By Olu Fasan
The Most Rev. Matthew Kukah,
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, is uncharacteristically complacent.
Recently, he upbraided Nigerians for fretting about the Rivers State crisis,
triggered by the festering conflict between the current governor Siminalayi
Fubara and his immediate predecessor, Nyesom Wike. “We ordinary people cry more
than the bereaved,” Rev. Kukah said, adding: “When politicians fight, don’t get
carried away because they will fix their quarrel.”
Really? How many ordinary people must die before the politicians do so? How many properties must be destroyed before they fix their quarrel? The highly respected and cerebral bishop was trivialising a serious issue. Truth is, the stakes are high. It is about political survival, about who controls the political levers in Rivers State. And ahead of 2027, it will become a do-or-die affair, and could morph into a political inferno, a conflagration.
