The Muslim Solidarity Forum has asked the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah to apologise to the entire Muslim Ummah over his recent comments against Islam.
Recall that Kukah in a Christmas Day message accused the President Muhammadu Buhari administration of nepotism.
The Bishop also stated that there would have been a coup if another president had acted like Buhari.
Kukah’s message drew reactions from the presidency and various Muslim groups, who accused him of targeting Islam and Muslims in Nigeria with his Christmas message.
The Bishop has since denied targeting Muslims with his statement, stressing that the message was purely meant to criticise government policies.
But speaking to newsmen on Tuesday the acting chairman of the Muslim forum, Professor Isa Muhammad Maishanu described Kukah’s comment as “malicious”.
He said: “Our intention at Muslim Solidarity Forum is not to hold brief for the President, as he has those who are paid to do that; rather our concern is the image and reputation of Muslims, which Mr. Kukah finds pleasure in attacking without an iota of caution, and by referring to him as a Muslim, that automatically brings all Muslims in the issue.
“The Bishop has the penchant to speak in parables and innuendos. His reference to a people who possess ‘a pool of violence to draw from’ no doubt is a reference to those he has always characterized with violence – the Muslims. This is a serious provocation.
“He even has the gut to say the killings we are witnessing in Nigeria are part of a grand religious design’! Religious? Who are the victims of the killings? What religion do they profess? Is it not a fact that over 90% of those being killed are Muslims? Who is behind the so-called design?
“These callous statements are unbecoming of someone who parades himself a secretary to National Peace Committee and a member of Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), as such, we call on Kukah to immediately stop his malicious vituperations against Islam and Muslims and tender unreserved apology to the Muslim Ummah or else quickly and quietly leave the seat of Caliphate, as he is trying to break the age-long peaceful coexistence between the predominantly Muslim population and their Christian guests,” they noted
“The sensible and objective world knows the truth! We wonder how Kukah who lives peacefully and comfortably in the heart of the Sokoto Caliphate can make such a callous and senseless statement.”
