By Ayo Kehinde
The Federal Government has urged religious leaders in the country to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity.
In a statement issued in Lagos on Saturday, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed warned that resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric at this time could trigger unintended consequences.
”While religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to power, such truth must not come wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity and religious disharmony”, Mohammed said.
The Government was responding to the Christmas message of Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop Sokoto Diocese.
Kukah on Friday turned his Christmas message into a state of the nation address, in which he accused President Buhari of implementing policies of nepotism and northern hegemony.
He slammed the government for the insecurity in the country and said Buhari’s parochial policies have only worsened the insecurity situation, especially in northern Nigeria.
He said; “This government owes the nation an explanation as to where it is headed as we seem to journey into darkness. The spilling of this blood must be related to a more sinister plot that is beyond our comprehension. Are we going to remain hogtied by these evil men or are they gradually becoming part of a larger plot to seal the fate of our country?
“President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who voted for him to what seemed like a programme to stratify and institutionalise northern hegemony. He has pursued this self-defeating and alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion.
“Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non-Northern Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it.
“There would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will do nothing and will live with these actions.
“He may be right and we Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to draw from or threaten our country. However, God does not sleep. We can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North.”
“The United Nations has wailed. The Pope has wailed. Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Pastors have wailed. Emirs have wailed. Politicians have wailed. The Sultan has wailed”, he said.
While Mohammed only raised sentiments about religious leaders not turning the pulpit, into making critical statements at Christmas, he failed to address the major issues raised by Kukah in his response on Saturday.
The minister said it is particularly graceless and impious for any religious leader to use the period of Christmas, which is a season of peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife and national disunity.
”Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a particular religion as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace”, Mohammed said.
He said instigating regime change outside the ballot box is not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.
He further said that while some religious leaders, being human, may not be able to disguise their national leadership preference, they should refrain from stigmatizing the leader they have never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever.
The Minister said whatever challenges Nigeria may be going through at this moment can only be tackled when all leaders and indeed all Nigerians come together, not when some people arrogantly engage in name-calling and finger-pointing.
