TheCable

Matthew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, says the continuous killings in the country is as a result of desperation of politicians to hold power.

Kukah said African politicians are so desperate for power that “they will go over oceans of blood and corpses to place ballot boxes to steal votes. ”

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, the cleric said unless human life is given topmost priority, people will continue to be used as “sacrificial offerings”.

He also said the killings in the country would not stop the 2019 elections from holding.

“Politicians in Africa want power at all cost and they will go over oceans of blood and corpses to place ballot boxes to steal votes. Dead people have had appointments in Nigeria,” Kukah said.

“This is a strange country and unless we get to a point where human life is at the centre and defines everything, every blood can only serve as sacrificial offering for the ambitions of those who want power at all cost.

“This is Nigeria. The killings did not stop the 2015 elections. But as I have said and I repeat, who knows who will be here in 2019?”

Asked what he thought was responsible for the wide-spread killings, the cleric said “this is a subject for many Ph.D theses.”

“People do not die by geography, so it is not so much the spread. They are dying everywhere and in Nigeria, everywhere, anywhere is a place to die. If you survive the herdsmen, the marauders, the armed robbers, the terrible highways are lying in wait. It is a sad commentary.”

Kukah further said the May protest organised by the Catholic church to protest the nationwide killings had no political undertone.

“We the Catholic Bishops organised it, I was there, so what thoughts again can I say other than to thank the huge Catholics, Christians and even Muslims who joined? The use of the word protest sounds negative, but this was the highest moral duty for every human being. Nothing more,” he said.

“There is no human being anywhere in the world for whom this should not be of interest. It has nothing to do with the politics of the day. We cannot play games with human lives.

“Only the living have cards and 2019 is only for the living plus who knows which of us will be here in 2019 not to talk of our ambitions?”

Kukah had said in April that “it will be one of the greatest miracles”  if Nigeria pulls through the 2019 election successfully.