The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Kukah

  • BMO wants Kukah out of National peace committee

    The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has called for the withdrawal of the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah from the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar.

    The organisation made the call in a statement issued by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke on Tuesday in Abuja.

    The group said the call had become necessary because of Kukah’s alleged open display of support for the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    It noted that the Abdulsalam Abubakar-led committee was one that should be seen to be non partisan because of the role it was meant to play in the run-up to the 2015 general elections.

    “We are surprised, like many Nigerians, to see Bishop Kukah in the company of the opposition candidate at a reconciliation meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo,” the group said.

    It recalled that Kukah had later on claimed to be the strategic mind behind the reconciliation which was targeted at bringing the two parties together to fight President Buhari administration.

    “This is not expected of a clergyman who is seen in some quarters as the alternate head of the National Peace Committee.

    “He has shown his bias and as such cannot be trusted to be non-partisan,” the group stressed.

    It dismissed claims by the Catholic Bishop that he was not aware of the political nature of the gathering as tales that no one would believe.

    According to the group, Kukah is the key figure behind the reconciliation, a step he took knowing that Atiku was a PDP presidential aspirant.

    “And if it is true that Bishop Kukah is insisting that he was only exercising his right to free movement.

    “We are also demanding that having shown his hand, he has no reason to sit on a panel that is meant to be non-partisan,” the  group maintained.

    It added that it fully supports President Buhari’s admonition that religious leaders abstain from partisan politics.(NAN)

  • Kukah, Oyedepo explain mission to Obasanjo

    Two notable clerics, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah and Bishop David Oyedepo, have been explaining their mission to the Hilltop mansion of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, last Thursday. The visit, they say, should not be viewed as politically-inclined, but one made to broker peace between the former President and his erstwhile deputy Atiku Abubakar.

    To many, the mission of notable clerics – Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Mathew Hassan Kukah and the Presiding Pastor of Living Faith Church (Winners Chapel) David Oyedepo – to  the Hilltop mansion of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta, Ogun State, was to endorse Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. But, the clerics say their mission was to reconcile the former President with his erstwhile deputy.

    They spoke through different media.

    Kukah, who explained the resistance he put up to decline being dragged into what he called a forest of politics, stated his position in a statement.

    The fiery cleric said that he could not have endorsed any particular candidate since he has his friends spread across the political parties.

    He, however, admitted that the criticisms that trailed the group photographs, showing him with Obasanjo, Atiku, Oyedepo and Sheikh Gumi among others, were expected, especially at a time that the former vice president had just clinched the presidential ticket of his party.

    In his own defence during the Sunday service in Ota, Bishop Oyedepo said he has no membership card of any political party.

    Oyedepo said he is after a peaceful country.

    The presence of the duo on a day Obasanjo said he had forgiven Atiku and rated him above President Muhammadu Buhari has continued to draw flaks from different quarters.

    Their positions are presented below:

    I wasn’t in Abeokuta to endorse Atiku, says Kukah

    “I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event.

    “I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement.

    “Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjo’s statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall.

    “Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation.

    “Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public.

    “Although over 99 per cent of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement.

    “I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjo’s other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for.”

    Giving insights into how he was contacted by Obasanjo and how he resisted being dragged into what he described as a “forest of politics.”

    He added: “Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement.

    “My doctoral thesis was on “Religion and Politics in Nigeria”. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Sheikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened.

    “On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018, I had the honour of being the Guest Speaker for the annual conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back, but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the chairman of the occasion.

    “At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Atiku.

    “My last discussion with him this year was either in January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle.

    “After all, I said to him, ‘as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do’. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he went to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event.

    “At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Atiku. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later.

    “Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Atiku either directly, or through his aides to convey the news.

    “My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: ‘Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind’. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: ‘Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. “So, tell him to come at 1pm’. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday.

    “I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans, especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta.

    “I didn’t want to ask President Obasanjo’s people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta.

    Getting nervous

    “Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Atiku to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Sheikh Gumi and Bishop Oyedepo. This was welcome news – Bishop Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Sheikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us.

    “I arrived at Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji and his team. Alhaji Atiku and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. “I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders.

    “When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here.

    “I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them.

    “My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout.

    “I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Atiku to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Bishop Oyedepo had not arrived.

    “After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see, was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them.

    “We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors.

    “At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch.

    “I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel Church car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta.

    “Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties.

    “I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Atiku and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case.

    “All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel Church hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto.

    “I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both generals Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that today’s latter day Buharists were asking the panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life.

    “Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buhari’s opponents claimed that Gen Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the Gen. “His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what.

    “I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one cannot please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only one’s own conscience, and here, mine is very clear.

    “I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicize what we have achieved.

    “I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee (NPC). This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Atiku were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, Gen Abdusalami. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting.

    “Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly.

    “In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes.

    “I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Atiku, having just picked up the presidential ticket of his party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality.

    “However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space.

    The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open.

    “I am thankful to God and quite pleased that this reconciliation took place and that I was a small instrument in making it happen. However, I am sorry that it has been given a different colouration and doubts to many people. Its timing was purely fortuitous and purely circumstantial not a contrivance. Personally, I will never relent in the very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum of our country.”

     

  • I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Atiku, says Kukah

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Mathew Hassan Kukah on Monday said he was not at the Hilltop mansion of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abeokuta last Wednesday to endorse the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), Alh. Atiku Abubakar.

    He said he only went to reconcile the former President and his hitherto estranged deputy.

    He said he declined moves by Obasanjo to drag him into what he described as a “forest of politics.”

    He insisted that his personal preoccupation was a” pastoral one, and not a political one.”

    He said as a convener of National Peace Committee(NPC), he has a moral limit which he sticks to.

    He said when it was clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, he alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam Abubakar and a former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Sir Emeka Anyaoku.

    Kukah, who made the clarifications in a statement, said he was “a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us.”

    He said he rejected moves by Obasanjo to drag him into a hall to go and say how he and others got to Abeokuta because it had a tone of politics.

    He said he also skipped lunch after the session and avoided flying in the same aircraft with Atiku when he was offered a seat.

    He said having been conversant with Catholic doctrine, he knew the limit of a priest in political engagement.

    He said the widely circulated photograph of the reconciliation meeting was taken behind closed doors.

    He explained that nothing could have prepared him for the way things finally shaped up.

    He said theoretically and practically, he has come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job.

    The statement said: “I have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event.

    “I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement.

    “ Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjo’s statement until two days later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall.

    “Although trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation.

    “Understandably, the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions from the general public.

    “Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years, namely, the endorsement.

    “I must say that I am eternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which I initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjo’s other interlocutors after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility for.”

    Kukah gave insights into how he was contacted by Obasanjo and how he resisted being dragged into what he described as a “forest of politics.”

    He added: “Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on Religion and Politics in Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really happened.

    “On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back but I could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the occasion.

    “ At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leave because he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku.

    “My last discussion with him this year was either January or February. His response was still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle.

    “ After all, I said to him, ‘as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do’. He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event.

    “At about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later.

    “Then, just before 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or through his aides to convey the news.

    “My initial intention had been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: ‘Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind’. My heart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: ‘Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. “So, tell him to come at 1pm’. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday.

    “I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta.

    “ I didn’t want to ask President Obasanjo’s people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a leeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta.”
    Kukah admitted that Obasanjo expanded the scope of the session beyond what he anticipated.

    He said the development made him to walk up to the former President to ask for the protocol for the meeting.

    He said: “ Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting larger for something I thought was between three of us.

    “I arrived Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more people coming in. “I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three religious leaders.”

    Kukah said he rejected moves by Obasanjo to drag him into a hall to go and say how he and others got to Abeokuta because it had a tone of politics.

    He added: “When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words about how we got here.

    “ I declined because it seemed again that at this point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught in it. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them.

    “My personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three of us from the political fallout.

    “I proposed that the first step would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived.

    “After that, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them.

    “ We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now become the famous photograph behind closed doors.

    “At this point, I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta.

    “ Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties.

    “I was not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case.

    “All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja and Sokoto.

    “I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa Panel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that today’s latter day Buharists were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life. Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buhari’s opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard both sides of a story, no matter what.

    “I hope that this clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one cannot please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only one’s own conscience, and here, mine is very clear.

    “I have been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to publicize what we have achieved.

    “I am the Convener of the National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the third phase of this meeting.

    “Both theoretically and practically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his on two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly.

    “In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter how long it takes.”
    Kukah took time to explain that he was not in any way involved in politics.

    He said: “I perfectly understand that with Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to question my neutrality.

    “ However, I have far too many friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space. The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has signed a statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open.

    “I am thankful to God and quite pleased that this reconciliation took place and that I was a small instrument in making it happen. However, I am sorry that it has been given a different colouration and doubts to many people. Its timing was purely fortuitous and purely circumstantial not a contrivance. Personally, I will never relent in the very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum of our country.”

  • Kukah, Na’Abba, seek end to killings

    Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Mathew Kukah, and a former Speaker of the House of Representatives Ghali N’Abba, at the weekend called for an end to the killings in some parts of the country.

    They spoke at the graduation of students of Pacesetter Group of Schools in Abuja.

    Kukah said: “I don’t think where Nigeria is now does good to anybody. Prayers are important but they are not enough. We need to also see some really practical actions.

    “We are hemorrhaging badly. Everybody who lives in this country knows and whatever needs to be done— and I think those in power understand what needs to be done and we need to be properly communicated with.

    “We cannot have a country where illiterate people, people who have no contribution to really make to this country, wherever they are coming from, men and women of darkness to take over the country. It is not acceptable and the reason why government exists is to secure the territorial space of Nigeria. Where we are, we are not working.”

    N’Abba said: “I think a long time ago communities must have been engaged properly by this administration. I don’t think communities are being engaged. These conflicts have been raging on even before this administration and I thought the administration must have been prepared enough to meet with most communities where these conflicts have been taking place with a view to engaging them not on one off basis but on a continuous basis. I don’t see this happening.

    “I don’t think it has been handled in the most appropriate manner. I don’t think he (Buhari) can handle this problem alone and the impression he has given most people is that he is working alone.

    “If he wants to solve problems in this country he has to engage many people as possible- elders, the party and everybody that can assist. Problems cannot be solved just governmentally and that is what I think they are doing and not everybody in the government possess the right kind of wisdom for them to be able to solve this intricate problems.”

    Chairman of Pacesetters Group of Scools, Mr.  Kenneth Imansuangbon, described the situation in the country as disturbing.

    He blamed the violence and killings in the country on the struggle for power by politicians.

    Imansuangbon, a lawyer, said: “What is happening in our country today is very laughable and disturbing. This is not the Nigeria that we know. This was not the Nigeria Tafawa Balewa, Saudana, Okotie-Eboh, Prof. Ambros Ali, Nnamdi Azikiwe and the late Okpara gave to us. They left a good and united country for us. In their time there were no killings.

    “I will hold the past 17 years of politicians responsible for this evil and shameful killings. As far as I am concerned I have no respect for any politician because they are selfish and greedy.

    “I don’t think this is a Christian – Muslim war but the drums of war are beating. We can see it.

    “We need to support the president now for us to have peace, good elections, create jobs, for roads to work and for water to run. Every Nigerian has the constitutional responsibility to make sure the country works.

    “It’s a shame to our generation that we are now human killers and eaters. What is happening in Nigeria if you don’t know the consequence, it will take the next 100 years for somebody to believe in our country. Do you think a serious human being will want to invest in Nigeria with the killings? Very soon if we don’t stop this nonsense everybody will pay the price- both the rich and the poor.”

  • Not President’s job to change Nigerians, says Kukah

    Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, yesterday urged Nigerians to give up unrealistic expectations of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s change agenda.

    Kukah said it was not the President’s responsibility to change people’s ethics or attitude, rather Nigerians would have to do that by themselves.

    He delivered the keynote lecture at the launch of the New Narrative for Good Governance newspaper yesterday in Lagos.

    The New Narrative, with its headquarters in Lagos, is published by Kalu Okoronkwo, who is also its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), while Mike Nzeagwu is its Editor-in-Chief.

    Guests at the event included former Akwa Ibom Governor and Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, founder/CEO, Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi, Chairman, Swiss Spirit Danag, Port Harcourt, Daniel Chimezie Okeke (Omereoha), among others.

    Kukah said: “In the paper I’m going to present tomorrow, because I’ll be speaking to a Catholic audience. I’m going to ask them the question ‘Are you not ashamed of yourself? That we were expecting Buhari to change Nigeria, that we think that Buhari has not changed Nigeria?’

    “The question is: How does Buhari change Nigeria? By going into the kitchen and changing our menus? By going into our towns, our communities and changing the way we do business? By going into the banking hall and forcing us to do business in a different way?

    “This tendency of outsourcing our responsibilities, either to God or to other external agents, what it does to us is that it saves us from the difficulty of thinking about our own complicity.

    “I am saying to my Christian audience tomorrow, I should be ashamed of myself if it is to a politician that I am looking for change.”

    He urged Nigerians to not be carried away by the euphoria surrounding June 12 without finding a solution to the underlying problem of nation-building.

    He further said: “The deeper issues remain unresolved and they concern the content, structure of the system that we are running. We are refusing to deal with the question: How are nations formed? How do nations grow?”

  • Kukah, Akpabio, for newspaper launch

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah; Senate Minority Leader Senator Godswill Akpabio; Chairman, Swiss Spirit Danag Port Harcourt, Chief Daniel Chimezie Okeke and Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina, are among key dignitaries expected to grace the launch of The New Narrative Newspapers.

    The launch holds tomorrow in Ikeja, Lagos.

    A statement by the Publisher/CEO, Mr. Kalu Okoronkwo, said Bishop Kukah will deliver a lecture on “State of the Nation and Governance”.

  • Kukah, Akpabio, others for New Narrative launch

    The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, former Akwa Ibom State governor and Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio, Chairman of Swiss Spirit Danag in Port Harcourt, Chief Daniel Chimezie Okeke (Omereoha) and Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, are among dignitaries expected on June 15 at the Banquet Hall of Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Lagos for the launch The New Narrative Newspapers, a publication on governance in Nigeria.

    Others include chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State and Founder/CEO, Centre for Values in Leadership, Prof. Pat Utomi; Minister for Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; Managing Director of Proshare Limited, Mr. Femi Awoyemi; member of the House of Representatives, Uko Nkole; National President of Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) and Moderator of Lagos Presbyterian Church in Lekki, Rev. Benebo Fubara-Manuel; Head of Brands and Corporate Communications at Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Charles Aigbe, as well as captains of industry, top government functionaries, social and cultural groups, media practitioners and religious associations.

    A statement by the editorial team and management of the newspaper, through the Publisher/CEO, Mr. Kalu Okoronkwo, said Bishop Kukah will deliver a lecture, titled: State of the Nation and Governance, at the event, in line with the vision and focus of the newspaper.

    Okoronkwo said The New Narrative is a new publication that promotes transparent leadership and accountability of public office holders.

    He added: “As Nigeria and Nigerians, we have run out of excuses on why we have remained backward, playing second fiddle to other peoples and nations.”

    The publisher said The New Narrative will contribute its quota towards national, political and economic development of the nation.

    Okoronkwo said it would be guided by objectivity, truthfulness and would be devoid of adulation with a view to remaining steadfast with global journalism standard.

    He said: “Nigeria is at the crossroads and needs voices of truthfulness that echo the needs of the people, justice and fair play. This and many other standards The New Narrative will stand for.”

     

     

  • Kukah’s gaffe

    For someone whom a significant segment of society holds in high esteem as representing its moral authority and its moral conscience and a public intellectual to boot, one would think that even the mere hinting publicly that the military may be a viable alternative to a civilian and democratic government would be the last thing to come into the forefront of Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s consciousness.

    The elevation of the military, if not the nostalgia he seems to be having, for its involvement in governance, is the Bishop’s latest prescription for the alleviation of Nigeria’s poor leadership challenge.

    In a lecture with the theme: “How to make democracy work for Africa,” organised by the Kukah Centre (his pet project), the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Arch-Diocese, Mathew Kukah was reported to have warned political leaders to “govern well in order to avert any temptation by military to take over governance via coups.”  The Bishop was also reported to have “lamented the worsening state of the country from poor leadership” adding that “Nigeria has only survived the democratic dispensation because of the confidence reposed on the system by the military.” Therefore, the country’s leaders should “not take the patience of the military for granted.”

    Kukah went further to say that “It is a measure of the faith of the military itself on the urgency of democratisation that has kept them in the barracks. But I think the politicians and the political class cannot take this patience for granted. What we have experienced in the last few years has made us a laughing stock of other nations.”

    For starters, it was not the first time that Bishop Kukah would ‘shoot’ at Buhari from his bully pulpit. And the latest threatening remarks won’t be his last as long as Buhari remains the country’s Number One citizen. Kukah was among the very first set of prominent Nigerians from the religious class (followed by Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie) to register his displeasure about Buhari even before the 2015 presidential election. Through speeches and other appearances, he had campaigned, at least indirectly, for then President Jonathan. For inexplicable reason, he seemed terrified of Buhari then and appears even more disdainful of him now. After Jonathan’s loss of the election, Kukah quickly formed a group of prominent Nigerians among them Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar, Nigeria’s last military ruler and gave it a duplicitous name of National Peace Council (NPC). As the arrow head of this organization, Kukah commenced some sort of priesthood diplomacy to the presidential villa after Buhari’s inauguration not to discuss peace or any policy initiatives, but to tell the then president-elect to “move on” and “look the other way” concerning what Jonathan and his administration may have done because the man at the helm of the most fantastically corrupt government in the nation’s history, if not the world, had done something “spectacular” – a veiled reference that the former president had conceded defeat. Sensing that President Buhari was unyielding in his resolve to wrestle corruption to the ground before it kills the country, Kukah has been taunting him ever since with uncomplimentary remarks.

    Kukah is probably too far gone in his disdain of Buhari to even realise the contradiction in his warning to politicians to “not take the patience of the military for granted” when he also mentioned that “democracy requires lots and lots of patience and hard work.”  On what basis then is the intervention of the military, no matter his so-called “worsening state of the country from poor leadership” desirable? Did the military record any enviable achievements that advanced the country in any way in the seven times that the institution intervened in the country’s governance since flag independence? Has Kukah ever heard of the universal and time-tested truism that the worst civilian, democratic administration is better than the best military government?

    So, the question now becomes – if Kukah truly believes that it takes “lots of patience and hard work” for democracy to germinate, not to talk of having strong roots in a country that has not only been traumatised by the military (of which this trauma remains a major part of the national psyche till date), but also has never had any sustained democracy in her life because the same military had always truncated her democratic aspirations at every turn for its selfish interests, why is the bishop in a hurry to have the military back in governance because he believes that the political class is taking its patience for granted?

    Does the bishop even realise that the destruction unleashed on Nigeria’s socio-political and economic fabric in the first 16 years of the present democratic dispensation…not to talk of decades of plunder to which the military subjected the country…is so daunting and humongous a task to be ameliorated in four years?

    Kukah’s thought process cannot get any more bizarre than this.

    Kukah’s latest swan song of “poor leadership” he thinks the country “experienced in the last few years [that has] made us a laughing stock of other nations” could not have been targeted at Obasanjo (who was president for eight years) or Jonathan (who spent six years in the saddle) but President Buhari whom he loves to hate. In a more civilized and serious clime, Kukah’s not-so-subtle encouragement to the military to once again consider truncating a democratically elected government would not only have provoked public anger, but he would by now have been invited by the nation’s security and intelligence agencies for questioning and subsequently put under surveillance.

    Perhaps it is important to ask if Kukah’s reckless statement was just a coincidence or part of a grand plan to stop Buhari’s second term by any means necessary. In less than a month, it is such an irony of history that the two most vilified generals wrote letters in quick succession to President Buhari not to seek re-election. One is therefore curious if Kukah is the head of the religious wing of these generals who may have already taken strategic positions in order to create a critical mass of unsuspecting Nigerians to hound Buhari into submission. And if the president insists on running for re-election, is the military option part of this grand plan? Otherwise, how come Generals Obasanjo and Babangida seem so vehemently opposed to Buhari now even when their contrived “poor leadership” allegation doesn’t hold water?

    The irony here is that these high-profile criticisms of Buhari are coming from those who presided over not only criminal enterprises they passed on as governments to the Nigerian people, but also whose accomplishments in their combined 16 years as presidents pales in comparison to the successes that has so far been recorded by Buhari in less than three years. One then wonders if the Obasanjo, Babangida and Kukah troika are revving up their criticisms to the highest decibel now because they had expected that Buhari would not survive his sickness. But now that he has not only survived, but he’s robust, energetic and much healthier looking than before and there are indications he would seek re-election and most probably win, they may have discreetly sworn not to let that happen as long as they’re alive. For the criticisms to be this vehement, Buhari must be doing something very terrible to their core interests that has held the country by the jugular for so long which the Nigerian people are yet to be aware of. Whatever seems to be getting them so irritated of Buhari must, no doubt, be good for the generality of Nigerians as these generals have never cared for the progress and wellbeing of the people whose backs they’re now attempting to ride back into political reckoning once again so that the country’s plunder can continue. They shall fail this time.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
  • Kukah cooking full emptiness

    Kukah cooking full emptiness

    The revered Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, just cooked his latest broth.  But it is nothing but full emptiness — taken from the angle of the good priest as sound public thinker, teeming with deep knowledge of Nigerian contemporary history.

    Still, on the thinker’s plane.  The good father loves to impress with great polemics — a little to the left; and a little to the right; like Ibrahim Babangida’s doomed two parties.  But at the end, your brain flogged and drained, you just wonder what he is saying.

    To be fair though, his latest broth pushed something specific, even if it hit new lows by passing the military — or didn’t he? — as some deus-ex-machina, fit and proper to fix the Nigerian crisis of nationhood.

    Has reason so spectacularly failed among Nigeria’s most rigorous thinkers — among whom the Catholic priest clearly classes himself — that their forensic minds must throw up past debacles and future miracles?

    Father Kukah let it slip, rippling with avant-garde knowledge and holy wisdom, that Nigerians could not afford to, much longer, “take the military for granted”.

    Pray, who are the military and what what might that mean?  Are the military a political party, constitutionally free to join political frays?

    Or o, on the philosophical plain: the military,  all-wise and supremely above board, should come, post-haste, and sack the democratic order yet again?

    Perhaps the holy father should educate the woolly-brained hoi polloi, on what he meant by not taking “the military for granted”.

    This is a most condemnable baiting — if not outright goading — by a man who definitely ought to know better.  It is a sickly reminiscence of that sorry period of Nigerian life, when some otherwise respected “intellectuals” would hug to crass emotions, and with sententious zest, beckon the military to come roll in their tanks.

    Why, even the stark Sani Abacha was passed as some “democratic general” come to revalidate MKO’s mandate!

    Twice, in less than three years, the holy Father’s trumpeting has not quite matched his priestly and thinking reputation.

    When Buhari’s anti-corruption war debuted in 2015, Father Kukah did not quite ripple with priestly zeal, to clear Nigeria’s public finance of sleaze.  Rather, he called on Nigerians to “move on” because President Goodluck Jonathan had done fantastically well for losing election and quitting.  Was he supposed to stay put, holy Father?

    But you could even pass that for his democratic opinion, even if it challenged his priestly essence, as the society’s moral anchor.

    Now, he is suggesting the military, which by the Constitution, are subordinate to the democratic order, as having intervening rights.  That is bordering on high treason, no matter how putative.

    That is why the Catholic Church must call this priest to order.  He sure has rights as a citizen.  But his right ends when he starts insinuating extra-constitutional ideas, just because there is tension in the land.

    That is approaching a very dangerous territory, particularly with Nigerian past experience of abject military ruin, which even after 18 years of straight democracy is yet to be cleared.

  • ‘Catholic Church should offer Nigeria moral compass, says Kukah

    The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, has urged the Catholic Church to offer Nigeria a moral compass.

    Dr. Kukah, who spoke at the weekend at the 38th Supreme Council Convention of the Knights of St. Mulumba, at St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja, Lagos, said Catholics were known for playing prominent roles in all spheres of life.

    He said: “I believe the Catholic Church must urgently take up the challenge of offering our country a moral compass as we face a very uncertain future.

    “I note that your theme for the convention is ‘Family Values, Human Rights and the Challenges of Modernisation in Nigeria.’ I am not sure where to situate theme of Human Rights in the conversation and for the sake of clarity, I have decided to focus on the ‘Catholic Family and the Crisis of Modernity’. In doing so, I am arguing that everything else revolves round the quality of families we have in any society.”

    The cleric said Catholics were expected to give Nigeria and the world at large a good direction.

    He noted that the Catholic Church believed marriage was indissoluble because that was how it was in the beginning when God created the world.

    His words: “Marriage, the Catholic Church teaches, is not something that happens by accident. It is part of God’s divine plan for humanity and this finds fulfilment when two people come together. Therefore, crises, no matter the enormity, should not open the exit door on the grounds of what the world calls irreconcilable differences. For what may seem irreconcilable in the human mind is reconcilable before God.

    “While divorce presupposes human convenience, indissolubility dwells on commitment. This commitment is part of the sacrificial ingredients of marriage, which, like that of Jesus, has redemptive value because it supports, it forgives and it helps us to carry one another’s burden.

    “Key factors that threaten the family today are enormous, but many of them hang around what is called modernity. The challenge to be modern demands that we meet a set of ideals the society has constructed.

    “Perhaps, nowhere are the casualties of modernity to be found more than in the family.”

    The quest for modernity has left in its wake, a huge wreckage of broken homes and families and a morally-flawed society.

    “Today, the statistics on divorce, broken homes and children out of wedlock are on the rise. This generation will come of age with a culture of violence and with no skills. They will grow up in a socially-deviant environment characterised by drugs, gangsterism, illiteracy, teenage pregnancies, domestic abuse, pornography, paedophilia, victims of human trafficking, slavery, etc.

    “We, as a church, must raise an army of well-trained teachers of sound Catholic doctrine among the laity. The ignorance of lay Catholics is a far greater threat to the future of the church than either other faiths or even the secular forces that threaten us today.

    “Catholics must become more consistent, return to the scripture, know the teachings of the church and insist on preaching the word of God.

    “It is the quality of the children we bring up today that will determine our tomorrow. We need to start a national campaign to save the Catholic family and make its values a model for the larger society. This means parents must find time to educate their children on Catholic family values and prepare them for life in the larger society. We must begin this campaign and make Catholic parenting and family values something to be cherished.”

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode hailed the Catholic Church for promoting peace and Christian morality.

    Ambode, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Mrs. Toyin Awoseyi, said he felicitated “with the Catholics on this august occasion.”

    A management expert, Prof. Pat Utomi, said: “Our society is in crisis because modernity has affected our religious and moral values. We should retrace our steps. If things don’t go well with the family, it will affect the society.”