The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Revd Hassan Kukah, has said that Nigeria is reaching a breaking point and gradually becoming a huge national morgue.
He told President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to hasten and bring the country down from the cross of evil.
In his Easter message titled, “Mr President, Please Bring us down from this Cross”, Kukah lamented that suffering and afflictions have befallen the country, adding that these sufferings have been marked by a culture of brutality and savagery never witnessed in the history of our dear country.
The cleric stated that they have placed our country outside the purview of human civilization, stressing that across the entire country, innocent citizens are kidnapped every day and held under the most inhuman conditions.
He said, “A dark pall of death hangs languidly from north to south. It is impossible to find a home, a family, or a community that has not been caught in the cusp of this savagery.
“Mr. President, we all admit that you neither erected this cross nor did you effect our collective crucifixion. Notwithstanding, Nigerians have been dangling and bleeding on this cross of pain and mindless suffering for too long.
“A culture of cynicism and self-doubt over our capacity to secure peace for ourselves pervades our land. Indeed, a majority of our citizens feel that there is no hope in sight. However, for us as Christians, Hope is the anchor on which we hang all our hopes (Heb. 6:19). Now is the time to re-enkindle and renew that hope.”
Kukah urged the President to renew the hope of Nigerians by bringing us down from this cross of brutality and suffering.
He said, “These times of great suffering should be times of hope beyond human imagination. The road to our collective discouragement in Nigeria has been laid by marauders, murderers, savages, and ravenous predators who threaten to overrun our nation. Mr. President, immediately rid our dear country of these forces of darkness and bring us down from this cross of cynicism.
Kukah called on the President to make food security a fundamental human right to all citizens and bring Nigerians down from the painful cross of hunger.
He expressed deep concern over the deteriorating problem of insecurity in the country, adding that we have watched as the cancer of insecurity and violence has metastasized.
Accordingly to him, this cancer threatens the very foundation of our common humanity as the bandits have not only become embedded in every sphere of our lives, but they threaten to destroy all that holds our communities together.
“This self-destructive cancer has invaded our communities, and kidnapping is now a dog whistle for undermining the very structure and foundation of our country. We now hang on the cross at the mercy of these forces of darkness. Mr. President, please bring us down from this cross of insecurity.”
He observed that the majority of the citizens want to live in peace with one another; however, allowing this insecurity to persist will undermine all forms of goodwill that this or any government in Nigeria espouses.
He stated that Easter is the most important event in the history of Christian faith and the season of Christ’s triumph over death, and implored the President to step up, get to the finishing line, and bring the country down from the cross of shame.
