Soyinka Blasts Kukah For Attacking Buhari In Easter Message

Prof. Wole Soyinka, a Nobel Laureate, has blasted Matthew Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, for his Easter speech in 2022.

According to Anaedoonline.ng, Kukah stated in his Easter homily broadcast on Sunday that the only thing that works in Nigeria is corruption.

In his letter, Bishop Kukah slammed President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, saying that the government has gone into slumber and that the country requires immediate assistance.

Again, Bishop Kukah Knocks Buhari Over Worsening Insecurity

He went on to say that the Buhari government has divided Nigerians along ethnic, religious, and regional lines in ways that have never been seen before in the country’s history.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Soyinka chastised the Bishop for failing to mention in his Easter address the incarceration of two Nigerian Aethists, Mubarak Bala and Yahaya Sharif, for suspected blasphemy.

According to the dramatist, religious leaders in Nigeria and throughout the world must confront the truth that millions of people are abandoning Christianity and Islam.

Soyinka, on the other hand, recommended the loud priest to speak out in support of Bala, who was just sentenced to 24 years in jail, and Sharif, who is accused of blasphemy.

He said: “Easter Greetings to you, Rev Mathew Kukah and to all your followers. All has been said, I think. I am impelled however not to miss an opportunity to add my own Easter drop to the overflowing vessel of pietistic sentiments if only to reassure Christians – and also Moslems in turn – that even we, non-believers, do partake of that same ethical communion to which most humanity aspires. Also, your Easter sermon opens up yet again those sluices of juridical hypocrisy to which we dare not cease to draw attention.

Prof Soyinka Laments Over Insecurity In Nigeria

“Such, in the immediate, remains the plight of two young men – Mubarak Bala and the musician Yahaya Sharif – one serving a sentence of twenty-five years, the other actually sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy. The word “blasphemy” comes into its authentic mode, in my view, whenever anyone violates a solemn oath of office. Its penitentially becomes even redoubled when such violators are pampered with the prerogative of mercy. Permit me to call special attention to the following from your sermon:

“Religious leaders must face the reality that here in Nigeria and elsewhere around the world, millions of people are leaving Christianity and Islam. While we are busy building walls of division with the blocks of prejudice, our members are becoming atheists, but we prefer to pretend that we do not see this. We cannot pretend not to hear the footsteps of our faithful marching away into atheism and secularism. No threats can stop this, but dialogue can open our hearts.”

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