Kukah: Nigerians Angered About Election Results – Cleric Urges Citizens Not To Give Up On Justice

The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, said Sunday that Nigerians are disappointed with the outcome of the 2023 elections.
The cleric called on the people to rise up and take back their country from the clutches of the current government.

He also noted that justice has eluded Nigerians, saying this explains why they are now desperate, depressed and unhappy.

Kukah, who said this in his Easter message to the people of Nigeria, describes them as men and women returning from a funeral with a look of despair.

He praised President Muhammadu Buhari for admitting that criticism of the current administration is not based on malice, but on a desire to see Nigeria reach its full potential.

“I commend you (Buhari) for the fact that you have known that none of this was done out of malice but that we want the best for our country.

“May God guide you in retirement while we all embark on the challenge of reclaiming the country we knew before you came,” Kukah said.

The bishop further condemned the violence that trailed the elections, saying it could not be accepted as the new ladder to power.

His words:

“Nigerians are so collectively frustrated that it is almost impossible to convince them that they can find justice.

“Everywhere you turn today, Nigerians look forlorn, disconsolate, lugubrious, and despondent. Our swagger is gone. We look like men and women returning from a funeral, murmuring discontentment in hushed tones. It is, therefore, not surprising that even the victors are blowing a muted trumpet.

“Unpleasant as this may sound, this blood that they have shed could be seen as blood of the birth of a new Nigeria. It can become the blood of our new birth, our redemption.

”However, we cannot accept that violence and bloodshed are the normal route to power. Because like the blood of Abel, the blood of those who have been murdered continues to cry out to heaven seeking for justice ( Genesis 4:10).”

The cleric further empathised with aggrieved citizens and asked them not to give up in the quest for justice but align their hopes with the celebration of Easter.

“Though we are tempted with the drudgery of fatigue and despondency, unlike the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, we should be ready to wait in patience for one hour or more,” Kukah said.

“Our dream is merely in suspense, a punctuation mark in the book of our unfinished greatness. Let us see this as a detour, a diversion. We still have our roadmap in our hands.

”It is time to return to the highway so as to choose a road less travelled, a road of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and hope. The ugliness of yesterday must not define us. We must finish this journey together. We shall neither relent, slow down nor give up.

“The resurrection is a promise that despite the seeming hopelessness, God’s plans cannot be frustrated.

“Those who position themselves at night with stones to guard the entrance of the tomb will find themselves confounded at dawn by an empty tomb. A new Nigeria will emerge from the tombs of our seeming helplessness.”

Kukah to aggrieved Nigerians, asked them not to show their anger through violence but to transform it to a motivation to seek justice.

“Yes, we are all angry and we all want justice. Yes, we have the right to be angry and we should be angry. But, angry about what, angry with whom and justice for whom?