He is in the very mould and mode of Desmond Tutu. He also proudly carries his mood. He looks like and acts like him. Their character semblance is almost endless.
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian. He died on December 26, 2021, aged 90, in Cape Town.
But the focus is not on the dead. It’s on the living and the healthy. Matthew Hassan Kukah is it! He’s Bishop, Catholic Church, Sokoto Diocese.
He became a septuagenarian yesterday. He was born in Anchuna, Ikulu Chiefdom, Zangon Kataf, Kaduna State. That was precisely on August 31, 1952.
Even at 70, he remains witty, scintillating and fiery, flaming. He combines all these with perfect precision. And all at the same time!
He is the thorn in the flesh of tyrants. He does not spare them. He speaks truth directly to the throne. He cares less who is the king at any material time.
Kukah spat fire as usual yesterday. He was once more in his best form, his natural component. He spoke extensively with Daily Sun yesterday. It was a celebration interview for the archives.
He had fond memories growing up: “Trekking to school, playing games with my cousins, fighting on the local football pitch, on the way to school and everywhere and later growing up and having the chance to serve at Mass and so on.”
He explained why he is what he is today: “I like to talk a lot, perhaps too much. But I do love discussions and debates. I like to learn from others, especially those whom I know have a better grasp of issues.”
Kukah confessed he’s restive and restless: “I love a good fight. You know what the good old Pastor, Vernon Jones, the American, who preceded Martin Luther King, said? He said he had a philosophy, which said: ‘if you see a good fight, get into it.’”
Those words have moulded him greatly. Indeed, he fought and is still fighting many good fights. He fights without fear or intimidation: “Frankly, I have never seen the tragedy that has afflicted us as a matter of individual survival.
“But, how to rescue a great nation from the perfidy of political marauders who are prepared to sacrifice their people as a means of retaining power. This is the worst phase in the history of our nation and I believe it will be the last.
“It is unlikely that we shall ever have a government with such a low threshold of pursuing the common good of all citizens. Nor will we have one that squandered so much good will on the altar of very severely narrow and parochial ends.”
He went down memory lane. Have a bite of the bit: “In the Biafran War, we knew a war was on us. Even at that, the Igbo scientists were developing local technologies. And even now, some Igbo engineers have been able to locally manufacture cars that, in a serious country, we should not be where we are.
“When I sit in an Innoson bus at the airport, I relax and breathe some fresh air. We are at our lowest right now. We may never have to face this situation, hopefully where a government almost willingly handed over our nation to criminals, bandits, murderers and then sat on its hands watching people die.”
Kukah was emphatic: “This is the worst phase in the history of our nation. We cannot survive another phase of this death in instalment because we shall have no nation left. In seeking to take back our nation, no one must be left behind.”
And the fiery cleric raved on: “We know that Nigeria is not a mistake. It has fallen into the hands of too many marauders and rogues who have really never thought of anything other than themselves their kinsmen and women.
“The resources are perishable and those who lead us have shown no serious commitment to expanding the opportunities for Nigerians to grow and develop.”
He drew attention to case studies worthy of our emulation: “See what has happened in countries like Egypt, Ethiopia and even Somalia in the last few years. Countries have managed to curtail violence and placed their nation on a keel.”
There was virtually no area he did not touch. He dwelt richly on the vexed Muslim-Muslim ticket. He dug deeper. It was quite revealing. Kukah couldn’t have done it less. He threw up new challenges:
“We have a Muslim-Muslim in Kaduna State. Despite the overwhelming evidence, no lessons have been learnt and they are determined to continue on this ugly path.”
He didn’t fail to display his displeasure: “Why has our state become a furnace of death? The killers were made to believe that this is their home. They have come to take what is theirs at the expense of those who are not Muslims.”
He opened the eyes of the pretenders in government: “See what they have done to Islam itself in the minds of ordinary people. See what they have done to ordinary poor Muslims. Has the decision made Muslims richer, healthier or better off in any way? Remember that today is the tomorrow you dreamt about yesterday.
“Nigerians know how the Muslim-Muslim ticket came about. It is not even about what Christians think, but what do ordinary serious, morally decent Muslims who believe in diversity think of this?”
He was profound and sincere. He risked not doing otherwise: “I would reject any ticket that does not appreciate our diversity in these very trying times that we are in. In normal times, would we be bothered about this, given the identities of the people involved and their records?”
His fair assessment: “I see Asiwaju (Tinubu) and (Kashim) Shettima, two good Nigerians whom I know, as victims of circumstances that are beyond them, being made to lie on a procrustean bed of opportunism not made by them. What surprises me is why Nigerians are not asking the kitchen; where this broth was prepared and who the chef is?”
This is valid: “We have not learnt any lesson of the consequences of the mismanagement of identity politics in the last seven years; the affliction it has brought upon our nation which is on the brink now.
“Muslim-Muslim ticket merely throws red meat at the dogs of fortune who have brought havoc to our land.” That is the naked truth. Yes, nothing but the stark reality.
The priest won’t cease-fire yet: “If you create these circumstances in which you privilege a group based on ethnicity or religion, you lose the moral right and destroy the building blocks for a good society.
“These identities have appeal to poor, innocent and traumatised folks who are seduced by rhetoric of the demagogues who use religion or ethnicity and present themselves as their champions. History shows us it all ends in grief. Rwanda learnt its lesson and is still to a great extent bed-ridden.”
His damning verdict: “A Muslim-Muslim ticket is a decoy, which hides the iceberg ahead of us. In the end, it is left for Nigerians to decide what they want and whom they want. It is not for me to judge, but we didn’t need to be at this point.”
Can you beat this? “This is the logic of a post-Buhari Nigeria where our cherished friendships now hang in a balance after years of the destruction of the foundations of our ethnic and religious harmony which we had managed over time.” Great doubt!
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, welcome to your exclusive world of septuagenarians. Take your eminent place. You deserve even more.