Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, says bandits and terrorists were emboldened by the silence of the President Muhammadu Buhari regime. 

Mr Kukah, made this statement in his Christmas sermon, lamenting the spate of insecurity across Nigeria and the continued terrorising of the country by criminals. 

“The silence of the federal government only feeds the ugly beast of complicity in the deeds of these evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of our children,” Mr Kukah said, adding that “We have before us a government totally oblivious to the cherished values of the sacredness of life.”

The cleric said Nigerians have lost count of the number of kidnappings perpetrated by bandits and terrorists under Mr Buhari’s watch, demanding that the president owes the citizens an explanation for his failures. 

“Today, after over seven years, our over 100 Chibok Girls are still marooned in the ocean of uncertainty. Over three years after, Leah Sharibu is still unaccounted for. Students of the Federal Government College, Yauri, and children from Islamiyya School, Katsina, are still in captivity.

“We also have lost count of hundreds of individuals and families who have been kidnapped and live below the radar of publicity. Does the President of Nigeria not owe us an explanation and answers as to when the abductions, kidnappings, brutality, senseless, and endless massacres of our citizens will end? We need urgent answers to these questions,” Mr Kukah added. 

Earlier in the year, in his Easter homily, Mr Kukah had criticised Mr Buhari’s regime for rehabilitating and releasing Boko Haram terrorists. 

In response, the spokesperson for Mr Buhari, Garba Shehu, had dismissed Mr Kukah’s criticisms as lies.