Kukah to Buhari : Free all captives

By Habibu Harisu

The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to do more than pardoning 150 Nigerians serving various terms of imprisonment.

Kukah said this in his Easter message delivered at a mass service on Sunday, in Sokoto.

He gave the president a bigger challenge.

“The more serious challenge is to immediately free all innocent Nigerians who are held captive and whose only crime is that they are living in Nigeria.”

President Buhari had accepted the report of the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy and granted pardon to about 150 Nigerians serving various jail terms.

Two of the people pardoned, former governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame, have stirred some dust, as critics said the pardon has damaged Buhari’s anti-corruption fight.

Kukah also questioned why the Buhari administration is pampering former terrorists, while their victims live hellish life in IDP camps.

”It seems that the federal government had shown far greater commitment to integrating so-called repentant terrorists than getting our children back from kidnappers or keeping our universities open.

”Earlier last month, Operation Safe Corridor announced that it had graduated 599 members of various terrorist groups who had acquired new skills and were now ready to be integrated into society.

”The total comes to over a thousand now. It is plausible to note that the programme involved psychosocial support, rehabilitation, vocational training, skill acquisition and start-ups.

”The larger issue is that their various communities had expressed their reluctance to receive their erring sons back.

”As a priest, I cannot be against a repentant sinner or criminals changing their ways. After all, the doors of forgiveness must always remain open.

” However, in this case, Nigerians have very little information as to the entire rehabilitation process, he noted.