CATHOLIC Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Matthew Hassan Kukah has told the justices of the Supreme Court that Nigeria’s future is in their hands.
The Supreme Court will take the final decision in petitions filed by candidates and political parties who are aggrieved over the outcome of Nigeria’s recent general elections.
Major opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and the Labour Party are challenging the result of the presidential election, won by All Progressives Congress candidate Bola Tinubu.
In his 2023 Easter message, Kukah urged the justices of the apex court to restore confidence Nigeria’s judiciary.
“Nigerians are saddened that your sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten your reputation as the last hope for all citizens.
“It is sad that your hard earned reputation is undergoing very severe pressure from those who want justice on their own terms. Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as interpreters of the spirit of our laws.
“The future of the country is in your hands,” Kukah said.
The cleric also prayed God to guide President Muhammadu Buhari in retirement, while expressing concerns over his failed promises.
He said: “As you (President Buhari) prepare to return to Daura or Kaduna, I do not know if you feel fulfilled or that you met the tall dreams and goals you set for yourself such as: ending banditry, defeating corruption, bringing back our girls, belonging to everybody and belonging to nobody, selling off our presidential fleet and traveling with us etc.
“You may have followed my engagement with you through these Messages over the years. You publicly referred to me during one of our visits as your number one public critic with a huge smile. I commend you 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.
In his message to the President-elect, Tinubu, the cleric pointed out that the most urgent task facing Nigeria is not infrastructure or the “usual cheap talk” about the dividends of democracy, but healing the land of bigotry, while prioritising safety of lives and properties.
“I am hopeful that you (President-elect) will appreciate that the most urgent task facing our nation is not infrastructure or the usual cheap talk about dividends of Democracy. These are important but first, keep us alive because only the living can enjoy infrastructure.
“For now, the most urgent mission is to start a psychological journey of making Nigerians feel whole again, of creating a large tent of opportunity and hope for us all, of expanding the frontiers of our collective freedom, of cutting off the chains of ethnicity and religious bigotry, of helping us recover from the feeling of collective rape by those who imported the men of darkness that destroyed our country, of recovering our country and placing us on the path to our greatness, of exorcising the ghost of nepotism and religious bigotry,” he stressed.
