An Islamic group in Sokoto State, The Muslim Solidarity Forum has asked Bishop Matthew Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, to either apologise for attacking Islam through his preaching or leave the State.
The group which regards itself as an umbrella body of different Islamic groups, scholars and Muslims gave the warning in a press conference on Tuesday.
Speaking at the conference, the group’s Acting Chairman of the Sokoto chapter, Prof. Isa Muhammad Maishanu, said Muslim’s have accommodated their Christian guests in peace but Kukah’s constant attack on Islam had the possibility of generating inter-religious crisis in the peaceful state.
“As part of his antics in February 2020, he shamelessly staged a demonstration in the heart of Sokoto over the killing of a single Christian priest in far away Adamawa State, presumably by the Boko Haram insurgency but did not consider hundreds of Muslim Fulani herders that were mercilessly killed by Christian militias in the neighbouring Taraba State,” Maishanu said
“These callous statements are becoming of someone who parades himself a secretary to the National Peace Committee and a member of Nigeria Inter-religious Council. As such, we call on Kukah to immediately stop his malicious vituperation against Islam and Muslims and tender unreserved apology to the Muslim Ummah or else quickly 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.”
The press statement by The Muslim Solidarity Forum is a response to a Christmas homily by bishop Kukah that has since generated controversy.
The bishop said in his Christmas message that there would have been a coup if a non-northern Muslim president does a fraction of what Buhari did.
He accused the president of institutionalising northern hegemony by “reducing others in public life to second-class status”.
While some like the All Progressives Congress youth forum, and Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC have criticised the Bishop for allegedly calling for a coup and inciting violence, others like the Evangelical Church of Winning All, ECWA, worldwide have supported the message of the bishop.
