Bishop Kukah Did Not Insult Islam – Nasarawa Former Attorney General Insists
…Urges MURIC, others to tender apology to the Bishop BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The immediate past Attorney -General (AG) and Commissioner for Justice of Nasarawa State, Malam Yusuf Shehu Usman, has declared that it is difficult to find where the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Reverend Matthew Hassan Kukah castigated or insulted the religion of Islam in his Christmas message.
Usman said while he is not out to defend Bishop Kukah, he however took his time and read through the Christmas script over and over, but was unable to find anywhere he insulted the religion of Islam.
The former commissioner therefore urged persons and some organisations that castigated Bishop Kukah to tender unreserved apology for ascribing what he did not say, stressing that their actions were capable of inflaming religious upheavals, among other things.
Usman, who stated these in a statement titled; “Did Bishop Kukah Say That Islam is a violent religion in his Christmas Message?”, noted that MURIC while reacting to the message delivered by Bishop Kukah on Christmas day, accused the Bishop of describing Islam as a violent religion among other allegations.
In his words; “While not out rightly condemning the Bishop, I sought to know whether the Bishop actually made that damning statement.
“As I expected, many Muslims including my humble self took up the matter on the social media, in defence of Islam. I heard and saw the Bishop on television on Christmas day delivering the message but the television stations did not transmit the whole of the message delivered by the Bishop
“I however caught a substantial part of it and based on what I heard and saw of what the Bishop said, I made a post which though critical of the contents of some parts of the speech, I expressed my disagreement and dissatisfaction with some parts.
“It is important to point out that I agreed with some of the observations made by the Bishop especially with regard to the matter of the moment – the increasing spate of Insecurity across the nation and the inability of the Government to tackle it. That post elicited various responses both negative and positive”.
Usman further said; “The full message was posted on my wall and in my inbox by at least three people.
“I have read it over and over again and wish to state that from all I read line by line, there was nowhere in the message where the Bishop referred to Islam as a violent religion.
“I did not see it in the body, context and text of the Bishop’s message delivered on Christmas day.
“I am convinced that the Bishop did not make that statement in his Christmas Message. He said a lot of things critical of the Government but even if not a Bishop, he is fully entitled as a Nigerian, to express his views on the state of the nation and that is what every Nigerian who wishes to do so, have been doing since Insecurity became a matter of national discourse,” he insists.
He also said; “It has now become imperative to challenge MURIC to substantiate its allegations against the Bishop, especially on the part where it claimed that the Bishop had referred to Islam as a violent religion.
“To me, this is the most important issue which if not handled with caution and the truth, is capable of setting the nation on the dangerous path of religious crisis.
“The MURIC should either substantiate its claim on this or apologise to the Bishop and Nigerians for making a false statement capable of causing religious tension and division among Nigerians”.