Islamic group flays persistent reactions to Kukah’s message

Fayemi, Babalola cheer bishop on Dicastery membership

North Central Muslim Peace Initiative (NCMPI) has called for restraint in reacting to the Christmas message by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, saying the issue is over-flogged.

The President, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, told newsmen in Jos, Plateau State, yesterday, that Kukah, for long, had been speaking on the ills in the country, adding that it was improper to give his recent comment an ethnic or religious connotation.

He said the ultimatum given to Kukah by a group in Sokoto to apologise or leave the state, as well as the several reactions that followed, might divide the citizenry.

According to him, it is the government that determines if a comment should be classified as hate speech, not a group of persons.

Zazzaga noted that several persons of different religious and ethnic backgrounds had made comments in the interest of the nation, but wondered why Kukah’s remarks generated unnecessary controversy.

He called on government at all levels to establish and maintain a close relationship with clergymen and constructive critics like Kukah, so that they could keep sharing ideas and getting good counsel where necessary.
MEANWHILE, Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has congratulated Kukah on his appointment into the papal Dicastery on the promotion of integral human development.

Also the founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola, felicitated with the cleric on the “well-deserved appointment.”

The governor, in a congratulatory letter dated January 19, 2021, stated that the appointment was an unequivocal expression of Pope Francis’ confidence in Kukah’s ability to be an “impeccable advisor on a wide range of human development issues.”

Fayemi described the Dicastery as a perfect place for Kukah “because it is one of the apostolic ministrations of the papal in reaching the weak, seeking social justice, and ending all forms of practices inimical to the dignity of man.”