The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah, has said nothing was wrong with the agitation for Biafra by members of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra.
Kukah, who said this on Friday night at the convocation lecture of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, added that the pro-Biafra agitators were exercising the freedom of expression.
The clergyman advised the Federal Government to partner with the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, saying the government should seek to do business with him because of his charisma.
The bishop further said no Nigerian politician could mobilise a huge number of supporters like Kanu without paying them, saying the government did not need to hound this kind of person but to partner with him.
Kukah said: “This country cannot continue this way. MASSOB has right to demand Biafra since we have freedom of expression. The problem of Nigeria should not be with Kanu but should be with who let the door open.
“The President of Nigeria or any governor, unless he pays, cannot bring the number of people that Kanu brought out. The anxiety of Nigeria should be that a young man who can bring out such great number of people is worth doing business with.”
The cleric also bemoaned the state of Nigerian universities. He said the management as well as lecturers should be blamed if some students failed to graduate.
Kukah stated that students had a say in the promotion of their lecturers in some universities but that was not the case in the nation’s varsities.
“Elsewhere, students have a say in the promotion of their teachers but here in Nigeria, too many evils are being committed. We need a generation of lawyers and judges who can bend the arc of justice in favour of the poor,” he added.
In his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of the OAU, Prof. Bamitale Omole, said the university remained the best in the country, saying many feats had been achieved since he assumed office.
