Essay
By Mike Ozekhome, SAN
INTRODUCTION
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Dr. Mathew Hassan Kukah during his last year Christmas, told Nigerians that the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has continued failing to address the nation’s multifarious problems. He argued in his thesis that this administration’s policies have indeed worsened the country’s socio-economic and political challenges which are gradually turning the country into a failed state. Today, I take a more expository analysis of Kukah’s historic message.
“Bishop Kukah is not the ordinary-run-of-the-mill-priest. He uses the pulpit to preach against societal ills, bad governance. He posits panacea for deepened democracy and true fiscal federalism. At Bishop Bagobiri’s obsequies, on March 17, 2018, Kukah fired from his always revved cylinders:
“Politicians are often fond of praising Church leaders especially when they are in opposition, in exile or are victims of state repression. Church leaders are praised for being voices of the voiceless, standing for justice, courageous etc.
“When things change and the opposition politician of yesterday gets to power, they expect you in their pocket. You raise the same issues and they accuse you of supporting the opposition, hating our government, standing in our way, being a danger to the nation etc.
“On February 11, 2020, at his funeral homily of Michael Nnadi, a student of the Catholic Good Shepherd Seminary, Kaduna, who was abducted and gruesomely murdered, Kukah lamented that our “nation is like a ship stranded on the high seas, rudderless and with broken navigational aids.”
“Today, our years of hypocrisy, duplicity, fabricated integrity, false piety, empty morality, fraud and Pharisaism have caught up with us… Nigeria is on the crossroads and its future hangs precariously in a balance.
“We have practised madness for too long. Our attempt to build a nation has become like the agony of Sisyphus who angered the gods and had to endure the frustration of rolling a stone up the mountain.
“No one could have imagined that in winning the presidency. Buhari would bring nepotism and clannishness into the military and the ancillary security agencies.
“No one could have imagined that his government would be marked by supremacist and divisive policies that would push our country to the brink.
“This President has displayed the greatest degree of insensitivity in managing our country’s rich diversity. He has subordinated the larger interests of the country to the hegemonic interests of his co-religionists and clansmen and women.
“The impression created now is that, to hold a key and strategic position in Nigeria today, it is more important to be a northern Muslim than a Nigerian.”
“Despite running the most nepotistic and narcissistic government in known history, there are no answers to the millions of young children on the streets in northern Nigeria. The North still has the worst indices of poverty, insecurity, stunting, squalor and destitution,” he pontificated…”.
The flaming clergyman bemoaned the nadir to which the military has sunk, loosing its “allure and gravitas… because the military has “gradually become trapped and ravaged by ethnic, regional, religious and class considerations.” Where did Kukah go wrong here? I cannot see it. Or, can you?
I had continued my piece thus: “On 23rd August, 2013, I was kidnapped (in the hot afternoon), along Benin-Auchi Express way, near Ehor, by dangerously armed kidnappers. Four Policemen who came for my rescue were gunned down in cold blood. I was in the dungeon of the terror group for 21 whole days. Days of mental agony, psychological depression, physical trauma, spiritual bruise, fear of death, fear of fear. All Nigerians rose up for my release in the print, electronic and social media. My kidnappers (always hooded, except at night), told me so. God had prepared a table before me in the presence of my enemies (Psalm 23:5). Of the many reactions, there was one particular one that seared the hearts of my captors and continually flogged them with spiritual koboko and divine bulala.
“It was the 27th August, 2013, press release of my good friend, Kukah, titled “Release Ozekhome in the name of God”. I did not know what Kukah wrote that so tormented my tormentors, until God ordered my release; and I read it. Inter alia, the cassocked “conscience of the nation” pleaded with my abductors, in the following words:
“Sure, these are sad times for our country, but the kidnapping of Mr. Ozekhome carries a distinctive ironic ring to it. Here is a fine gentleman in every sense of the word, a hard working professional who has worked assiduously with his bare hands right up to the top of his profession. His patriotism and deep commitment to justice saw him at the forefront of the fight against tyranny and dictatorship in the darkest days of our country. He sacrificed his life, family and career and was a victim of some of the ugliest phases of the brutality of those in power. He did all these to give our country in particular and a new generation of young Nigerians a better future. His humble beginnings and his hard work should be seen by the young generation as ideals to be emulated.
“His country through the legal profession recognized his contribution by elevating him to the enviable position of a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN. The recognition only renewed his commitment to justice and the cause of the poor. It was early this year that he pleaded with me to join a Foundation he was setting up for the cause of the poor. I was quite happy to oblige him because I have believed in his cause for the down trodden. He has made all these sacrifices for the future of these same tragic youth who are now his captors.
“Coming at the dawn of the democracy and freedom he struggled for, this is at worst, a second crucifixion for a great patriot. True, no citizen deserves to be denied of his freedom in a Democracy except those who have broken the law. Nothing therefore could be more ironic than for this great son of our country to be forcefully snatched from the highway in a Democracy. In the name of God and all that is noble, I call on his captors to release him unconditionally and immediately. I call on our young people to renounce this violent, ungodly and evil act.
“I believe the future of our youth does not depend on the blood money that comes from kidnapping, popular and commonplace as this ignoble cause has become. Our youth must embrace the future with hope, believing that tomorrow is theirs to build. I believe that this blood money can only erect a house of cards for now. They should renounce this criminality and turn to pursuing legacies they can proudly hand over to their children tomorrow. I beg for God’s mercies and peace for the souls of those gallant police officers who surrendered their lives and continue to pray for our security agencies. May Mike regain his freedom soon.” And I was released, to the glory of God.” Where did Kukah go wrong here? I cannot see it. Or, can you?
So, Kukah has been speaking. Mr President sir, tell your attack dogs to leave this Pan-Nigerian patriot alone. He is merely forewarning us all about the dangers ahead, except the Buhari government mends its ways.
– Jan. 12, 2021 @ 9:48 GMT |
Tags: Bishop Kukah's Truth vs Government Fiction (Part 2)
