Bishop Kukah advocates common citizenship identity

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, has called for a common identity of citizenship in Nigeria to tackle the insecurity bedevilling the country. Bishop Kukah, who is the convener of the National Peace Committee, made this call at the “Discourse on Nigeria’s National Identity: Revisiting the Indigene-Settler Question” in Abuja on Tuesday. He said it was the inability to forge a common identity of citizenship that had created the crack that politics continues to exploit. Bishop Kukah, who recalled that the NPC came to birth in 2014 to give Nigerians some respite that peace and unity are possible, expressed hope that Nigerians can find common ways of forging a common identity through dialogues. He warned that Nigerians will not grow alone because of their tribes, social status or faith, expressing regret that “We are still mired in a debate of identity over who should live where, how and when.” He said, “This is a measure of how far away we are from the goal posts of a modern society.” “We need to elevate the Nigerian identity to a higher pillar of common citizenship around which all other identities can stand in contestation against the dominant power of the state, not against one another, as is the case today. “Only then can we, in unity as citizens, struggle against the oppression of a state that is increasingly suspended from the hopes of its citizens. “Unless we focus on our common citizenship, we shall continue to mourn, carry our corpses and bury our dead, singing our dirges of hopelessness in vernaculars or from different hymn books.” The European Union Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Gautier Mignot, said the EU was ready to partner with the NPC to bring about peace in the country, adding that so much could be achieved through dialogue.

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