Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto State has warned that using religion to manipulate politics will have a devastating effect on the development of the country.
Bishop Kukah highlighted what happened in Germany during the reign of Adolf Hitler and added that using religion to manipulate polictics would come with a grave consequence.
He made the observation on Tuesday, August 30, in Abuja during the presentation of his new book, "Broken Truth," as part of activities lined up for his birthday.
Kukah, who turns 70 today, August 31, said that the problem is that the Nigerian political elites lacked the mental capacity to understand the consequences of the fire they were stoking.
He said: "If you look at history, there’s a consequence for using religion to manipulate politics. We just need to look at Germany, the consequences are there to see in Hitler.
The problem is that the Nigerian political elites lack the mental capacity to understand the consequences of the fire they are stoking because there is nothing to suggest, the average person who is living in the north, who is Fulani, who is a Muslim, who is Hausa, can say that they are proud of the Nigerian political system, beyond a very tiny percentage.
"And I have said that Buhari’s recruitment process has the tendency to cause a threat because we have lost the moral right to quarrel with Boko Haram who say except you accept our way, you will die.
"If you decide that you want to give privilege to a religion or an ethnic group, what will happen is that others automatically become outsiders."
