{"id":23612,"date":"2020-01-04T21:15:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-04T20:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=23612"},"modified":"2020-01-04T21:15:18","modified_gmt":"2020-01-04T20:15:18","slug":"the-only-difference-between-the-government-and-boko-haram-is-boko-haram-is-holding-a-bomb-says-bishop-matthew-hassan-kukah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=23612","title":{"rendered":"‘The only difference between the government and Boko Haram is Boko Haram is holding a bomb,’ says Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.
\nIn 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.
\nHe said: \u201cThe only difference between the government and Boko Haram is Boko Haram is holding a bomb.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cThey 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.
\n\u201cThey have created the conditions to make it possible for Boko Haram to behave the way they are behaving.\u201d
\nOn 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)\u2019s leader, and other senior Daesh members killed during a US raid in October.
\nThis followed a Christmas Eve attack by Boko Haram in which seven were killed.
\nThe UN estimates that over 2.2 million have been displaced by Boko Haram\u2019s actions \u2013 between 2013 and 2015, more than 11,000 people were killed by the group.
\nBishop Kukah said the Nigerian government, by packing key government positions with hardline Muslims, gives tacit approval to such groups.
\n\u201cIf the people in power don\u2019t 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.\u201d
\nBishop Kukah hit out against Western nations who he said are happy to mine the resources of Africa but not defend its people.
\nHe said: \u201cWestern nations are not doing enough. They have shown that the resources of Africa are more important than the ordinary people. Clearly, the Western nations could have reduced the influence of Boko Haram by 80 or 90 percent \u2013 they have deliberately not done enough.\u201d
\nBishop Kukah said that the only thing preventing Nigeria from being engulfed in civil war was the peaceful tenets of Christianity.
\nHe said: \u201cChristians have every reason to feel insecure and also there is a general feeling of their marginalisation from the political process. If the principles of our religion were different, there would be a civil war by now.
\n\u201cIt is the glory of our religion that this hasn\u2019t happened. It is difficult to preach peace in this context. Any resolution depends on how Christians decide to react. They won\u2019t use violence but what will they do?\u201d
\nThis article was provided by Aid to the Church in Need UK
\nBy www.catholicherald.co.uk<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Note<\/strong>: Bishop Kukah confirmed to Nigeria Everyday<\/strong> on Saturday night that the comments ascribed to him in the above publication are indeed his.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6902,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772,7],"tags":[672,673,167],"class_list":["post-23612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","category-news","tag-bomb","tag-government","tag-kukah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23612\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}