By ANENE AIKE, SOKOTO.
The presidency has differed with the Muslim Solidarity Forum, Sokoto, the umbrella body for Islamic Organizations, Islamic Centres, SUFI Orders, Imams, Islamic Scholars and preachers in the state on the quit order handed over to the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto diocese, Rev. Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah over his Christmas statement on the state of the Nation.
Bishop Kukah's statement, was said to have gone to the wrong side of Muslim faithfuls as the umbrella body of imams and other Islamic cleric, Muslim Solidarity Forum (MSF) gave a quit order to the Catholic Bishop except he apologizes for his statement which they say is offensive to the Nigerian government and their faith.
In a press conference addressed by the Muslim Solidarity Forum, Sokoto, the forum said it "has noted with dismay the Christmas message of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah as he chose to attack Islam and Muslims, especially those from the northern parts of the country".
The forum stated that the Bishop specifically claimed that President Muhammad Buhari, whom he qualified, albeit, indirectly as a Muslim and a Northerner, has committed many acts of nepotism that if a fraction of it were to be committed by “any non-Northern Muslim President”, there would have been a coup in the country, while adding that what is clandestinely hidden behind such a statement.
The forum also stated that Kukah has been antagonizing Shari’a constitution in the country and had been part to the beneficiary of Christian biased appointment during president Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and that he was among those who spread propaganda that Christians are denied places of worship and persecuted in some northern part of Nigeria despite proliferation of churches in Muslims dominated areas".
The chairman of the forum Prof. Isah Muhammad Maishanu also stated that Kukah staged demonstration in sokoto over the killing of a single Christians priest in far away Adamawa state by the Boko Haram not considering hundreds of Fulani herders killed by Christians in Taraba in the year 2018 as he could not see anything to appreciate in his Muslims host or their Religion to the extent of disparaging them in his provocative and uncouthly language, signifying rooted and blind pathological hatred for anything Islam."
The forum then said for Bishop Kukah to continue to enjoy his stay in Sokoto, he must apologize to President Mohammadu Buhari, and the Islamic community whom he insulted in his address.
In it's reaction, the Federal Government has described the quit order handed over to Bishop Kukah as "unconstitutional and uncalled-for".
President Buhari's spokesperson, Mallam Garba Shehu in his Tweeter handle said "Under our laws, groups or factions must not give quit notices, neither should they unilaterally sanction any perceived breaches. Where they occur, it is the courts of law that should adjudicate. Unilateral action is not the way to go".
Mallam Shehu further said "Groups such as the Muslim Solidarity Forum must be seen to share and uphold the country’s multi-religious principles. And individuals like Father Kukah must respect the feelings of his fellow Nigerians in his private and public utterances."
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN has warned that "nothing should happen to Bishop Kukah for his objective statement made on Nigeria situation."
Joseph Bade Daramola, CAN General Secretary, in a statement released and made available to newsmen warned that “enough is enough”, stressing that "CAN has been watching the unfolding scenario since Kukah spoke his mind on the State of the Nation in his Christmas homily."
“Some groups of people have been threatening him with fire and brimstone while all relevant security agencies are pretending as if nothing unusual is happening. We wonder if those threatening the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto are above the law or if they are sacred cows in the country.
CAN then "called on relevant security and government agencies to act promptly in protecting Bishop Kukah and his likes as his action is within the ambit of the law."
***Additional report by Mike ALADENIKA***.
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