Politicians’ supporters have been warned by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, not to commit suicide as a show of support for their candidates.
The elderly priest believes that opposition politicians are just pals competing for a piece of the national pie and should not be taken seriously.
Several hours after the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for president, Bola Tinubu, and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Atiku Abubakar, joked around at the private terminal of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday, Kukah appeared on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily program on Tuesday.
Political zealots, according to Kukah, the convener of the National Peace Committee, should take a lesson from the friendly banter between Tinubu and Atiku.
He claimed that the jokes were intended to send a message to supporters of both of the front-runners for the presidency in 2023: be wise, abstain from violence, and don’t commit suicide over people who share the same pool.
On November 14, 2022, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar met at the airport in Abuja.
“These politicians are struggling and they’ve lived their lives struggling for the national cake which they will distribute amongst themselves. It is therefore in the interest of ordinary Nigerians to know that they have to vote to stay alive,” the cleric said.
In addition, Kukah stated that supporters of politicians “must comprehend that these politicians know themselves,” notwithstanding their bluster and pose.
He then called on supporters of candidates all over the country to be “a bit more restrained and wise”.
Kukah said, “We ordinary people must figure out how to manage our passion when it comes to politics. Don’t take seriously the grandstanding of the politicians.
“All the things you see about them abusing themselves or quarreling, you will think they will never shake hands. They are very good friends, and many of them drink from the same pool. So, don’t go and kill yourself for nothing. That is what that message is all about.”