Today 19th December, 2013 marks exactly 37 years since Rt. Rev Matthew Hassan Kukah was ordained a Catholic Priest of the old Kaduna Catholic Archbishop 1976 by Archbishop Peter Yariyok Jatau, now Archbishop emeritus. All these years have been accompanied by countless achievements and successes attained within these 37 years in the Lord vineyard, as the lists continue increasing, we are watching and celebrating this candid priest. In the Church, where Kukah serves as a priest, he has willingly paid his dues and till date he is still doing more. He has a hand in what Abuja Catholic Archdiocese is today, though it remains unknown to many.
Today 19th December, 2013 marks exactly 37 years since Rt. Rev Matthew Hassan Kukah was ordained a Catholic Priest of the old Kaduna Catholic Archbishop 1976 by Archbishop Peter Yariyok Jatau, now Archbishop emeritus. All these years have been accompanied by countless achievements and successes attained within these 37 years in the Lord vineyard, as the lists continue increasing, we are watching and celebrating this candid priest. In the Church, where Kukah serves as a priest, he has willingly paid his dues and till date he is still doing more. He has a hand in what Abuja Catholic Archdiocese is today, though it remains unknown to many.
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A research reveals, the wish of the Nigerian Catholic Hierarchy to have an Ecclesiastical circumscription corresponding to the Federal Capital Territory found expression in the late 1979.In 1981, after His Eminence, Dominic Cardinal Ekandem had been appointed the Superior of Abuja, distance, bad road and running of his diocese in Ikot Ekpene made it impossible for him to be in Abuja at the same time. He immediately appointed Kukah, from the Archdiocese of Kaduna, as his representative to the newly created territory. A brief meeting was held between Archbishop Peter Jatau of Kaduna, Bishop Christopher Abba of Minna (then) and Kukah at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Suleja, in January 1982. It was resolved that Fr. Kukah’s immediate assignment would be to liaise with Federal Government to procure land and register the presence of the Catholic Church in Abuja.
The group paid a courtesy call on the then Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. John Kadiya. Fr. Kukah was then formally introduced to him and his Land Officers. Bishop Christopher Abba (Minna) then offered him a room at the parish house in Suleja. However, preparation for the Pope’s visit that year and the fact that Fr. Kukah was working full time as the Director of Social Development for Kaduna Ecclesiastical Province, and National Secretary, Social Development Office, Lagos, meant that for the first three months in 1982, he could only shuttle to and fro Kaduna. Kukah finally took up residence in Suleja in May, 1982 and worked in the territory until March 1986 when he went to study at University of London in its famous School of African and Oriental Studies SOAS for his Ph.D. Before his departure, Kukah succeeded in obtaining registration of almost all the churches which, form pioneering parishes and institutions in the diocese of Abuja.
He has also trained and mentored priests from our home Archdiocese of Kaduna, from serving as Parish Priest, to the Catholic Secretariat as Deputy and later General Secretary respectively, where he was brain behind the composed two sets of prayers; one, Against Bribery and Corruption and second, for Nigeria in Distress during military dictatorship. He holds several pastoral positions climaxing to Vicar General, before his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI as Bishop of Sokoto Diocese in 2011.
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On the national scene, asides priesthood, he has made significant contributions towards maintenance of peace and stability of Nigeria. He has served in a Human Rights Investigation Commission (Oputa panel), National Political Reforms Conference, and the Ogoni-Shell Mediation initiative during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s era and spans up to the present regime. Again, he was active in the Electoral Reform Committee set up by late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and the ongoing committee set up by Northern States Governors Forum on the insecurity challenges in the region, and many more initiatives.
He has participated doggedly and sincerely in enlarging the Nigerian National Question via an in depth scholarly research that have metamorphosed into about five sound books notably among which are, Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria 1993, Democracy and Civil Society in Nigeria 1999. In 1996, he co-published with Professor Toyin Falola, Religious Militancy and Self-Assertion: Religious Revivalism in Nigeria. Then, The Shattered Microcosm, The Collapse of the Moral Order in Africa, and The Mustard Seed volumes 1-5, Towards a Just Democratic Nigeria, The Catholic Church and Politics in Nigeria, and Whistling in the Dark. The Church and the Politics of Social Responsibilities, and recently Witness To Justice: An Insider’s Account Of Nigeria’s Truth Commission and hundreds of seminal papers.
Regrettably, as it is with our country, acknowledging and honoring people of questionable character who mostly brought shame and dented our image is the order of the day. The Nigerian state in the past and present has not found his works worthy to be honored despite his commitment and untiring effort in serving his motherland within these 14 years of our democratic experiment. Not even a street has been named after him. The Federal Government is not alone in bearing this guilt, even the governments of our home state of Kaduna and Zangon Kataf local government have not thought it worthy. Bishop Kukah only comes in handy as committee member or a bank of ideas needed in solving puzzles, and nothing more.
Bishop Kukah has taken several risks for the betterment of Nigeria and these have not really been told. Not many know the travails he miraculously scaled through during the dark years of Nigeria under military regimes; because of his engagements with the media, members of the academia and the civil society.
Many will not know this story; but it is worthy to be told for clarity. Kukah will have been a victim of late General Sani Abacha’s tyranny but for the sheer saving grace of God and as a result of his steadfastness and good intentions. It was a tensed moment in Nigeria and beyond, security operatives were on his trail wherever he delivered a lecture or spoke in Nigeria. His engagements with the June 12 election saga in which late Chief MKO Abiola won was troubling for the then General Ibrahim Badamasi’s led government, it overlapped into the Abacha years alongside his advocacy on Ogoni people that led to the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and co.
At a point in time, after the visitation of His Holiness Pope John Paul II of blessed memory in Abuja, the former military ruler made it clear that Kukah was his problem and his hands were tied, it spanned even outside the shores of Nigeria, as he was being monitored. And Kukah made it a policy of sending copies of all his engagements to embassies and missions after presentations.
I quite remember, early this year, his immediate community appealed to the Federal Government to confer on this worthy clergyman a national award for his contributions to peace and stability of Official Peoples Democratic Party Nigeria
The national president of Ikulu Development Association, and now Kaduna State Commissioner of Information and Home Affairs Hon. Ben Bako who spoke at a reception in honour of Kukah, said, “This man has done a lot for Nigeria and the black race, he has on many occasions brought honor and good image to our country, but unfortunately Federal Government did not deem it fit to confer on him, a national merit award or even official government recognition. This is a man who has been actively involved in all intellectual discourse related to the Nigeria Question; he has sat on many committees and commissions. This is unfair and unjust. We, members of his immediate community are appealing to the Federal Government to appreciate this man. Let it be now as a means of encouraging other good spirited Nigerians who are willing to make sacrifice for our dear country.”
With this outcry and many more, and going by the fact that national awards have been reduced to confetti in our country, it is expected that Federal Government will deem it fit to honor true patriots than the usual jamboree as a mark of reawakening redeeming our lost image as a country, and set a motivation in the spirit of young Nigerians.
Aruwan is an editorial staff of Blueprint Newspapers.
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