MY THOUGHT THIS MORNING Re: Did Bishop Kukah Say That Islam is a violent religion in his Christmas Message?

By Yusuf Shehu Usman

It would be recalled that the MURIC in a reaction to the message delivered by Bishop Kukah on Christmas day, accused the Bishop of describing Islam as a violent religion among other allegations contained in the press release issued by MURIC
As I expected, many Muslims including my humble self took up the matter on the social media, in defence of Islam
While not out rightly condemning the Bishop, I sought to know whether the Bishop actually made that damning statement
I heard and saw the Bishop on television on Christmas day delivering the message but the television stations did not transmit the whole of the message delivered by the Bishop
I however caught a substantial part of it and based on what I heard and saw of what the Bishop said, I made a post which though critical of the contents of some parts of the speech, I expressed my disagreement and dissatisfaction with some parts
It is important to point out that I agreed with some of the observations made by the Bishop especially with regard to the matter of the moment – the increasing spate of Insecurity across the nation and the inability of the Government to tackle it to the day of the citizens
That post elicited various responses both negative and positive
Then, later, MURIc came up with a press release in which they accused the Bishop of referring to Islam as a violent religion and castigated him on other various issues
I reacted to the MURIC press release through another post as stated earlier
In this reaction, I made it clear that I didn’t hear the Bishop saying that in the speech I watched on the television and sought to know whether he actually said so, in the speech
As expected, this post also drew a robust discussion with comments in various forms
Let me put the records straight for the purpose of clarity and to avoid misconception
I have not accused the Bishop of saying that Islam is a violent religion
I have not heard him say so in the part of his speech I watched on various television channels
But I said that if it is true that the Bishop said so, he deserved the kind of responses he would get from the Muslims as a reaction to the attack on our faith
In the course of the discourse, I asked from the discussants that if any person has the full and unedited message of the Bishop, he should kindly post it on the page to dispel rumours and speculations
The full message was posted on my wall and in my inbox by at least three people
I have read it over and over again and wish to state that from all I read line by line, there was no where in the message where the Bishop referred to Islam as a violent religion
I did not see it in the body, context and text of the Bishop’s message delivered on Christmas day
I am convinced that the Bishop did not make that statement in his Christmas Message
He said a lot of things critical of the Government but even if not a Bishop, he is fully entitled as a Nigerian, to express his views on the state of the nation and that is what every Nigerian who wishes to do so, have been doing since Insecurity became a matter of national discourse
It is now become imperative to challenge MURIC to substantiate it’s allegations against the Bishop, especially on the part where it claimed that the Bishop had referred to Islam as a violent religion
To me, this is the most important issue which if not handled with caution and the truth, is capable of setting the nation on the dangerous path of religious crisis
The MURIC should either substantiate it’s claim on this or apologise to the Bishop and Nigerians for making a false statement capable of causing religious tension and division among Nigerians
I refrain from discussion on other issues raised by the Bishop in his Homily as they are not directly in issue in the post under discourse
My candid opinion is that we need to be more tolerant of each other especially on the delicate and hyper sensitive issue of religion
We must learn to accord mutual respect and understanding to each other on issues of religion for peace to reign in our nation
In truth, it is we, the elites that are fanning the embers of religious acrimony in Nigeria for our selfish and ulterior motives
The ordinary Nigerian Muslim and Christian, he is more focused on the the practice of his faith
His main objective is to make heaven through obedience to the fundamentals of faith as expressed in the Holy Books
He is less concerned let alone disturbed by the way the other person practices his religion
The seed of religious discord is planted by the elites who manipulate it to gain Political or other gains of power
That is sad as it is unfortunate for nation

Yusuf Shehu Usman is Nasarawa State Immediate Past Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice