June 26, (THEWILL) – Members of the Catholic faith and Christians in general have been advised to begin to play active roles in politics in order to influence the authorities to create a better society.
The advice came from the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, the Most Reverend Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, at the flag-off of the 70th Anniversary Lecture of the Order of the Knight of Saint Mulumba, held at the St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja, Lagos.
Bishop Kukah said that active involvement in politics by Christians would change the ugly stories of the country’s politics, which is marked by corruption, killings, impunity and other vices.
He noted that the passive posture of Christians has given room for people of no credibility and integrity to dominate the governance space, hence the ugly experience Nigerians are having today.
He challenged Catholics to take their rightful place in politics because the Church can lead the country creditably given the known culture of fear of God and belief in selfless service to the society.
The cleric lamented the spate of violent attacks across the country, of which many clergy of the Catholic Church were victims.
He said, “As I speak, for past three weeks my priest, a young man and a sister are still in captivity even though the Nigerian state wishes to pretend that we are not negotiating with the kidnappers. As I am talking, we are negotiating with the kidnappers because I don’t know how else to get back my priest.
“It is a very painful experience. My own blood relations have been kidnapped. Last year, I lost a to kidnappers. I have lost a seminarian to kidnappers and somehow we like to pretend we have a government. Of course, we have the apparatus of government, we have the scaffolding, but this scaffolding is important because people are able see access and appropriate resources of state.
“As to what the state needs to do, they are still far away from that reality. It is a very painful and sad reality that as at the last conversation with the kidnappers we have negotiated up to N20 million, which I do not have.”
Bishop Kukah commended the Knights of Saint Mulumba for the great work they are doing at the Veritas University, Abuja, and the numerous projects across the country that impact positively on the less privileged and vulnerable in the society.
About the Author
