Kukah: 'Only Muslims hold strategic positions under Buhari'

The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, says the most important criteria that qualifies one for a position under President Mohammed Buhari, is to be a northern Muslim.

Speaking on Tuesday, February 11, 2020, at the burial of Michael Nnadi, a seminarian, who was killed by kidnappers, Kukah accused President Buhari of "relegating national interest to the background".

Recalling Buhari’s promise during the 2015 electioneering campaign, Kukah said the president had prominently promised to end the Boko Haram insurgency by "leading from the front".

Five years after, Kukah said the president has "brought nepotism and clannishness" into the military and the ancillary security agencies.

“The impression created now is that to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian,” the cleric said.

Kukah said Nigeria was at a crossroads and its future hung precariously in the balance.

"Our nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids. Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud, and Pharisaism have caught up with us. Nigeria is at a crossroads and its future hangs precariously in the balance. This is a wake-up call for us," he added.

The cleric stated that it is not sane for anyone to think about dying for Nigeria.