The Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, says Nigeria saw its worst form of corruption during the last administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kukah who stated this while delivering a keynote speech at the 60th call to bar anniversary celebration of legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, in Ado Ekiti on Monday, accused the former president of promoting nepotism as official policy.
The outspoken clergyman noted that Buhari amplified both moral and financial corruption in the country, while decrying the total neglect of Southern Kaduna where he comes from the and other southern areas of the north by successive governments.
“We have seen the worst phase of corruption in Nigeria. Femi Falana, my friend here, will speak about that because he has published a series of articles talking about what happened under the Buhari administration,” he said.
“They were not the ones who caused corruption but I think in the last administration, we saw the ugliest phase of corruption whether in moral terms, financial terms and other terms,” he said.
Kukah lamented that Nigeria is sharing its sovereignty which is guaranteed in the constitution with bandits and other terrorists.
The clergyman expressed worry that Nigerian is literally being held hostage by people who threaten the very existence of our democracy and country.
According to him, a lot of Nigerians have lost faith in the judiciary.
He described the judiciary as a victim the same way every other institution in Nigeria is suffering a crisis.
According to him, Nigeria should not yet assume that it is a democracy but instead assume that it is matching towards democracy, which means rebuilding Nigeria “after the kind of mess the last administration has left the country.”
The Bishop, however, said it is time to rebuild the country, adding that Nigerians have put the “ugly past” behind them, following the outcome of the 2023 general elections.
