The Federal Government has advised Bishop Matthew Kukah to use his high ecclesiastical office to work for unity in Nigeria, rather than making comments that are capable of dividing the country along religious lines.
A press statement from the Bishop’s media team on Tuesday evening quoted him to have said, “The only difference between the government and Boko Haram is (that) Boko Haram is holding a bomb.
“They (Federal Government) are using the levers of power to secure the supremacy of Islam, which then gives more weight to the idea that it can be achieved by violence. With the situation in Nigeria, it is hard to see the moral basis they have to defeat Boko Haram.
“They have created the conditions to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the way they are behaving.”
Responding to Bishop Kukah’s statement, Friday, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the statement is not only disingenuous but also a great disservice to the men and women in uniform who are daily battling the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists to keep all Nigerians safe.
The Minister reiterated the federal government’s position that the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists do not subscribe to any religion, irrespective of their pretense to such.
He said the terrorists are driven by their primitive propensity to kill mindlessly and destroy without restraint, irrespective of their victims’ creed, gender or tribe.
Lai Mohammed said: ”To now attribute the actions of these mad bunch to an orchestrated and systematic plan to elevate one religion over the other or decimate adherents of a particular religion is not only unfortunate but divisive, incendiary and insensitive.”
The minister, however, appealed to religious leaders to be more circumspect in their comments, especially on religious issues.
