Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Dr. Hassan Kukah, yesterday warned that the proliferation of political coalitions in the country will not in any way provide a solution to Nigeria’s problems.
“Each time you have problem with your wife, you go and marry another wife; how many wives are you going to marry?” he asked rhetorically in a veiled reference to the newly formed Coalition for Nigeria Movement, CNM, by former President Obasanjo.
The press briefing was to herald a public lecture, “How to make democracy work for Africa,” organized by The Kukah Centre.
Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, is scheduled to deliver the key note address at the lecture.
Kukah spoke 48 hours after associates of former President Olusegun Obasanjo launched his latest pet project, Coalition for Nigeria.
Obasanjo formally joined the group at a ceremony in Abeokuta on Thursday and said it was a popular movement of Nigerians, irrespective of their political affiliations, to propel the country forward.
He mooted the idea last week in a statement in which he asked President Muhammadu Buhari to jettison any plan to seek reelection next year.
However, Kukah wondered yesterday why some powerful personalities in the country will continue to select political office seekers and literally compel Nigerians to vote for them.
“When they fall out with the person they helped to win election, they expect us to follow the same way,” he said.
The Catholic Bishop also warned those turning a blind eye to the security challenges in the country to wake up and resist the temptation of taking the patience of the military for granted.
Nigerians, according to him, have been patient for long and have also witnessed the patience of the military for 18 years.
“We as Nigerians should not take the patience of the military for granted,” he said.
He said that the overwhelming presence of the military personnel in parts of the country is a sign that the country is not democratizing.
He added that it has also shown that the presence of the military personnel is not necessarily the panacea for insecurity.
Bishop Kukah noted that it is obvious that Nigerians are far more divided now than they were before the 2015 general elections, pointing out that there has to be Nigeria before anybody could be its president.