
Ahead of the 2023 general election, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev Matthew Kukah, has said that Nigerian politicians seeking elective offices must understand the needs of the people they want to lead. Speaking on Channels Television programme Politics Today, yesterday, Bishop Kukah said the demands and needs of Nigerians are not different from the needs of people across the world. He said the people want to live in a secure environment, send their children to school and have a conducive environment to operate.
Kukah said Nigeria does not need a religious president but someone who understands the complexity of the challenges facing the country. He said: “I’m not looking for a president of Nigeria that is Christian or Catholic who will for example turn a lot of the challenges we are facing upside down and begin to punish other people for the sins they didn’t commit.
“So, I’m not hoping that a Christian will be president and say it is time to do what those who came before us did. When you raise this issue, this is the kind of story you hear from the people in government that Jonathan did this and that, so the fact that we didn’t succeed suggests clearly that we didn’t prepare for this examination. “And the lesson we take away is that I believe that Buhari is a good man and has done his best but his best is not enough. And his best speaks to the level of his preparedness and his ability to assemble a team. “We don’t have a political elite in Nigeria and we don’t have a political culture in Nigeria because almost everybody contesting an election in Nigeria goes between two to three political parties. So, what we have are mere people who are desperate to do anything to access this honey pot and get to power.
“We don’t have a political elite with constant ideology and principles, how often do you hear people say the manifesto of our party was written in my bedroom? This suggests very clearly that the kind of leaders that we require to build a political culture does not exist in Nigeria. “So, every political party in our country is supposed to derive their inspiration from Chapter Two of our constitution that promises us all the goodies that we want. But we are hearing persistently of things that are contrary to the constitution such as if the constitution is the supreme law of the land, can you slaughter somebody because he has offended your culture or religion and get away with it? Is it possible if we are living under the same constitution?”