Christmas message: Sokoto Muslim group cautions Kukah, says enough of calumny against Islam

The Muslim Solidarity Forum, Sokoto, an umbrella body for Islamic organizations, Islamic Centres, Sufi Orders, Imams, Islamic scholars and preachers in the state has cautioned Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, sayingenough of inflammatory words against Muslims.

The Islamic body in a terse statement on Tuesday which was signed by the Acting Chairman, Prof. Isah Muhammad Maishanu and which sent to CAPITAL POST said, the group noticed with dismay the Christmas message of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah.

In the message, the Clergy choosed to attack Islam and Muslims, especially those from Northern parts of the country.

The statement avered: “He specifically claimed that President Muhammadu 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.

“We don’t know what is clandestinely hidden behind such a statement!

“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% of those being killed are Muslims? Who is behind the so-called design? The sensible and
objective world knows the truth!

The group berated Kukah for living in the heart of Sokoto and at the magnanimity of Muslims, yet, making inflammatory statements.

“We wonder how Kukah who lives peacefully and comfortably in the heart of the Sokoto Caliphate can make such a callous and senseless statement.

“Is it his hatred for Islam and the Muslims that has blinded him to this level, even though he claims to be preaching the Gospel of love?

“For those who are familiar with Kukah’s antics, this is not the first of its kind, as he utilizes every available opportunity during public lectures, homilies, media interviews etc to pour his spurious and venomous attack on Islam and Muslims, especially those of Northern Nigerian extraction.

It is on the record that:

“He was at the fore-front of antagonizing Shari’ah law implementation in some states of the Northern Nigeria, even though, it is a constitutional right of the Muslims and is not applicable to Christians.

“He was a party to and beneficiary of the Christian biased appointments during the Obasanjo and Jonathan regimes.

“He has been spreading propaganda that Christians are denied places of worship and are persecuted in some parts of Northern Nigeria despite the enormous proliferation of churches in Muslim dominated areas as is glaringly evident.

“In February 2020, he shamelessly staged a demonstration in the heart of Sokoto over the killing of a single Christian priest in far away Adamawa state, presumably, by the Boko Haram insurgents, but did not consider hundreds of Muslim Fulani herders that were mercilessly killed by the Christian militia in the neighboring Taraba state in 2018.

“Bishop Kukah who lives peacefully and happily at the center of the Seat of Caliphate for almost a decade now, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere of the city that is founded on the teachings of
Islam, and benefiting from the goodwill of Muslim leaders right from childhood and up to this moment, could not see anything good to appreciate in his Muslim hosts or their religion, to disparage them.

“Rather, he is always using provocative and uncouthly language. This actually signifies a deeply rooted and blind pathological hatred for anything Islamic.

“To keep the records straight, it is pertinent to ask Mr. Kukah some questions:

“Are you having grudges against Muslims because they believe in the Unity of Allah, the Most High, as taught by earlier Prophets of Allah including Jesus, Son of Mary (Acts 3:13), or for their belief in the prophethood of Jesus, Son of Mary (Mathew 21:11; John7:16 and John13:16).

“What do you think would happen if the peace-loving Muslims of the Seat of the Caliphate responded to your incessant provocative attacks on them and their religion by adopting the style of your brethren in some parts of southern Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi and Taraba States,
who attacked, killed and drove away their innocent Muslim neighbors, like what happened in Kafanchan1987, Zangon Kataf 1992, Tafawa Balewa in 1991, 1993, 1995 and 2001, Yelwan Shandam 2004, Zonkwa and Jarkasa in 2011, whenever there is any misunderstanding?

“We are not clamoring for such atrocities in the peaceful citadel of the Caliphate.

“What do you think is restraining the Muslims in all parts of the North not to ambush and kill innocent Christian passengers traveling along their towns and villages as is done at Gonin Gora along Kaduna-Abuja, Kaduna-Kachia-Keffi, and Kaduna-Jos roads, as reprisals?

“How many churches are there in metropolitan Sokoto, Birnin Kebbi, Gusau and Katsina?

“What is their total land area vis-a-vis the Christian population in these cities?

“On the other hand, what is the number of Masajid and their total land area in Onitsha, Owerri, PortHarcourt, Enugu, Makurdi, Calabar, Zangon Kataf, Zonkwa etc vis-a-vis the Muslim populations of the above cities and towns, you can ask yourself and your local and international masters, who is more tolerant?

“What is the ratio of Muslims to Christians and their duration in office as military chiefs and heads of security agencies in Nigeria from independence to date?

“Currently, what is the ratio of Muslims to Christians in terms of ministers and heads of government agencies, departments and parastatals?

“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.

“We equally call on Muslim leaders who out of magnanimity have been showing goodwill to Kukah to realize that he is taking their kindness for granted, and he does not appreciate the gesture, rather this emboldens him to fiercely attack them at any given opportunity.

“We call on him to act as the Bible commands “Seek ye truth and it shall set you free”, by embracing the pristine monotheistic teachings of Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon him) as finally revealed by Allah the Almighty Lord, through the last Prophet, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as heralded by Moses (peace be upon him) in Deuteronomy 18:18 and also by Jesus, son of Mary (peace be upon him) in John,14:15-16, 25-26 and John, 16:7,12-14).

“We conclude with a verse from the most recent final preserved Book of guidance from the Lord of creation directed to those who received earlier Divine Books where Allah says:

“Say,’ O people of the Scripture, come to a word that is equitable between us and you-
that we will not worship except Allah and not associate anything with Him and not
take one another as lords instead of Allah’. But if they turn away, then say’ Bear
witness that we are Muslims (submitting ourselves wholly to Him) (Surah3:Al
Imran: 84).