The Federal Government, Saturday, advised religious leaders across the country to refrain from beating the drums of hatred and disunity, warning that toxic rhetoric at this stage of Nigeria’s development could provoke unintended consequences.
Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, made the declaration on behalf of government in a statement he issued on Saturday.
“While religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to power,” he said, “such truth must not come wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity, and religious disharmony.”
Mohammed said it was “graceless and impious” for any religious leader to use the period of Christmas, a season of peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife, and national disunity.
The Minister further stated that though some religious leaders, being human, may be unable to veil their national leadership preference, they should stop stigmatising the leader they have never supported anyway, using well-worn and disproved allegations of nepotism or whatever.
Although Mohammed never mentioned the Most Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, in the statement, it was clear who he was referring to. In his Christmas message, the outspoken cleric, who is also the Vice Chairman of the National Peace Commission, had lashed at President Muhammadu Buhari accusing him of nepotism and advancing northern hegemony.
Kukah also said Nigeria was tottering towards the cliff under him.
“While religious leaders have a responsibility to speak truth to power, such truth must not come wrapped in anger, hatred, disunity and religious disharmony,” Mohammed said.
The Minister said whatever challenges Nigeria may be going through at this moment could only be tackled when all leaders and, indeed, all Nigerians come together. Name-calling and finger-pointing would not do the country any good and should, therefore, be discouraged by all Nigerians.
“Calling for a violent overthrow of a democratically-elected government, no matter how disguised such a call is, and casting a particular religion as violent is not what any religious leader should engage in, and certainly not in a season of peace,” Mohammed said.
He insisted that instigating regime change outside the ballot box was not only unconstitutional but also an open call to anarchy.
