Bishop Kukah: I’ve paid N30m ransom for my priests

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has said he has paid almost N30m as ransom to secure the release of abducted priests.

Kukah revealed this at a one-day “High-level forum on political communication and issue-based campaign in the 2023 general elections” in Abuja.

The forum was organised by the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in collaboration with The Kukah Centre ahead of the expected commencement of campaigns by political parties on September 28, 2022.

The Catholic Bishop was speaking on the messaging that politicians should focus on during their campaigns.

According to him, Nigerians do not need anyone who projects himself as a messiah “as we no longer need a messiah” but someone who understands the situation of things, adding that many times people say what they do not mean during campaigns.

He insisted that campaigns must be identity-based, getting the right identity for the country and not emphasizing the things that really do not matter.

Kukah said, “When we talk about 2023 elections, we need to talk about how we will get ourselves out of all of these. Nation