In a country racked by pain, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s 2025 Easter message was less a sermon and more a national outcry. Delivered during the Easter Vigil in Sokoto, the Bishop’s words reverberated far beyond the walls of the church, echoing across streets, settlements, and screens with one haunting plea:
“Mr. President, please bring us down from this cross.”
The Catholic cleric, known for his fiery moral voice and fearless commentary, described Nigeria as a nation suspended in agony — bleeding from insecurity, hunger, poverty, and hopelessness. Using the metaphor of the crucifixion, Kukah said Nigerians have been “dangling and bleeding on this cross of pain and mindless suffering for too long.”
“We are in a national emergency disguised as normal life,” he said. “Across the country, every day, innocent citizens are kidnapped and held under the most inhuman conditions.”
His words came not as a surprise, but as a sharp reminder of what many Nigerians already feel: that the country is teetering dangerously on the edge. From the north, where bandits terrorize rural communities, to the south where food prices and economic pressures suffocate daily life, the suffering is shared.
Yet Kukah’s message was not a condemnation alone. It was a cry of conscience, an appeal for leadership, and a call for moral courage.
“You may not have built this cross, Mr. President,” he said, “but it is now your duty to help bring Nigerians down from it.”
This Easter, Kukah urged the President to step beyond rhetoric, and act with urgency. He cited Pope Francis’s declaration of 2025 as the Year of Hope, reminding the country that even amidst despair, faith must lead action.
But hope, he cautioned, cannot be built on palliatives or press conferences. It must be rooted in justice, food security, healing of national wounds, and the dismantling of the forces of terror.
He also touched a political nerve, reminding the nation that some of today’s monsters were once created by political actors seeking power.
“Some public officers once confessed they brought these killers into our country,” he said, “but today, their creation has become a consuming fire.”
Insecurity, Kukah warned, has now become a parallel system of power, with kidnappings becoming common currency and citizens living as “lambs sacrificed to an unknown god.”
The message has sparked reactions from across the nation. On social media, citizens are reposting quotes, using the hashtag #BringUsDownFromThisCross. Some call it the boldest religious message since the civil war era.
“I felt seen,” tweeted one user. “We’ve cried, prayed, protested, and now Kukah is screaming on our behalf.”
Even beyond religious circles, civic groups, student unions, and market women say Kukah’s message has captured the national mood — tired, bleeding, but still yearning for peace.
As Easter passes and the government continues its national tour to promote reforms, one thing is clear: Kukah’s message has struck a nerve.
The crucifixion of Nigeria’s soul may not be new, but the call to resurrection is now louder than ever.
