New Telegraph

2023: Nigerians must question presidential candidates –Kukah

…says if candidates don’t think it rude to ask for votes, it shouldn’t be rude to ask them questions
…religious divide in Nigeria largely artificial …general poll going to be determined by young people

Ahead of the 2023 presidential election, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has said anyone that wants to be president of the country must be ready to appear at a public platform to answer questions. Speaking on ‘Channels Television’ programme, ‘Politics Today’, Bishop Kukah said it is high time Nigerians question those that want to lead them as president. Kukah said: “If the president didn’t think it was rude to ask for my vote, why must it be rude for me to ask him questions.”

Commenting on the issue of the same faith ticket, Kukah said the religious divide going on in the country is largely artificial. He said: “It depends on the kind of environment in which politics is being played because elections have just concluded in Kenya and there is no consensus about Christians and Muslims. “But they are disturbing signs because in the nature of politics, identity becomes silent and it all depends on which identity would remain silent.

In our particular case in Nigeria where you have a population of 50-50 Christians and Muslims, this manipulation is bound to be part of politics. “Our hope and our prayer is that increasingly ordinary Nigerians can look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves very simple questions: if I voted in the last election based on religion, am I better off today than I was yesterday.”

Speaking further, he said: “If I voted on the grounds of ethnicity, am I better off today than I was yesterday? “So, I think the most important thing is for Nigerians to appreciate that politicians would do what politicians do everywhere in the world which is to play on the sentiments of the people and use them as an instrument of mobilising and cornering power. “But if you live in Nigeria, you will know that the average Nigerian politician is concerned with three things: myself, myself and myself. So, it is a question of ordinary Nigerians getting wiser and sidestepping some of these landmines.

“The whole idea of religious divide in the country is over-dramatised and overhyped because it is the same Nigerians that go about their business every blessed day and we don’t see them fighting. “The truth of the matter is that this division is largely artificial and people respond to realities as they see them.” On insecurity, the Bishop thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the release of some of the kidnapped victims and asked him for a deliberate effort to ensure the return of all Nigerians in the captivity of terrorists. Bishop Kukah also alluded to the fact that the 2023 general election is going to be determined by the young people, saying it’s the moment of the young people to take over their country.

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