The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has described Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s recent controversial statement as unguarded and open incitement to military coup and insurrection against the democratically elected government of Muhammadu Buhari.
In a statement signed by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, on Monday, the group condemned “Kukah’s use of nepotism as weapon of calumny against government and people of Nigeria.”
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The AYCF demanded the immediate arrest and prosecution of Bishop Kukah for what it described as treasonable felony against the Nigerian state.
In the alternative, the group called on the Federal Government to place Kukah on special watchlist for this open attempt to “set the South against the North in order to destabilize our country and further complicate matters.”
Shettima, in the statement, took exception to what his group described as “Kukah’s latest role in devil’s advocacy, as the North struggles to restore peace and enduring security in the region and indeed Nigeria.”
The statement noted that “such a reckless statement by Kukah betrays something much more sinister against both the North and the nation as a whole because Nigeria is at a stage that it requires responsible advice for attaining peace and stability, not deliberate attempt to mischievously compound our problems.
“If Kukah wants to play politics, he should not do so in the pulpit and he should keep the Bishop’s office aside and chose any Nigerian political party platform to contest President in 2023 and stop all the pretences,” the statement said.
It reminded Kukah of the rough road tread by democracy heroes to rid the nation of military dictatorship at a time when he was nowhere in sight.
“We will not allow opportunists, who did not make any contribution, to scuttle the democracy achieved through our sweat and the sacrifice of our liberty,” Shettima said in the statement.
The bishop had said there could have been a coup or war in the country if a non-northern Muslim was the president and did a fraction of what President Muhammadu Buhari has done.
This has generated a lot of reactions and the federal government had on Saturday, through the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, warned the Bishop to refrain from stoking the embers of hatred and disunity.
However, Northern chapter of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) is backing the submission of Bishop Kukah.
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