40YEARS ON
Francis Damina pays tribute to Matthew Hassan Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, on 40 years of priesthood
Today, December 19, 2016, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, the well-informed, pedantic and widely respected Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, is 40 as a priest. Kukah was ordained as a Catholic Priest on December 19, 1976 by the emeritus Archbishop of Kaduna, the Most Rev. Dr. Peter Jatau at Holy Family Parish Gidan Bako – then a Parish under Kaduna before Kafanchan Diocese was carved out in 1995 with Most Rev. Joseph Bagobiri as its first Episcopal Chair.
Since then, Kukah has metamorphosed from a little mustard seed into an oak. Thanks to God and to three luminous Nigerians who contributed so much in either moulding or given him the opportunity to bring out the star in him, namely, the late Dominic Cardinal Ekandem, Archbishop Peter Jatau and Mallam Mohammed Haruna – the veteran journalist now turned election umpire. None of the three shares a clime or even a tribe with the Bishop. And this alone should teach us a lesson on the need to love our neighbours whether they are Togolese, Muslims, ‘Atheists’ or whatsoever.
As the Bishop’s younger brother and a petty trader in the market place of ideas, I have decided on the occasion of this anniversary to share with thousands, if not millions of the cleric’s friends and admirers an aspect that tantalises me so much, that is, his power of rhetoric. And to, also, explore the lesson of the timing of the anniversary.
Like Saint Augustine of Hippo, Winston Churchill or even the great Shakesperain Mark Anthony, it is common knowledge even among neophytes that the cleric possesses the capacity to literally set a whole city ablaze with the power of his speech. I have observed that the basic ingredients in preparing a sweet soup of a speech or a piece of writing by the Bishop are two: humour and controversy. As if to lend credence to this, he himself recently said: “I love a good debate. Most of my friends are those with whom I have the greatest arguments and it is precisely this quality that I love about them”. Commenting on this, Mohammed Haruna said: “As a self-proclaimed lover of good debates, the Reverend Father has given as much as he has taken in the many controversies he has either started or joined in the course of his writing and speaking career that has spanned the last 30 odd years”.
In the build-up to the elections in 2007 or so, the South-east governors organised a symposium on how to eliminate electoral violence chaired by Professor George Obiozor. The bishop was part of those billed to speak at the event and I linked up with him from Ikot-Ekpene to Concord Hotel Owerri – venue of the event.
In his speech, which was off-the-cuff, the bishop, completely contrary to the position of the speakers before him – including the then Inspector General of Police, now the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Sir Mike Okiro, said: “You have invited me to speak on how to eliminate violence in the forth-coming elections. On the contrary, I am sorry to say that I do not subscribe to the almost conventional wisdom that violence can be eliminated. And this is because; violence is part and parcel of man right from the fall of Adam. What for me is important is for us to begin to talk about how to rather manage it”. At this point, the hall turned mute that one could almost hear the musings of ants from their market square. And everyone knew it was Father Kukah who was in control of the microphone.
The startling and most sparkling remark he made that attracted a standing ovation was when he said: “The previous speaker said when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. But I tell you, whether the elephants fight or make love, the grass will still suffer not because of what they do but because of their sizes”.
The most memorable speech His Lordship made based on my assessment, was a lecture he delivered almost a decade ago on the occasion of Saint Joseph Major Seminary Ikot-Ekene’s Theology Day with the title ‘Democracy and the Common Good: A Call to Arms’. The bishop was at his best; full of humour and controversies.
After an opening remark by the then Rector, Rev. Fr. Dr. Donatus Udoette, himself a sophist, in which he posited that Nigeria needs God-fearing politicians with the impression that the country was only next to hell, Kukah stood up to, in his presentation, emit ‘atheism’ by arguing, among other things, that the more he travels, the more he loves this country. The peak of the lecture was when he said: “Many times I have listened to Nigerians especially priests say the problem with Nigeria is that we don’t have God-fearing politicians. But to be sincere, I personally don’t need ‘God-fearing’ politicians; I prefer politicians who fear Nigerians rather than God”. He went further to argue that this is because; “One, how do we measure the fear of God? Is it by the size of one’s Bible or Qur’an? Two, God does not have a voter’s card. I was the one who voted for you and you need to be accountable to me and not God because, whatever business you have with Him, you can settle it when you get to meet Him in heaven”. While arguing that politics is called a game and not a religion, he concluded with a rhetorical question; “Is God for instance going to judge wrestlers for beating and injuring their opponents on the last day?”
There are many myths especially among ordinary people about the great man as Abduljalal Na’iya calls him. It was for instance told that on one occasion, a young man came to him to say he was an orphan who applied for a job and needs a god-father. The sage responded by telling him; “Young man, I am only aware of one God in heaven and it is your business if you need a private one”. At this, he gave the young man a stipend. And that was vintage Kukah – philosophical, full of humour and controversies.
In those years wasted by the termites – the years of military dictatorship, when those who today pose as national elite with varied titles of national honours and awards, including the Wole Soyinkas, of this world ran away - no other voice rang out so clearly and so true as Kukah’s. The greater the adversity, the greater his courage.
As he celebrates his anniversary, a lot of admirers, well-wishers and friends will join him to dance at the market square not because of the power of his rhetoric, neither his wit nor controversies, but because of the uncommon courage he exhibited by whistling in the dark in those sad and treacherous days when soldiers were up in arms to violate and defile all that was most sacred to man. And this is what endears him to so many Nigerians some of whom are Muslims, others Christians, and still others, ‘atheists’. He stood up for them not as brethren-in-faith but as brethren-in-creation which surpasses the former. This may also explain why Nigerians see him not as a Catholic priest but as a priest for all who will speak for the ‘Atheists’, the Muslims, the Christians, Catholics, Igbos, Biafran agitators and even Boko Haram adherents whenever they have a just course or what defines their humanity is at stake. The great man may have realised this clearly during their tour as a member of Nigeria’s Truth Commission set up in 1999.
What all this means is that the anniversary is coming at an appropriate time, a time with challenges to spur the bishop’s enduring character. At a time of supreme complacency when “a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime is threatening our national unity: the genocide in Southern Kaduna, Boko Haram in the North-east, vandalism and destruction of our national asset in the East and some parts of the Niger Delta, cynicism and hunger, general insecurity in nearly all parts of the country with a call for separation of the marriage of 1914, the anniversary should renew the strength of His Lordship and encourage him to rise in defence of our nation against the impending doom that is about to consume it. This, as I said, is the basic character that endears him as a priest for all. Damina, a student of Religion and Society, wrote from Holy Family Gidan Bako