Bishop of Sokoto Catholic diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah Sunday carpeted former President, Chief Olusegun Obasajo over his letter to President Goodluck Jonathan saying there is always a rule to every game.
Speaking at the memorial service in honour of the late governor of Kaduna state, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, Kukah said that there are always process in removing a President from office, adding that apart from staging a coup, the only way to acquire political power is through election.
Kukah who said he has only read the first page of the letter and its conclusion said that the issues of interest to him was not about President Jonathan because even if he remains in power for 20 years, he will leave office one day.
The clergyman said “I am sure some of you have read Obasanjo’s letter. I was one of the first people to get the letter, but not from Obasanjo. I read page one and the conclusion. I have not read the rest. You hear politicians tell you about the threat of doom and bloodshed.
“When food is almost ready, very bitter political enemies who have not been talking will begin to talk because food is almost ready. So far, the corruption, the erosion of integrity the corrosion that passes authority in Nigeria, we have not even come close to what politics is. We have bandits and all kinds of people who want only the key.
“We must continue to pray for Nigeria because we are rescinding and has forgotten what our overall objective should be. Mandela is dead and Nigeria had better adjust itself very quickly to take its rightful position.
“There are rules to every game. You want to be President, there is a date. You don’t want somebody to be President, there is a process. Short of a coup, there is no other way of accessing power except through election. For me, what lies before us is not about President Goodluck Jonathan because even if he stays for 20, he will go one day. But really, we should wake up.
“The very idea that somebody move from this party to that party or going and coming from Abuja, all of us who are fooling ourselves will soon be left stranded when the matter is settled. Somehow, people are imagining that you can fall in love and fall out of love.
“But if people think that the rest of us will join a political party or come out because somebody say so, we should purse and begin to think; not about ourselves or interest, but about our nation. We should not be where we are in Nigeria, but I think we should come to a point in Nigeria when we should not be repeating mistakes even if that is the only legacy we can take from what Yakowa has done.
“Yakowa is gone and we will never forget him. But the only tribute we can pay to him is to say never again to the politics of hatred, never again to the politics of deceit, never again to the politics of insincerity; never again shall we shed blood in our state and in our country. We have a country to build. God has given us all these resources.
“I am looking forward to the day when a governor will be elected in Kaduna or others of the federation on the basis of his merit. I was among the first people to hear of this Yakowa that because popular. Yakowa came as a symbol and God does not make mistakes. It is interesting that nobody has ever challenged Mandela.
“What he did when he was campaigning was that he will build one million houses; but at the time he left office, he had not built 200,000 houses. There are certain leaders that come and their achievement is not measured by the material things. At the time Yakowa died, he was becoming very unpopular among his people”.
Source: The Nation
