THE SUN NIGERIA
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, on Friday weighed in on the threats by American President, Donald Trump to send troops to Nigeria to defeat ‘terrorists killing Christians in the country.’
Kukah spoke while giving the keynote address, entitled: ‘Nigeria: Time to Re-Load’, at the 60th birthday and launch of three books of Dr. Reuben Abati, former Special Adviser to ex-president of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Lagos, yesterday.
The books presented by Abati include ‘Portraits: People, Politics and Society’, ‘How Goodluck Jonathan Became President’, and ‘A Love Letter and Other Stories’, which offer a glimpse into Jonathan’s presidency and the inner workings of Nigerian politics.
The cleric stated that Trump’s comments should not elicit anger from the Nigerian authorities and the citizens, noting that the American president’s threats should rejuvenate Nigerians into finding solutions to the country’s seemingly intractable challenges.
He noted: “We are confusing Trump for a sickness. He’s a symptom, not a disease. Trump is a symptom of the disease that is in our country.”
According to the cleric, rather than take offence at Trump’s words, Nigerians should reflect on the many self-inflicted ills in the country, including ethnic divisions, religious intolerance, corruption, over 60,000 abandoned projects, and the failure to conduct free, fair, and credible elections.
The clergyman noted that if it would take Trump’s threat to get the banditry, insurgency and other forms of terrorism comprehensively tackled, so be it. Using a popular Nigerian proverb to drive home his point, Kukah said: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a woman that kills a snake or if it’s a man that kills a snake. What matters is that the snake should not escape.
Archbishop Kukah regretted that Nigeria had never produced a leader who sees the country as his constituency.
“Well, you ask yourself now, who are the prominent Nigerians, Nigerian statesmen that their names resonate across the length and breadth of Nigeria without punctuation.
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