By editor
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has called on President Bola Tinubu, to urgently rescue Nigerians from the worsening insecurity and harrowing hardship in the country.
Delivering his 2025 Easter message titled “Mr President: Please bring us down from this cross”, Kukah said Nigeria “bleeding from savagery and brutality never witnessed in the history of our dear country.”
According to him,“Every day, innocent citizens are kidnapped and held under the most inhuman conditions,” .
“A dark pall of death hangs languidly from north to south. It is impossible to find a home, a family, or a community that has not been caught in the cusp of this savagery,” He warned
Kukah further warned that Nigeria is “reaching a breaking point,” and said a greater sense of urgency was needed to ameliorate the situation.
“Mr President, with a greater sense of urgency, hasten to bring us down from this cross of evil.”
He traced the current problem of Nigeria to past leaders but appealed to Tinubu to do all he can to fix it.
“Nigerians have been dangling and bleeding on this cross of pain and mindless suffering for too long,” he said.
“Mr President, immediately rid our dear country of these forces of darkness and bring us down from this cross of cynicism.”
The clergyman also spoke about the erosion of public trust in government saying ,
“Frustration has penetrated every spectrum of our society,” . “Government and its security agencies seem to have largely become spectators in the dance of death that has overtaken our country.” he said.
Deeply worried and saddened by the spate of insecurity resulting in kidnapping and killing in the country, the fiery Bishop asked,
“Are Nigerians lambs being sacrificed to an unknown god?”
“Is the persistence of the insecurity a statement of the lack of capacity of our men and women in uniform, or is it evidence that those at the top are reaping the fruits of funding their own war machine?”
Kukah also drew attention to the economic situation in the country decrying the effects of fuel subsidy removal, and attendant consequences saying ,hunger and sickness now “stalk the land.”
Kukah, while acknowledging the policy shift warned that temporary relief measures are insufficient. “Mere palliative distribution diminishes the dignity of citizens,” he said. “Make food security a fundamental human right to all citizens.”
On banditry, Kukah recalled how some politicians admitted bringing in armed mercenaries into the country to win election saying the” bandits have not only become embedded in every sphere of our lives, they threaten to destroy all that holds our communities together “
