Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto has issued a passionate Easter message to President Bola Tinubu, urging him to rescue Nigerians from what he described as a “cross of pain, brutality, and hopelessness.”

Speaking during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, Kukah likened the suffering of Nigerians to Christ’s crucifixion, lamenting rising insecurity, hunger, poverty, and moral decay across the country.

“Mr President, Nigeria is reaching a breaking point. The nation is gradually becoming a huge national morgue… With a greater sense of urgency, hasten to bring us down from this cross of evil,” Kukah said.

While acknowledging that Tinubu did not create many of the problems currently afflicting the nation, Kukah stressed that it is now his responsibility to lead the country towards healing and restoration.

“You neither erected this cross nor effected our collective crucifixion. Yet, Nigerians have been dangling and bleeding on this cross of pain for too long,” he added.

Kukah criticised the persistence of insecurity, referencing the rise in kidnappings and the entrenchment of violence across communities, as well as the socio-economic hardship worsened by subsidy removal and inflation.

“Mr President, please bring us down from this painful cross of hunger,” he pleaded while urging the government to make food security a fundamental human right.

The bishop also pointed fingers at political actors whom he alleged had imported violence as a tool for political gain.

He warned that the cancer of insecurity has now metastasised and threatens the very foundation of Nigeria.

“Are Nigerians lambs being sacrificed to an unknown god?” he asked pointedly, questioning the sincerity and effectiveness of the government’s response to national insecurity.

Still, Kukah’s message was not devoid of hope. He aligned his message
with the Vatican’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of Hope, urging Nigerians not to give in to despair.

“These times of great suffering should be times of hope — hope that does not disappoint,” he said, invoking scripture and the promise of resurrection.