“Too Much Talk About Probe, A Distraction” – Kukah To Buhari

Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese and spokesman of the General Abdulsa­lami Abubakar-led National Peace Com­mittee, Rev. Matthew Hassan-Kukah, yesterday advised President Muhamma­du Buhari not to be distracted from the core business of governance on account of too much talk about probe. His words:


“There is no such thing as probe in a democratic setting like ours. What obtains is investigation, and once people lead and things are not right, in­vestigation becomes necessary. However, in doing that, we must never be distracted from the spectacular actions undertaken by former President Jonathan. He is an individual. I think this whole thing about probe can be ascer­tained once investigations are concluded.




But we are saying that a lot of talks and speculation about this probe are the dis­tractions nobody needs. So, the most important thing is that we need a stable country first, before we can talk about these things. And they will have happened down the line”, he said.

Speaking after a meeting between the committee and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu Doga­ra, Kukah said though bringing treasury looters to book was important, govern­ment must place premium on providing the desired governance. The visit was led by Gen Abdulsalam.

The bishop acknowledged the damag­ing effect of corruption on the country, stressing that it has set the nation back­ward on all fronts . However, he em­phasized that it is also necessary that Ni­gerians including those in power do not get distracted from the core mandate of governance and the contributions of for­mer President Goodluck Jonathan to the sustenance of peace which the country is enjoying today.

On whether all is well between the ex­ecutive and legislature given the succes­sion of the committee’s visit to both the Presidency and the National Assembly, the Catholic Bishop said things are not the way they ought to be in the polity. He said:


“Everybody knows that things are not the way they ought to be. We are just trying to encourage people that let’s get on with this business of fix­ing this country. Let’s get to the business of realising the change that we dreamt of. And also most importantly, let’s get down with the business of co-operating with God so that Nigeria can move for­ward.

“I think that is what ordinary Nigerians are expecting, this is what they voted for. The truth of the matter is that time is not on our side. Our responsibility is to en­courage politicians to do what they were elected to do,” the Catholic bishop said.

Kukah said the meeting with the Speaker was part of the committee’s con­sultations which he noted, were aimed at getting a feel from the stakeholders about their thinking of the National Peace Committee and its role.

He noted that “we were set up to deal with the issues of national elections, and we successfully concluded. And the con­sultations are to help us redefine the role of the committee in order to sustain our democracy”.