YAOUNDÈ, Cameroon – A leading African prelate has stated that the lack of political will to end rising insecurity in Nigeria “is turning our country into one wide funeral home”.
The Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah, in northern Nigeria, issued a sweeping critique of President Bola Tinubu’s handling of the country’s multiple woes during an exclusive interview with Crux, calling out rampant killings, kidnappings, secessionist attempts and piracy, which have all conspired to threaten the lives and livelihoods of millions of Nigerian citizens.
Tinubu came to power in 2023 on promises to tackle the insecurity problem, but Kukah says he is “saddened by the seeming stasis in the fight against insecurity”.
Kukah, 71, has an outsized presence in Nigerian public life. Holding a Ph.D. from the University of London, he’s one of the most trusted and admired religious leaders in the country, having served on a national commission for political reform, and having led negotiations to end a conflict between the Shell corporation and the Ogoni ethnic group over oil operations in the Niger Delta.
The following are excerpts of the Crux interview with Kukah.
Crux: How would you describe the situation of insecurity in Nigeria today?
It is a scar, and the zenith of the corruption of the Nigerian state. The lack of political will and clear commitment to end this tragedy is turning our country into one wide funeral home.
We need to see concrete, measurable timelines for progress. We will measure this government not by its promises, but clear signs that it can end this tragedy. The [measures] to [end] this war are available, and if those appointed cannot show progress, they should be told to go.
Every conceivable promise made by this government hangs on the scaffold of security, because even citizens will not invest in their own country if there are no security guarantees. I am ashamed as a Nigerian by the seeming helplessness of the government at all levels. We want and we must see action, a cleansing of the bad eggs in the top echelons of the security agencies, because there are [too many] divided loyalties.
Crux: President Tinubu came to power promising to get a grip on the rising insecurity in Nigeria. Has the President failed?
The president has four years. After [only about] seven months [in power], with a motley team of persons [the president does] not even know, it will be difficult to gauge the performance.
If you recall that some northern politicians admitted that they brought in killers to destabilise the [previous] Jonathan administration, then you must appreciate that the application and deployment of violence is often a strategic calculus in the game of perceived loss of power by the north. So, the persistence of violence can be seen as one way of undermining this government, especially when you note how the northern Muslim ruling class has openly confessed to its frustrations [about how they thought they] would consolidate their hold on power, and it seems that the administration has proved them wrong.
I am saddened by the seeming stasis in the fight against insecurity. However, for the security agencies, the militarisation of the fight has become instrumentalised and a great meal ticket. There are anxieties that [the security agencies] have been [compromised and corrupted] and there is no will to end this fortune-making enterprise.
Crux: What is your reaction to the call by civil society organisations on the president to institute a state of emergency as a way of stemming the insecurity?
This is nonsense. After over thirty years, we are worse off because of military rule. With the military stretched across the length and breadth of the country, we are definitely in a state of emergency of sorts.
This call is based on mere sentiments and it is nonsense and a mere unintelligent reflex. There should be a middle-term plan to get the military off our streets and back to the barracks where they belong, because their presence is a nuisance in a democracy and it helps to weaken their respect and credibility. In which democracy do you see the military struggling with the rest of society? It is a measure of the failure of our democracy.
Crux: The military has been criticised for either perpetrating the killing of Christians or for complicity in their killings. What is your assessment of that accusation?
Nigerians are killed in their country because the country is unsafe, not because we are Christians or Muslims, but because this defeats our sense of citizenship. Yes, many criminals have burnt churches, mosques and often target worshippers, but this happens because our State is weak.
We are like victims of Covid-19. The World Health Organization recently reported that most of those who died of Covid-19 had what they called underlying diseases. Nigeria has many underlying diseases and our immune system has been weakened by corruption.
Corruption has seriously weakened the efficiency of the security agencies, the civil service and public service. It is this weakness of the body system that allows these illiterate, rag tag band of criminals to make a mockery [of] and to taunt the army, police and security agencies of an entire country!
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