Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah has revealed reason Nigerians are pained about the government of President Muhammadu Buhari in the midst of rising insecurity.

Kukah spoke at the 2021 edition of The Platform, organised by the Senior Pastor of the Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos, Poju Oyemade.

The Bishop said Nigerians are pained because in the midst of people dying everywhere, the government was not there to show empathy, but only condolence messages.

According to him, the government of Buhari has come very short on empathy and that this was what is increasing the pain, the agony, the sorrow of people.

He said the people felt that they are dying alone, burying their people alone and that all they got were just simple statements that really say nothing to them.

“The lack of empathy and the deployment of empathy have two consequences. Government must have a sense of empathy and I have said this severally.

“I do not mean anything negative and everywhere you turn, this is what Nigerians are saying that people are dying and you do not get a sense that those who govern us understand our pain because we have not seen them on condolence visits,” he said.

Kukah emphasised that empathy is not sympathy, as empathy is at the heart of “who we are as human being; it is the feeling of the sorrow, of the pain of the other person, indeed, entering the skin of the other person.

“It does not bring healing meeting but there is a certain kind of psychological comfort that it gives,” he said.

By Kazeem Ugbodaga