Asking Bishop Kukah To Apologize For His Statement Is Unacceptable – Wole Soyinka

Popular Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka has come out to say that the comment made by the Bishop, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah against President Muhammadu Buhari was not meant to denigrate Islam.

He recently revealed this via a statement, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, the calls by some Muslims fanatics that he (Kukah) should apologise or leave Sokoto were unacceptable, because they clearly misunderstood him.

Soyinka added that he has studied the transcript as reported in the media, and he found nothing in it that denigrates Islam.

His words, “It should not come as a surprise that a section of the Islamic community, not only claimed to have found offence in Father Kukah’s New Year address, “what is bothersome, even unwholesome, is the embedded threat to storm his ‘Capitol’ and eject him, simply for ‘speaking in tongues”

“Any pluralistic society must emphatically declare such a response unacceptable.

“On a personal note, I have studied the transcript as reported in the media and found nothing in it that denigrates Islam but then, I must confess, I am not among the most religion besotted inhabitants of the globe.

“That, I have been told, disqualifies me from even commenting on the subject and, quite frankly, I wish that were indeed the case.”

“Life would far less be complicated. However, the reverse position does not seem to be adopted by such religionists in a spirit of equity. They do not hesitate to intervene; indeed some consider themselves divinely empowered to intervene, even dictate in secular life.”