Politicians’ supporters have been warned by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, not to kill themselves as a show of support for their candidates.
The elderly priest believes that opposition politicians are just pals competing for a piece of the national pie and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Kukah made this remark while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Tuesday.
He stated this in reaction to video of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu; and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart, Atiku Abubakar, bantering at the private wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja on Monday.
Kukah urged political fanatics to learn a lesson from the public exchange of pleasantries between Tinubu and Atiku.
Speaking during the interview, Kukah stated that the message from the banter is that political loyalists of both frontline presidential candidates for the 2023 election should be wise, eschew violence and not kill themselves for people drinking from the same pool.
“These politicians are struggling and they’ve lived their lives struggling for the national cake which they will distribute amongst themselves. It is therefore in the interest of ordinary Nigerians to know that they have to vote to stay alive,” the cleric said.
Kukah also said that enthusiasts of politicians “must understand that these politicians know themselves” regardless of their grandstanding and posturing.
He, therefore, advised supporters of candidates all over the country to be “a bit more restrained and wise”. to manage our passion when it comes to politics. Don’t take seriously the grandstanding of the politicians.
“All the things you see about them abusing themselves or quarreling, you will think they will never shake hands. They are very good friends, and many of them drink from the same pool. So, don’t go and kill yourself for nothing. That is what that message is all about,” he said.