The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, has expressed that the persistent killings in Plateau communities extends beyond fulani terrorist clashes, asserting that the perpetrators aim to establish their vision of Nigeria based on their ideology.
In a statement on Saturday, Kukah urged the government to resist the agenda of the assailants and protect Nigerians.
He strongly condemned the simultaneous attacks on communities in Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau State on Christmas eve, describing the attackers as “sons of Satan” who sought to extinguish the joy of Christmas from thousands of people on the Plateau.
Kukah emphasized that there is a method to the madness and pointed to a war being waged against Nigeria by the enemies of the country.
“There is a method to this madness,” he said in the pensive statement sent to our correspondent by his spokesman, Chris Omotosho. “The choice of location, communities, timings, the seeming hooded identities of the killers mask a fact: we may not know who they are, but someone wants something from the Middle Belt. Stretch your imagination from the emergence of the modern Nigerian state and connect the dots”.
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“We may pretend that we are not at war, but truly, a war is being waged against the Nigerian state and its people. God forbid, but we could snap anytime, anywhere and for any reason,” he said.
“By the banks of the Niger river, on the hills of the Plateau, across the lush savannah of the middle belt, we have sat down and wept. He lamented.
He raised crucial questions about the identity, origin, sponsorship, grievances, and motives of the killers. The cleric lamented the north’s status as the “incubator of all that is destructive,” citing Boko Haram, banditry, and various forms of terrorism in the region.
“Can we continue to believe that there is no long-term plan to take over the reins of power of the Nigerian state? These people want power. They want it on their own terms. They want their own kind of Nigeria according to their ideology.
“These killings are just a preface. These killings are no longer acts by herders and farmers over grazing fields. No, there is more and we as a nation will do well to face this threat before it is sunset. No evil lasts forever. The world defeated Slavery, Apartheid, Nazism, Racism, and forms of extremism,” he said.
Kukah stressed the need for the nation to confront this threat promptly, emphasizing the importance of rebuilding community cohesion and resilience.
Calling for a reset of the national security architecture, Kukah urged an end to intelligence failures and advocated for transparent investigations with public disclosures of findings and appropriate actions to build public confidence. #Plateau