The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and Convener of the National Peace Committee (NPC), Matthew Hassan Kukah, has stated that bandits are not responsible for the division in the country.
Speaking during a public discourse on national identity and the indigene-settler question, organised by the National Peace Committee, Kukah stated that Nigeria’s deepening divisions and escalating violence were symptoms of longstanding governance failure and social exclusion.
He argued that violence by bandits and other groups was merely feeding off a broken system.
The clergyman lamented that Nigeria has failed to build a platform that unites its citizens, leaving people to rally around their tribe, religion and birthplace instead of a shared national identity.
He said, “We need to elevate the Nigerian identity to a higher pillar of common citizenship. Only then can we, in unity, resist the oppression of a state increasingly detached from the hopes of its citizens.”
He warned that unless Nigeria rebuilds a sense of common belonging, the citizens would continue “to mourn, carry our corpses and bury our dead, singing our dirges of hopelessness.”
Bishop Kukah reminded the audience that the National Peace Committee, established in 2014, was intended to restore faith in reconciliation, peace and democracy. However, the country still remains trapped in divisive debates over identity.
“Our killers are not the cause of our instability. They have only identified the cracks in our differences, worsened by the indifference and incapacity of the state,” he said.
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