“The Archbishop of Sokoto diocese and a member of the National Peace Committee, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has expressed his frustration regarding the entanglement of the judiciary and priests in politics.
He made these views known while speaking at the 8th House of Justice Summit held in Kaduna on Friday.
The theme of the summit, ‘Electoral Accountability and Democratic Stability,’ prompted Kukah to note his sadness about how the judiciary found itself entangled in politics.
He also expressed concern about the manner in which priests, including ‘us,’ are getting involved in politics.
“I am saddened by the fact that the judiciary has now found itself being sucked into politics. I would have also been sad — and I’m also sad — to the extent that even us priests in the church are getting sucked into politics because you will never come out the same.
“You go to wrestle with a pig inside poto poto (mud). You may defeat the pig, but you cannot go around showing yourself to see what you look like.”
He clarified that he was not referring to politicians as ‘pigs.’ However, he explained that politics has its own rhyme and rhythm, especially in contrast to someone who has a certain moral responsibility.
“Elections will always give us what I call unintended consequences. But also, it is important to understand that a contest is always a contest. And you use the experience of this to prepare for the next contest,” he said.
Nonetheless, he maintained that Nigerians should not lose hope, stating that the best is still to come. Rather than worrying about the next generation, he argued that Nigerians should be focused on the present.
“You are using mobile phones today. It wasn’t the generation that went before us that gave us mobile phones. Every generation will contest its own problems. Let’s be concerned with the problems of the moment,”
“Yes, we dream about the future. But, like somebody said, today is the tomorrow you dreamt about yesterday. But let’s not be nervous.
“We should be nervous that we are underperforming because there are things we could have done differently and we can do differently.
“But there is a new consciousness that is emerging, and it is that consciousness that we must build on. So, justices will do what justices will do.”
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