Stay away from politics, Kukah tells generals

The Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto Diocese, Rev Father Hassan Kukah, has urged serving and retired military generals to stay away from the politics of the country.

Kukah said the military had taken away several years of the nation’s democracy since its inception in 1999 and should allow civilians to grow the country’s democracy.

The cleric made the comment while speaking as the Chairman on the occasion of the formal presentation of a biography on the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, entitled Destiny Calling My Name, in Abuja on Friday.

                                                 

He said the nation had already had two retired generals as Presidents in the persons of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and now Muhammadu Buhari, who is the President-elect.

Kukah acknowledged the fact that the nation’s democracy had made tremendous progress in the past years.

He said, “You know that the military has already taken away most of our years in this democracy, and as you have seen, they are still not yet through with us.

“After General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Muhammadu Buhari, how many more generals do you want to have as Presidents? Will civilians grow this democracy or will it be the duty of soldiers?

“My people, we must make progress and our democracy will grow. This is not anti-military rally but please soldiers, retired and serving, give us civilians the chance to rule.

“Let those soldiers, who have retired, enjoy the benefit of their retirement and let the soldiers, who are serving, remain in the military and do very well what they set out to do when they joined the military.

“Secondly, I believe that most Nigerians must be very pleased that when it mattered, our military displayed a high sense of responsibility.”

He commended President Goodluck Jonathan for the courage to accept defeat in the last election to put to rest speculations that he had put some options in place as a strategy in the event that the PDP lost the election.

He also commended the Badeh for assuring Nigerians of the standard of professionalism and democratic credentials of the military.

The Guest of Honour, Prof. Jerry Gana, commended Jonathan for his political maturity in the last election, which he said saved the country from avoidable crisis.

He said there would have been crisis in the country if not for the move by the President to accept defeat in the election.