Kenneth Afor
The leadership of the Muslim Solidarity Forum has called on Mathew Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, to tender an unreserved apology to the entire Muslim Ummah over his recent “callous statements” against Islam or quietly leave the Caliphate (Sokoto State).”
Professor Isa Muhammad Maishanu, acting chairman of the forum, who said this on Tuesday while addressing a press conference added that Kukah’s statements were capable of breaking the age-long peaceful coexistence among religious faithful in the country.
According to Maishanu, he noted that the killings in the country the Bishop referenced in his Christmas Day message were mostly Muslims.
“Our intention at Muslim Solidarity Forum is not to hold brief for the President, as he has those who are paid to do that; rather our concern is the image and reputation of Muslims, which Mr. Kukah finds pleasure in attacking without an iota of caution, and by referring to him as a Muslim, that automatically brings all Muslims in the issue.
“The Bishop has the penchant to speak in parables and innuendos. His reference to a people who possess ‘a pool of violence to draw from’ no doubt is a reference to those he has always characterized with violence – the Muslims. This is a serious provocation.
“He even has the gut to say the killings we are witnessing in Nigeria are part of a grand religious design’! Religious? Who are the victims of the killings? What religion do they profess? Is it not a fact that over 90 percent of those being killed are Muslims? Who is behind the so-called design? ,” they asked.
“These callous statements are unbecoming of someone who parades himself a secretary to National Peace Committee and a member of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), as such, we call on Kukah to immediately stop his malicious vituperations against Islam and Muslims and tender unreserved apology to the Muslim Ummah or else quickly and quietly leave the seat of Caliphate, as he is trying to break the age-long peaceful coexistence between the predominantly Muslim population and their Christian guests,” they noted.
The forum added that “The sensible and objective world knows the truth! We wonder how Kukah who lives peacefully and comfortably in the heart of the Sokoto Caliphate can make such a callous and senseless statement.”
Bishop Kukah had in his Christmas message stated that Nigeria was on the verge of becoming a failed state and accused President Muhammadu Buhari of nepotism, saying there could have been a coup if a southerner was the president and had done a quarter of what the president had done.
However, the Bishop denied calling for a coup in the country.
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