The Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN), on Monday, said the controversial Christmas message titled: A Nation in search of Vindication authored by Hassan Mathew Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, represents the position of the Catholic Church on the state of the Nigerian nation.
In a press release made available to journalists in Abuja on Monday, the National Director of CSN’s Social Communication, Fr. Mike Umoh, flayed those attacking Kukah for speaking the truth to power, adding that the incessant attacks on the Bishop by those who alleged that he was calling for a violent change of government, were uncalled for.
Umoh insisted that given the prolonged security and economic challenges facing the country, the Catholic Church in Nigeria stood by Kukah’s position on the state of the nation.
He said, “We are quite aware of the 2020 Christmas Message by our revered Bishop Hassan Kukah and the enormous space it has enjoyed on social media and in the public sphere.
“As expected, the agents of evil have gathered to attack the person of the Bishop and to discredit the simple obvious truth of the message.
“This is the stock in trade of evil people.
“However, they often succeed when good people, Christians, choose to do nothing. We are therefore calling attention to this new development so that we can all rise in unison and stand for truth.
“The situation in Nigeria no longer allows anyone to sit on the fence, indifference is now a greater form of sin.
“Everyone must choose and stand up for what he/she believes in.
“The truth about our nation is also that there are only two parties now existing: the good and the evil, the oppressed and the oppressor, the suffering people and the benefiting government officers and their families.”
While calling on Nigerians to stand in support of the truth, he cautioned against falling for the antics of those he described as players of the religious and tribal card even at the expense of the general good of the nation.
It would be recalled that Bishop Kukah of Sokoto Diocese had in the controversial Christmas message berated President for pursuing a one-sided political agenda that favours only Northern Muslims.
“President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who voted for him to what seemed like a programme to stratify and institutionalise northern hegemony by reducing others in public life to second class status.
“He has pursued this self-defeating and alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion. Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non-Northern Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it.
“There would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have been at war.
