Preamble
This article was first published in this column in 2012. But despite its detailed analysis and the well researched impute of a prominent Nigerian of Christian faith in it, some religious charlatans who were seemingly sponsoring and benefitting from the Boko Haram carnage continued to insist on painting the truth black just to further enrich their evil benefit from that evil carnage. The exposure last year, of an illegal arms deal in South Africa by one of such foremost charlatans masquerading in the cloak of religion came to attest to the evil machination wrapped in the garb of religion by some Nigerian agents of Satan.
With that landmark exposure and some subsequent revelations about the clandestine backers of the national calamity called Boko Haram, many readers of this column began to call for a repeat of the publication of this article. Thus, to oblige them the right of readership the article is brought back here today as found below:
The Article
“In the life of every nation, like that of every individual, there must be a time of tribulation. For truly religious people, such a tribulation is a test of faith and that of steadfastness. For an individual, passing or failing it depends very much on the strength of his or her faith and for a nation, the competence or otherwise of the leadership at the helm of affairs. Nigeria as a country is not an exception in this.
For the past six years or thereabout, Nigerians have been forced to grapple with the intensity of an unprecedented insecurity culminating in bomb blasts continually but devastatingly killing and maiming human beings in their scores. This carnage which first began in 2006 with a major threat to the existence of Nigeria by some war mongering South-South youths has come to climax the decades of crises in the country engendered by economic, political, ethnic and religious motivations. And since the crises have constantly been engineered by government’s insensitive policies, it is instructive that the attitude of the same government towards those crises can hardly be suggestive of any serious readiness to proffer a permanent and sincere solution to them. The language that rents the air this time is ‘Boko Haram’. That language has virtually become a spectre putting both the government and the people on the run and giving them a fierce chase of their lives.
Suffocation
From whichever angle it may be perceived, Boko Haram is now a huge balloon of smoke oozing out of a protruding chimney and destructively polluting the air which everybody in Nigeria today is forced to inhale willingly or unwillingly. But unfortunately, rather than finding out the fireplace beneath the chimney that gives vent to the oozing smoke, the government just insists on dispelling the smoke even as the fire keeps burning. Granted that Boko Haram was inherited by the current regime just as the South-South militants’ menace was inherited by Yar’Adua regime that preceded this, nevertheless, the late President YarÁdua did not allow it to overwhelm Nigerians before finding a solution to it.
The immediate past government’s idea of Boko Haram seemed to be quite different from what that evil body really was. In Goodluck Jonathan’s regime, Boko Haram became like a huge elephant surrounded by thousands of blind men. One could only describe the part he was able to touch on the body of the mammoth animal and not the whole of it. Without diagnosis, only a quack doctor would proceed to treat an ailment in a patient. But that was what Nigeria’s federal government under Jonathan did in respect of the Boko Haram’s carnage.
Meaningful Research
However, some serious-minded and sincere individuals who were convinced that the problem posed by Boko Haram was beyond mere surface scratching began to research deeply into the tap roots of that obnoxious body. One of such individuals was Jean Herskovits a female Professor of History at the State University of New York, USA who had been writing on Nigerian politics since the 1970s. The other was a well known and highly respected Nigerian Catholic Bishop, Mathew Hassah Kukah of Sokoto Diocese. But since both of these intellectuals held similar opinions on the issue, ‘The Message’ decided to bring the latter’s opinion because of Nigerians’ familiarity with his name and person.
Bishop Kukah’s Disclosure
Below is the verbatim text of Bishop Kukah’s public address on Boko Haram which was entitled ‘AN APPEAL TO NIGERIANS’. It was first published in Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper of January 17, 2012. Please, read:
“On the occasion of the Carol of Nine Lessons organized by NTA and Radio Nigeria on December 10th last year (2011), I was invited to deliver the message. I chose to speak on the theme, Do Not Be Afraid as a means of encouraging our people against the backdrop of fear and frustration that was mounting at the time. Since then, it would seem that things have gotten progressively worse in our country.
In the course of my reflections, I sought to encourage my fellow citizens not to be frightened by the events of the time. I insisted that despite these tragic and sad events and the situation of our country, we needed to conquer fear. I argued that the message of Christmas was a message about the good news of the birth of the Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, (God-with us) and the Saviour of the world. Against the backdrop of other developments in the country at that time, I concluded by calling on the federal government not to carry through its plans for the removal of fuel subsidy.
Since then, things have gradually snowballed well beyond what one had either feared or hoped. On Christmas day, a bomb exploded at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla, in Niger State, killing over thirty people and wounding a significant number of other innocent citizens who had come to worship their God as the first part of their Christmas celebrations. Barely two days later, we heard of the tragic and mindless killings within a community in Ebonyi State in which over sixty people lost their lives with properties worth millions of naira destroyed and hundreds of families displaced. In the midst of all this, on New Year’s Day, the President (Goodluck Jonathan) announced the withdrawal of fuel subsidy and threw an already angry and frustrated nation into convulsion.
The Madalla Tragedy
Right now, I feel that perhaps like the friends of Job (Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar), who came to visit their sick friend and found the burden beyond comprehension, we find ourselves in the same situation. For, as we know, when they came and found Job in his condition, they spent seven days and seven nights, and uttered not a word (Job 2:13). Right now, no one can claim a full understanding of the state we are in. However, even if we cannot understand the issues of the moment, our faith compels us to understand that God’s hand is in all this. The challenge is for us to have the patience to let His will be done.
The tragedy in Madalla was seen as a direct attack on Christians. When Boko Haram claimed responsibility, this line of argument seemed persuasive to those who believed that these merchants of death could be linked to the religion of Islam. Happily, prominent Muslims rose in unison to condemn this evil act and denounced both the perpetrators and their acts as being un-Islamic. All of this should cause us to pause and ponder about the nature of the force of evil that is in our midst and to appreciate the fact that contrary to popular thinking, we are not faced with a crisis or conflict between Christians and Muslims. Rather, like the friends of Job, we need to humbly appreciate the limits of our human understanding.
In the last few years, with the deepening crises in parts of Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, and Plateau states, thanks to the international and national media, it has become fanciful to argue that we have crises between Christians and Muslims. Sadly, the kneejerk reaction of some very uninformed religious leaders has lent credence to this false belief. To complicate matters, some of these religious leaders have continued to rally their members to defend themselves in a religious war. This has fed the propaganda of the notorious Boko Haram and hides the fact that this evil has crossed religious barriers. Let us take a few examples which, though still under investigation across the country, should call for restraint on our part.
An Instance
Sometime last year, a Christian woman went to her own parish Church in Bauchi and tried to set it ablaze. Again, recently, a man alleged to be a Christian, dressed as a Muslim, went to burn down a Church in Bayelsa. In Plateau State, a man purported to be a Christian was arrested while trying to bomb a Church. Armed men gunned down a group of Christians meeting in a Church and now it turned out that those who have been arrested and are under interrogation are in fact not Muslims and that the story is more of an internal crisis. In Zamfara State, 19 Muslims were killed. After investigation it was discovered that those who killed them were not Christians. Other similar incidents have occurred across the country.
Clearly, these are very troubled times for our country. But they are also very promising times. I say so because amidst this confusing debris of hate, anger and frustration, we have had some very interesting dimensions. Nigeria is changing because Nigerians are taking back their country from the grip of marauders. These stories, few as they may be, are the beginning of our song of freedom. Christians are now publicly crossing the artificial lines created by falsehood and bigotry. Let us take a few examples of events in the last week alone:
Cooperation
In Kano, amidst fears and threats of further attacks on Christians, a group of Muslims gathered round to protect Christians as they worshipped. In Minna and recently, in Lagos, the same thing repeated itself as Christians joined hands to protect Muslims as they prayed. In the last week, Christians and Muslims together in solidarity were protesting against bad governance and corruption beyond the falsehood of religion. Once freed from the grip of these dark forces, religion will be able to play its role as a force for harmony, truth and the common good.
Clearly, drawing from our experiences as Christians, we must note that God has a message for us in all this. To elicit what I consider to be the message, I will make reference to three lessons and I know there are far more.
First, these times call for prayer. At the height of our confusion during the Abacha years, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria composed two sets of prayers; one, Against Bribery and Corruption and second, for Nigeria in Distress. Millions of Catholics have continued to recite these prayers and we must remain relentless in the belief that God hears our prayers and that God’s ways are not our ways. We know that our Muslim brethren and millions of other non-Christians feel the same and are also praying in a similar way for our country.
A Call for Solidarity
Two, these times call for solidarity of all people of faith. We are a nation of very strong believers and despite what anyone else may say, millions of our Christians and Muslims do take their religion very seriously. However, you might ask, if that is true, why do we have so many killings in the name of God and of religion? My answer is that we have such killings because we live in an environment of a severely weak architecture of state which allows evil to triumph. It is this poverty that produces jealousy and hatred which leads to violence.
We live in a state of ineffective law enforcement and tragic social conditions. Corruption has destroyed the fabric of our society. Its corrosive effect can be seen in the ruination of our lives and the decay in our society. The inability of the state to punish criminals as criminals has created the illusion that there is a conflict between Christians and Muslims. In fact, it would seem that many elements today are going to great extremes to pitch Christians against Muslims, and vice versa, so that our attention is taken away from the true source of our woes: corruption. As Nigerians, Christians and Muslims, we must stand together to ensure that our resources are well utilized for the common good. This is why, despite the hardships we must endure as a result of the strike, the Fuel Subsidy debate must be seen as the real dividend of democracy.
Condemnation of evil Leadership
Three, religious leaders across the faiths must indeed stand up together and face the challenge of the times by offering a leadership that focuses on our common humanity and common good rather than the insignificant issues that divide us. We therefore condemn in very strong terms the tendency by some religious leaders to play politics with the issues of our collective survival. Rather than rallying our people, some of our religious leaders have resorted to divisive utterances, wild allegations and insinuations against fellow adherents of other religions. In the last five or so days, text messages have been circulating across the country appealing to some of our worst demons. We are told that many senior clerics either believed or encouraged the circulation of these divisive and false text messages. We must condemn this for what it is; a grand design by enemies within our folds who are determined to destroy our country. Whatever they may call themselves, they are neither true Christians nor Muslims.
For those Christians who have reacted in fear, they require conversion. If we wait for these evil men or women to decide when we shall stand for Christ, then we have surrendered our soul to the devil. If we fear to stand up for Christ now, let us remember that He has already said: Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my father in Heaven, Whoever denies me before others, I will deny him before my father in Heaven(Mt 10: 32). Again, Jesus warns that rather than fear at times of uncertainty, adversity or upheavals, we should be confident. He said: When these things begin to take place, stand erect; hold your heads high, because your liberation is near at hand (Luke. 21: 28). Furthermore, St Paul has assured us that; If we die with Him, we shall live with Him. If we endure with Him, we shall reign with him (2 Tim 2: 11-12). Surely, those who are asking us to go under our beds, to flee in the face of persecution must be reading a different Bible.
Difficult Times
These are difficult times but they are also times of promise. Our country has turned its back on all forms of dictatorships. Our hands are on the plough and we are resolutely committed to democracy. Like a Catholic marriage, we may not be happy but we cannot contemplate a divorce. God does not make mistakes.
Although the freedom and growth promised by democracy are not here yet, we must remind ourselves that a better tomorrow is possible, a more united and peaceful Nigeria is possible. The challenges of the last few days have shown the resilience of our people and their commitment to democracy and a better life. We believe this is possible. The government must strive to earn the trust of our people. All sides must take lessons from the demonstrations and resolve to build a better and stronger nation. Let us hold on to the words of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI when he told the President, religious, traditional rulers and people of the Republic of Benin in the Presidential Palace on the 19th of November: Do not cut off your peoples from their future by mutilating their present….There are too many scandals and injustices, too much corruption and greed, too many errors and lies, too much violence. All peoples desire to understand the political and economic choices which are made in their name; they wish to participate in good governance. No economic regime is ideal and no economic choice is neutral. But these must always serve the common good”.
- Address by Rev. Father Mathew Hassah Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese (first published in 2012).
