Calls For Secession May Be Justified, But Staying Together Cheaper – Kukah

• “It may be right for everybody to want to go. Yes, it may be right for people to want to feel so dissatisfied”

Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, says balkanization of Nigeria will prove costlier than staying together as a united nation.

Kukah said this when he spoke on The Platform, an annual programme organised by Covenant Christian Centre, on Saturday,

Kukah, however, added that the demands of those agitating for secession from Nigeria are legitimate.

His comments come amid sustained and widespread calls for Nigeria’s breakup from both the proponents of a Biafran government and other aggrieved citizens.

Speaking at the public event, the cleric said the government must, through its body language, convince people that Nigeria’s unity is worth it.

“It may be right for everybody to want to go. Yes, it may be right for people to want to feel so dissatisfied that they want an end to what we have today. But the cost of staying together is far cheaper than the cost of everybody going his way,” he said.

“The most important thing here is that the government must give us a reason. The body language – we need to be inspired as a country to inspire ourselves that this country is worth the psychological, the spiritual and the cultural engagements.”

Kukah further said the government must develop a sense of empathy for the victims of the deepening ssecurity crisis in Nigeria.

He decried the incessant killings across the country, adding that it was not certain whether those in power could relate with the agony of many Nigerians.

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According to him, “the government must develop a sense of empathy and I have said this on several occasions, I do not mean anything negative and everywhere you turn to this is what Nigerians are saying.

“People are dying and we do not get a sense that those who govern us understand and see our pain because we have not seen them at funerals nor on condolence visits.

“We have not seen them whether by telephone call or whatever. Empathy is not sympathy. Empathy is at the heart of who we are as human beings.”