The Archbishop of Kaduna Catholic Diocese, Most. Rev. Mathew Ndago-Manoso, Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to quit office if he doesn’t have the capacity to govern the country or lacks answer to the myriads of the country’s problems.
Ndago-Manoso stated this in an interview with journalists at the on going Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Nigeria Catholic Diocese Priests’ Association taking place at the Catholic Social Centre, Kaduna.
More Nigerians have gone into poverty, according to the Catholic cleric.
He noted that many people now come to his office to beg for food, saying: “You see, in governance or democratic government if you know you don’t have the capacity to even rule a local government, don’t put yourself forward.
”The very fact that you put yourself forward, you are telling the people that you have the capacity and the know-how.
“Even if you don’t have the know-how, I think in leadership, you don’t need to have the know-how. I think you should have the intelligence to get people who know to be able to do the job. Nobody, no matter how intelligent you are, can do it alone.
“Now talking about the present government, I think the simple question that every Nigerian should ask is: my life today and my life before this government came in, what is the difference? Go on the streets and ask Nigerians four years on, how is your life compared to before?
“I can tell you I am 33 years in priesthood, I have never seen Nigerians come to my office in tears looking for ordinary food.
”You see them dressed up in Agbada (flowing gown), but if they tell you what they are going through, they are not able to feed their families. It has never been this bad in our country.
“We have the resources, I think our leaders should get off their back and do what they need to do, using our resources. We are not poor, we have no business overtaking India as the poorest country in the world.
“Officially, our population has hit 200 million, and India has over 1.2 billion people, but the resources we have India does not have yet we have overtaken them in terms of poverty. I think it’s shameful.”
Speaking earlier, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, Kaduna State governor, commended the Catholic priests for their prayers for successful general elections.
El-Rufai, who was represented by Mr. Seth Magaji-Aliyu, the Director of Religious Affairs at the Bureau of Inter-faith, Kaduna, said the prayers worked magic for the peaceful conduct of the general elections.
He noted that his administration was not unmindful of its primary responsibility of securing the lives and welfare of the people.
“In view of the above, good governance for a secure and prosperous nation is a huge task on all and sundry. It is a collective responsibility for both government and the governed.
“Good governance can only be achieved in an atmosphere where lives and property of citizens are secured and peace and harmony exist.
“I urge you to emulate our Lord and savior Jesus Christ by preaching the gospel of peaceful coexistence, tolerance, love and unity,” the governor said.
