The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has berated Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto Diocese for his Christmas sermon, describing it as instigation to coup, genocide against Northern Muslims, noting that it is immoral and unacceptable.
A statement signed by CNG Spokesman, AbdulAzeez Suleiman, Monday, said “with utmost concern, CNG notes the latest attempt by a Reverend Father Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese to destroy the quest for national integration by instigating violence through exploiting cleavages of religious nature to cause disharmony and facilitate the further emasculation of northern Nigerian Muslims.
“The CNG finds it ironic that a Reverend would choose the revered occasion of the celebration of the birth of Christ to needlessly incite hatred against a section of the country. This statement by Kukah only goes to testify to the growing trend by bigots of selectively amplifying the perceived crimes of the Hausa/Fulani Muslims and downplaying those committed against them.
“It testifies to how religious bodies and leaders such as Kukah in more ways than one, attempt to aid the deterioration of the situation in the country by stimulating a form of Islamophobia on the back of the most gratuitous false story of an Islamisation agenda.
“It also furthers the irresponsible and unacceptable practice of preachers using the pulpit to promote falsehood and incite their followers against certain sections of the society by labelling and earmarking them to be targeted irrespective of whether they are part of a crime committed or not.
“History is being shamefully and blatantly reviewed, rewritten and falsified In the process, the consciousness eroded Kukah that the four most violent military insurrections in Nigeria’s history were schemed, spearheaded and executed by non-Muslims, and in most cases, non-Northerners.
“It is important to place on record, that the very first and most bloody January 1966 coup was carried out by mostly non-Muslim Igbo army officers including Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, and Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna. The casualties of the coup were mostly northern Muslims including the Prime Minister Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, the Sardauna of Sokoto Sir Ahmadu Bello, Brigadier Abubakar Maimalari and others.
“We do not contend their claims of the current administrative lapses, nor do we fault the right of people to criticise government’s inadequate, ineffective and unfocused policies.
“The northern Muslims, contrary to the deliberate distortions by the Kukahs, happen to be the major casualty of this administration’s serial misgovernance in terms of security, economy, distribution of key federal appointments and essential goods and services, making it unacceptably irresponsible for Kukah and his ilk to hide behind the guise of criticism of government to attack a whole ethnic or religious group.
“We therefore emphatically repudiate any attempt at the vilification of one ethnic and religious group or the other for whatever reason or justification. In this light, we deem the Kukah’s persistent targeting of the entire northern Muslims for vilification, systematic dehumanization, profiling, alienation or any action that will render them object of attack and persecution, not only immoral and illegal, but also abhorrent to our sensibilities and ordinary decency and therefore unacceptable.
“We at CNG are quite aware that targeting any ethnic or religious group and singling it out for any negative action for all intents and purposes, is against both our laws and international law. Such acts are the prelude to genocide and ethnic cleansing and therefore, are actionable under international human rights and humanitarian law, as well as international criminal law.”
