By Eze Chidozie
Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukkah, has urged the president-elect to end ethnic profiling, restore peace and justice and recover the country from those that have hijacked it.
The Catholic Bishop also called on the Judiciary to remember that it is the sacred temples of justice and last hope for all citizens.
Kukkah in his Easter message on Sunday, said that the task before the President-elect is not infrastructure or delivering the dividends of democracy but to keep Nigerians alive because only the living can enjoy infrastructure.
The clergy man told tht incoming president that “the most urgent mission is to start a psychological journey of making Nigerians feel whole again, of creating a large tent of opportunity and hope for us all, of expanding the frontiers of our collective freedom, of cutting off the chains of ethnicity and religious bigotry, of helping us recover from the feeling of collective rape by those who imported the men of darkness that destroyed our country, of recovering our country and placing us on the path to our greatness, of exorcising the ghost of nepotism and religious bigotry.
“You face difficult challenges ahead and you are mortals. The future of our country hangs on your deliberations. I will not judge you. I can only pray that God gives you grace. It will be up to you to decide how you use that gift which no amount of influence or power can buy.
“Nigerians are saddened that your sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten your reputation as the last hope for all citizens. It is sad that your hard earned reputation is undergoing very severe stress and pressure from those who want justice on their own terms. Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as the interpreters of the spirit of our laws.
“The future of our country is in your hands. You have only your consciences and your God to answer to when you listen to the claims and counter claims of Nigerian lawyers you and have to decide the future of our country. We pray that God gives you the wisdom to see what is right and the strength of character and conscience to stand by the truth. You have no obligation to please any one. Our future depends on how you arrive at your much awaited judgement” he said.
Kukkah who has been a vociferous cleric pontes out that the just concluded election was marred with violence, irregularities and unjust declaration of winners which is a virus that breaks down the foundation of any nation. He expressed hope that the blood that was shed at the election would become the foundation upon which a new Nigeria will emerge.
“Nigerians are so collectively frustrated that it is almost impossible to convince them that they can find justice. Everywhere you turn today, Nigerians look forlorn, disconsolate, lugubrious, and despondent. Our swagger is gone. We look like men and women returning from a funeral, murmuring discontentment in hushed tones. It is therefore not surprising that even the victors are blowing a trumpet.
“Unpleasant as this may mutedsound, this blood that they have shed could be seen as blood of the birth of a new Nigeria. It can become the blood of our new birth, our redemption. However, we cannot accept that violence and bloodshed are the normal route to power.
“Our dream is merely in suspense, a punctuation mark in the book of our unfinished greatness. Let us see this as a detour, a diversion. We still have our roadmap in our hands. It is time to return to the highway so as to choose a road less travelled, a road of hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and hope.
“The ugliness of yesterday must not define us. We must finish this journey together. We shall neither relent, slow down nor give up. The resurrection is a promise that despite the seeming hopelessness, God’s plans cannot be frustrated. Those who position themselves at night with stones to guard the entrance of the tomb will find themselves confounded at dawn by an empty tomb. A new Nigeria will emerge from the tombs of our seeming helplessness” Kukkah said.
He lamented that every election instead of being an improvement on the previous electoral template creates more disillusionment, less transparency and dashes the hope of the already dampened electorate such that there is less confidence, hope and participation in the electoral process.
“Every election brings more frustration and anger and the victims all turn on themselves. The circles have gone on and on. Little wonder, fewer and fewer citizens want to risk their lives for what promises them only blood, tears, injury and death. While citizens seek outlets to express their grievances, they often find that the doors of opportunity to express their dreams are blocked.
“Misuse of power by the political class creates the conditions for violence. Citizens struggle to use their votes to choose those they can trust but the violent insist on taking power by the means they know best. It is therefore a mistake to think that violence occurs because Nigerians do not love themselves due to differences of ethnicity or religion. No, violence occurs because the politicians do not love and respect us. We need more respect. Our politics is therefore a clash between right and wrong, justice and injustice, love and pain. Violence is often the last gasp of victims who can’t breathe”.
Kukkah who wondered weather President Muhammadu Buhari will be satisfied with the process of the election following his promise to bequeath a credible electoral process before he leaves office, said that Nigerians have a right to be angry die to the unfulfilled promises of the outgoing government. He cautioned that the anger must be legitimately expressed within the law and without extremes and in the spirit of Easter.
“Yes, we are all angry and we all want Justice. Yes, we have the right to be angry and we should be angry.
“Anger is a legitimate emotion and it possesses some curative and even redemptive uses. When motivated by a higher ideal, a higher sense of honour, it transforms into righteous indignation and we are compelled to hold up a sign that says, No, Enough is enough. Anger against injustice and misuse of power is a just cause. The challenge is how we process it, how we focus on its roots. We have to ensure that anger does not hold us prisoners. In all, our journey is long and winding, exhausting but promising, sorrowful but expectant.
“Whatever may be the nature of the imagined human solution to the problems of violence in our society, the human heart must undergo spiritual circumcision. Rather than focus on the scapegoat or the lamb of sacrifice, all of us need to pause and ask if we were participants or guilty bystanders in the violence among us.
“Peace making is not a specialised subject. It is a gift of God that is within each of us. It is about how we treat one another. This is why the urgent task before us is to restore the dignity of the Nigerian nation and her citizens. Nigerians have for too long been beaten by the rain and the sun of injustice.
“There can be no peace when those who live in glass houses, have mastered the art of throwing stones to those they have kept in the rain and under the scorching sun. Peace is not the absence of war. It is the fruit of justice” Kukkah said.
