HOW BUHARI GAVE OXYGEN TO JIHADISTS, BY KUKAH

…Alleges Obama Forced Out Jonathan, Imposed Buhari on Nigeria
…Says Tinubu Willing To Listen, Act
…Kicks Against Country of Concern Designation

By Franklin Adole
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has launched a scathing indictment of Nigeria’s immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, accusing his administration of “giving oxygen to jihadists” through discriminatory policies that deepened the country’s religious and ethnic divisions.

Speaking at the Augustinianum Hall in Vatican City during the presentation of Aid to the Church in Need’s global report on Religious Freedom in the World (2023–2024), Bishop Kukah painted a grim picture of Nigeria’s descent into violence, intolerance, and state-sanctioned impunity under the Buhari government.

“The last eight years of the Buhari administration marked the worst phase in the history of interfaith relations in Nigeria,” the outspoken cleric said. “That administration gave oxygen to jihadists by virtue of its policies which overtly favoured Islam and northern Nigeria.”

Kukah, who has long been one of the country’s most consistent voices against injustice, accused the Buhari government of institutionalising religious imbalance at the highest levels of authority. “The President himself was a Muslim, and he ensured that the Senate President, the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, and the entire leadership of the security architecture were all Muslims, mostly from the North,” he said. “I argued then that in reality, the difference between President Buhari and the jihadists was that he used a pen while the jihadists used weapons against Christians.”

According to Kukah, this deliberate skewing of appointments eroded national cohesion and emboldened extremist groups that had been waging war against Nigeria for over a decade. He lamented that the Buhari years saw “the worst persecution of Christians in the country’s history,” as thousands of communities were overrun by bandits, jihadists, and terrorist militias.

“The inability of the federal government and its security agencies to end these killings created the condition for the genocide that has taken over many communities today,” he said, warning that Nigeria is now “in the cusp of a weak state with a clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy.”

The fiery bishop did not spare the international community. In a stunning revelation, he alleged that the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama played a key role in forcing out former President Goodluck Jonathan and imposing Buhari on Nigeria in 2015.

“I believe that the Obama and Biden administrations were complicit in the way they handled the fight against Boko Haram under President Goodluck Jonathan,” Kukah declared. “Nigeria was already making progress, but the decision to block our access to weapons, and their drive to impose President Buhari on Nigeria, pushed back this fight.”

He described the U.S. policy during that period as “a historic misjudgment that strengthened the hands of extremists and weakened Nigeria’s ability to defend itself.” He appealed to former U.S. President Donald Trump “to lift the restrictions that still prevent Nigeria from accessing critical military equipment needed to crush terrorism once and for all.”

Bishop Kukah also took aim at Nigeria’s ruling class, blaming decades of neglect and impunity for the deepening culture of violence. He said that for over 15 years, “murderous gangs of jihadists and Islamicists have turned large swaths of Nigeria into killing fields,” with thousands of Christians and Muslims alike becoming victims of terror.

Quoting the new Aid to the Church in Need report, Kukah said more than 5.4 billion people globally now live in countries without religious freedom — but that Nigeria remains “one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians.”

“Religious identity, particularly Christian identity in the northern states, matters intensely because it renders Christians and moderate Muslims particularly vulnerable to violence, persecution, and displacement,” the report noted, citing the Global Terrorism Index, which still ranks Nigeria among the world’s top five countries for terror-related deaths despite a 37% decline in attacks.

Despite his harsh critique, Kukah struck a note of cautious optimism about President Bola Tinubu’s administration, which he said has shown “a willingness to listen and act.” He cited the President’s inclusive appointments — such as naming Christians to head the ruling party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and key security agencies — as “confidence-building measures that could help restore harmony among Nigerians.”

Kukah also lauded Tinubu’s decision to personally visit Benue State after the Yelwata killings and offer financial support to victims, contrasting it with Buhari’s habitual silence “without empathy” in similar crises.

The bishop concluded his Vatican address with a passionate plea for reform, urging Tinubu to challenge the constitutionality of Sharia law in 12 northern states, which he described as “the root of impunity and mob justice.”

“The secular state anticipated by the Constitution must be enforced,” he said. “For over forty years, agents of the state have stood by as individuals kill and destroy in the name of religion. Things must change.”

In a message both prophetic and political, Bishop Kukah reminded the world that Nigeria’s redemption lies in justice, equality, and truth — not in the silence of complicity. “Nigerians are dying unacceptable deaths across the country,” he warned. “The time has come to build a nation where no one is oppressed.”