Quit notice to Kukah clear affirmation Nigeria controlled by forces bent on setting it ablaze —Ortom

Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has condemned the quit notice handed to Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah by a group known as Muslim Solidarity Forum.

He said the group statement was a clear affirmation that Nigeria “is being controlled by forces which are bent on setting the country ablaze if their interests are not guaranteed.”

The Muslim group had asked Kukah to apologise to Muslims for his Christmas message, which they claim was an attack on Muslim, or leave Sokoto State.

But responding in a statement on Thursday through his spokesman, Terver Akase, Governor Ortom frowned at the statement and described it as a contradiction of provisions of the constitution which accord Nigerians the right to live freely in any part of the country.

He called on Nigerians, irrespective of religious and political affiliations to uphold unity, peace and dialogue as panacea for the myriad of problems confronting the country.

READ ALSO: ‘We have failed Nigerians as leaders. Let’s ask for God’s forgiveness,’ Ortom tells youths

“Nigerians – both Christians and Muslims need to set aside religious and other sentiments to come together in humility to fast and pray for peace and unity of the country, rather than the current situation where some persons are fanning embers of disunity and hatred,” Ortom said.

Noting that “the Holy Bible admonishes the people to pray for their leaders” Ortom stressed that what is happening in the country at the moment was beyond human comprehension and cannot be tackled by President Muhammadu Buhari alone.

He advised that people who love Nigeria should desist from making inflammatory statements capable of heightening tensions and taking the country to the precipice of chaos and disintegration.

The Presidency had since condemned the quit notice asking Kukah to leave Sokoto State.

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