Kukah: Boko Haram, Symptom of Failed State

11 Sep 2011

By Mohammed Aminu

Bishop of the Catholic Church, Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, Saturday, said the wanton violence being perpetrated by Boko Haram in the country is a manifestation of a failed state.

He also stated that the level of insecurity in the country was a consequence of the inability of the Federal Government to manage the post-election violence in some parts of the country.

Speaking to THISDAY in Sokoto Saturday, Kukah maintained that Boko Haram had gone beyond its late leader, Mohammed Yusuf and ordinary people that were associated with the North East group.

According to him, it is unthinkable that poor people in Maiduguri, who are angry with the police, would have contemplated going to bomb the United Nations building in Abuja.

Kukah pointed out that Boko Haram was a manifestation of corruption, saying the violence is about the corruption that has entered into the bloodstream of the Nigerian society.

He declared that the violence being witnessed in the country at the moment was a manifestation of state failure and poverty and added that from the point of view of major indices, Nigeria is literally at best a failed state, since the signs are there for all to see.

"Tell me which other country in the world can live with enormous resources and yet poverty is sitting side by side. We don't need the United Nations to tell us about the failure of the country, the indices are there for all to see,” he said.

"Scientifically and from the point of view of social science and politics of transition, if a country is going through transition, there are minimum economic indices.”