modern Nigerian state. Their experiences and fears of northern, Islamic domination are documented in the Willinks Commission Report way back in 1956. It was also the reason why they formed a political platform called, the Non-Muslim League.

    All of us must confess in all honesty that in the years that have passed, the northern Muslim elite has not developed a moral basis for adequate power sharing with their Christian co-regionalists. We deny at our own expense. By denying Christians lands for places of worship across most of the northern states, ignoring the systematic destruction of churches all these years, denying Christians adequate recruitment, representation and promotions in the State civil services, denying their indigenous children scholarships, marrying Christian women or converting Christians while threatening Muslim women and prospective converts with death, they make building a harmonious community impossible.

    Nation building cannot happen without adequate representation and a deliberate effort at creating for all members a sense, a feeling, of belonging, and freedom to make their contributions.

    This is the window that the killers of Boko Haram have exploited and turned into a door to death. It is why killing Christians and destroying Christianity is seen as one of their key missions.

    On our part, I believe that this is a defining moment for Christians and Christianity in Nigeria. We Christians must be honest enough to accept that we have taken so much for granted and made so much sacrifice in the name of nation building.

    We accepted President Buhari when he came with General Idiagbon, two Muslims and two northerners. We accepted Abiola and Kingibe, thinking that we had crossed the path of religion, but we were grossly mistaken. When Jonathan became President, and Senator David Mark remained Senate President while Patricia Ette was chosen by the South West became a Speaker. The Muslim members revolted and forced her resignation with lies and forgery. The same House would shamelessly say that they had no records of her indictment.

    Today, we are living with a Senate whose entire leadership is in the hands of Muslims. Christians have continued to support them. For how long shall we continue on this road with different ambitions? Christians must rise up and defend their faith with all the moral weapons they have.

    We must become more robust in presenting the values of Christianity especially our message of love and non-violence to a violent society. Among the wolves of the world, we must become more politically alert, wise as the serpent and humble as the dove (Mt. 10:16).

    Every Religion has the seeds of its own redemption or destruction. It is a choice between Caesar and God. We cannot borrow the crown of Caesar without consequences. The boundaries between faith and reason are delicate but they are fundamental to how a society builds a moral code.

    Faith without reason breeds the fanatic, the demagogue who genuinely but wrongly believes that he has heard the voice of a god ordering him to kill another. Reason without faith produces the ideologues who will also kill because the ideology of the state orders him to do so. Societies can only survive when a Constitutional basis has been established to create a balance between both extremes and to place our common humanity at the centre of every pursuit.

    My dear brothers and sisters, Anger, the quest for Vengeance, are a legitimate inheritance of the condition of unredeemed human being. Both have appeal. Through Violence, you can murder the murderer, but you cannot murder Murder. Through violence, you can kill the Liar, but you cannot kill Lies or install truth. Through Violence, you can murder the Terrorist, but you cannot end Terrorism. Through Violence, you can murder the Violent, but you cannot end Violence. Through Violence, you can murder the Hater, but you cannot end Hatred. Unredeemed man sees vengeance as power, strength and the best means to teach the offender a lesson. These are the ways of the flesh.

    Christianity parts ways with other Religions when it comes to what to do with the enemy. Here, we must admit, Christianity stands alone. This is the challenge for us as Christians. Others believe in an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or that one can take either blood money or make some form of reparation one way or the other.

    However, for us Christians, Jesus stands right in the middle with a message that is the opposite of all that is sensible to us as human beings. Put back your sword (Mt. 26: 52). Turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:38). Pray for your enemy (Mt. 5: 44). Give the thief your cloak (Lk. 6:29). None of these makes sense to the human mind without faith.

    This is why Jesus said the only solution is for us to be born again (Jn. 3:3). The challenge before us is to behold the face of Jesus and ask the question, Are we Born against hatred, anger, violence and vengeance?

    There is hope, my dear friends. Are we angry? Yes, we are. Are we sad? Of course, we are. Are we tempted to vengeance? Indeed, we are. Do we feel betrayed? You bet. Do we know what to do? Definitely. Do we know when to do it? Why not? Do we know how? Absolutely. Are we in a war? Yes. But what would Christ have us do? The only way He has pointed out to us is the non-violent way. It is the road less travelled, but it is the only way.

    How and why does God choose these young persons as our models? Leah Sharibu and now Michael, all teenagers when they confronted evil and became martyrs.

    In a recent report in Daily Trust on February 2, 2020, I read the story of one of the Dapchi girls and their incredible show of bravery in the face of fire. They were asked by their ferocious captors to point out the Christians among them or they would all face death. In response, they said in unison that they were all Muslims. Then, she continued, “when they intensified their threat to kill us, Leah stood up and said that she was a Christian. She said they could go ahead and kill her instead of killing all of us. So, they separated her from us…before we were rescued, they told us that if Leah would convert to Islam, they would free us, so we tried as much as possible to convince her but she refused saying she would never renounce her religion for fear of death.”

    We have no evidence of what transpired between Michael and his killers. However, for us Christians, this death is a metaphor for the fate of all Christians in Nigeria but especially northern Nigeria. For us Christians, it would seem safe to say that we are all marked men and women today. Yet, we must be ready to be washed in the blood of the lamb.

    The testimony of the Dapchi girl above suggests that our country has a future, a future based on the innocence of our youth who have seen beyond religion.

    Leah Sharibu is a martyr for the faith and so is Michael. St Paul has already said it well: We carry this treasure in vessels of clay so that all this surpassing power may not be seen as ours, but as God’s. Trials of every sort come our way, but we are not discouraged.

    We are left without answers but we do not despair, persecuted but not abandoned, knocked down but not crushed. At any moment, we carry in our person, the death of Jesus, so that in life, Jesus may also be manifested in us (2 Cor. 4: 7-10).

    Finally, we praise and thank God that Pius, Peter and Stephen are alive and will continue to bear earthly testimony of this horror. May God help them to all heal.

    We join the family of Michael in their act of forgiveness while calling on God give these killers their own road to Damascus experience deep in the forests and highways.

    For now, we in Sokoto are at peace and feel mightily honoured that we have been chosen for this task of being called upon to walk the footsteps of the passion of Jesus Christ.

    We know that the Lord’s burden is never heavy. We are humbled but not bowed. Although we are only a little flock, we are pleased to offer from the little we have to the Master.

    Like the owner of the donkey on which Jesus rode to Jerusalem, we are asking no question because the Master has asked for Michael (Lk. 19:31). Like the Galileans (Lk. 13:1), we surrender the blood of Michael to the vicious Herods of today but we know we will one day rise to a new life.

    The choice of our son Michael as a Simon of Cyrene is a remarkable gift that we must embrace with both hands. We feel as if our son has been chosen to represent us in the national team of martyrs. Without fear, we will complete the journey he started because his memory will give us strength.

    We know that Michael’s strength will inspire an army of young people to follow in his steps. We will march on with the cross of Christ entrusted to us, not in agony or pain, because our salvation lies in your cross. We have no vengeance or bitterness in our hearts. We have no drop of sorrow inside us. We are honoured that our son has been summoned to receive the crown of martyrdom at the infancy of his journey to the priesthood. We are grateful that even before he could ascend the earthly altar, Jesus the high priest, called Him to stand by His angels.

    He was a priest by desire but he is concelebrating the fullness of the priesthood beside His Master. He was lifted up even before his hands could lift up the sacred chalice.

    May the Lord place him beside His bosom and may he intercede for us. If his blood can bring healing to our nation, then his murderers will never have the final say. May God give him eternal peace.

  • Nigeria has become chaotic, everyone including Buhari is unhappy – Bishop Kukah

    Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah on Monday warned Nigerians to stop spreading hatred, stressing that everyone should be careful of their actions as the country is now on a very dangerous precipice.

    He said, “This is one of the first time in Nigeria, that everyone is angry at the same time but the reason may be different. I am sure the President too is unhappy because this is not the country he fought for.”

    This country has become chaotic, collectively we are all frustrated in Nigeria, the challenge now is how to channel our anger.”

    Kukah made the statement while speaking at the 2017 edition of The Platform, held at Covenant Christian Centre, a nation and governance building program, where he spoke on the topic “The weakness of power”.

    Referencing President Buhari’s stance [anger] on those agitating for secession and on the other hand, several calls from some leaders from certain parts of the country seeking the restructuring of Nigeria, Kukah said Buhari, like other military heads like Ibrahim Babangida, among others have a military mindset/approach towards restructuring.

    He said having fought in the civil war just to keep Nigeria’s unity, no military man will see the justification or be happy over talks that dwells on secession, restructuring.

    Kukah furthered, “Buhari said he fought a civil war to keep this country, which is true, but if you fought a civil war forty years ago and the problem still persists, then there is something fundamentally wrong.

    He noted that the use of ethnicity as a tool of negotiation in Nigeria is what makes national conversation, debates corrosive.

    In Nigeria, the only freedom of speech in Nigeria is the freedom to agree with them. Nigeria is a country of brilliant people and it is very difficult to govern them[ People who are very constructive].

    “I worry that when you speak in favour of Nigeria, people think you either looking for government’s favour or you’ve been offered something by the government. Restructuring in Nigeria is mathematics, The Igbos will seek one more state so that they can balance with the number of states controlled by Yorubas of South West.” He noted.

    Meanwhile, Kukah, who lamented about other minorities who have little or no representation in the whole Nigeria arrangement, gave an example of where he came from, said the only first sign of federal government they felt from his ethnic group was a government vehicle that brought the corpse of one their sons who died during the Nigeria’s Civil war.

    The President of Nigeria is the most powerful President of the World. Where else in the World can you just with a signature make one man a billionaire, you can own an oil well, the context for power in Nigeria is not about the struggle to serve, that is why it is at all cost.

    “This is the only country where people run into power by accident, from the military to the civilian, none of our leaders prepared for governance.

    “We cannot do the same thing and expect a different outcome. leadership is a serious business, We have every reason to be angry, but let us remember that a lot people have died to defend the integrity of this country and it must be one factor to consider.

    “Our love for Nigeria will never die, we will stay here, we will redeem this country – Obama told Americans that ‘Yes we can’, but to Nigerians, I say, ‘Yes we must’” He concluded.