The only difference between the government and Boko Haram is
Boko Haram is holding a bomb,’ Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah claimed
The beheading of 10 Christians by
Islamist militants in Nigeria has sparked a condemnation by a bishop who
accuses the government of using different methods to achieve the same goal of
Islamic dominance.
In the wake of the Christmas Day attack by Islamic State West
Africa Province (ISWAP) and an attack by Boko Haram on Christmas Eve, Bishop
Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto told Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need
of his disgust with the authorities.
He said: “The only difference
between the government and Boko Haram is Boko Haram is holding a bomb.”
He added: “They are using the levers of power to secure the
supremacy of Islam, which then gives more weight to the idea that it can be
achieved by violence. With the situation in Nigeria, it is hard to see the
moral basis they have to defeat Boko Haram.
“They have created the conditions
to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the way they are behaving.”
On Boxing Day 2019, ISWAP released
a video beheading 10 Christians and shooting one Muslim, saying they were
avenging the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghadi, Daesh (ISIS)’s leader, and other
senior Daesh members killed during a US raid in October.
This followed a Christmas Eve
attack by Boko Haram in which seven were killed.
The UN estimates that over 2.2 million have been displaced by
Boko Haram’s actions – between 2013 and 2015, more than 11,000 people were
killed by the group.
Bishop Kukah said the Nigerian
government, by packing key government positions with hardline Muslims, gives
tacit approval to such groups.
“If the people in power don’t do
enough to integrate Christians then they give oxygen to Islamism. If they have
countries where everybody is Muslim in power then you give vent to the idea
that Islam should be supreme.”
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