The Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Kukah, has accused the Northern elite of using religion to hold on to power in the country without any benefit to their people and the Nigerian society as a whole.
The prominent cleric said this at the Sunday burial ceremony of the late Catholic Bishop of Kafanchan Diocese, Joseph Bagobiri which held in Kafanchan.
He said, “It is sad that the Northern Muslim elite has used religion to hold onto power to the detriment of even their own people and the larger society.
“For despite holding onto power for all these years, the North is still the poorest part of the country, nearly 15 million Muslim children are on the streets with no future in sight. We are, as the governor of Borno would say, the poster child of poverty.”
He noted that Northern Nigeria has the worst cases of “death, destruction and destitution” in all the country.
“Death, destruction and destitution have become our lot and nowhere is this more expressed than in Northern Nigeria.” Kukah added. “Today, Boko Haram and the herdsmen and farmers’ clashes are phenomena that are peculiar to the North and Islam. We cannot run away from this.”