Centre demands Matthew Kukah’s resignation from National Peace Committee

National Islamic Centre (NIC) has called for the resignation of Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah from General Abdulsalam Abubakar (rtd) led National Peace Committee (NPC), over the reckless, inciting and narrow-minded outbursts of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese.

Solacebase reports that Bishop of Sokoto diocese of the Catholic Church, Rt. Rev. Hassan Matthew Kukah, sermon in his homily on Christmas day generated a lot of controversy and backlashes.

The Centre had earlier restrained from commenting on Kukah’s unprovoked Islamophobic Christmas political sermon with the hope that he will offer a genuine apology.

It said, unfortunately, the only response from him proved his peevishness on deciding to be on the wrong side of history.

This was contained in a statement issued by National Amir of the Centre, in Zaria, Prof. Muhammad Babangida Muhammad, and sent to Solacebase on Sunday.

The statement said the NIC, therefore, is left with no option than to call for the immediate resignation of the Bishop from the Peace Committee, in view of his blatant anti-Muslim partisanship as displayed in his treasonable Christmas message.

‘’We support a similar call earlier made by our sister organization, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC). Bishop Kukah has lost whatever remains of respect from the generality of Muslims as observed by the Jama’atu Nasril Islam in its reaction and he has therefore become a liability to the NPC. He should be replaced with someone more objective, accommodative and level headed, ‘’said the statement.

‘’Indeed we call on the National security agencies to question Bishop Kukah on his incitement to a coup, the persistent and deliberate stirring of communal conflict and slanderous targeting of the majority Muslim population of Nigeria along with their faith. His hate-speech filled narratives on inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations in the North as displayed at late Patrick Yakowa’s funeral, betray a soul filled with hatred for Islam and Muslims, who have done him no harm.’’

‘’ Rather, they have accommodated him in their midst; given him unhindered freedom to practice and preach his religion; accorded him respect as a religious leader and given him access to the very seats of power that elicit his envy, including the heart of the Sultanate in Sokoto.’’

‘’His misleading portrayal, along with other short-sighted Christian leaders, of their flock as “oppressed” provided the false data used by the United States State Department to “blacklist” Nigerian over its “religious intolerance”

‘’It is most unfortunate and unpatriotic that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) promotes this fake data. We condemn in totality this labelling by the USA and some UK Parliamentarians and reject it outright.’’

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‘’The security challenges facing Nigeria are indeed, enormous and its true friends should help it to overcome the challenges and not add more fuel through instigating religious and ethnic conflicts. It is a sheer display of hypocrisy and un-Godliness to claim deliberate state persecution of Christians in the North or that the terrorists target Christians only.

‘’Muslims, who majorly constitute the North, are the worst victims of the insecurity challenges of kidnapping, armed robbery, rape, cattle rustling and Boko Haram insurgency. Our sincere concern, however, is that Nigerians of all faiths are falling victims to the senseless atrocities of criminals and terrorists who have no fear of God or respect for religion.

”We can only succeed in eliminating the hydra-headed security threat to our country by earnestly promoting a collective resolve to live together with mutual respect and understanding. The divisive and self-centred hypocrisy as being projected by ‘Bee-shop Coupkah’ (as some now call him) will do no one any good.’’