The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah has charged President Bola Tinubu to produce a robust template with timelines to achieve a successful national rebirth. According to the fiery prelate, to accomplish impactful regeneration of the battered country, there must be a deliberate policy of inclusion to put an end to nepotism, that undermines the system of state management, social justice and fairness, distorts fair competition, and hinders economic development and moral basis of society. Bishop Kukah raised the concern in his Easter message made available to journalists.
He said, “The federal government must come up with a robust template for how it wishes to reverse and put us on a path of national healing. This must include a deliberate policy of inclusion that will drastically end the immoral culture of nepotism. The government must design a more comprehensive and wide-ranging method of recruitment that is transparent as a means of generating patriotism and reversing the ugly face of feudalism and prebendalism. “There is need for a clear communications strategy that will serve to inspire and create timelines of expectations of results from policies.
There is need for clarity over questions of the Who, What, When, and How national set goals are to be attained and who can be held accountable. This will take us away from the current Communications-by-announcement-of-appointments policies as if this is all that government is doing.” The prelate described the notion of rejigging the security architecture as “a hackneyed cliché that is now at best, an oxymoron,” expressing concern over what he termed “The ubiquity of the military in our national life.” His Easter message read in part, “It is difficult to fathom our current situation, regarding the ubiquity of the military in our national life.
It is impossible to explain how we can say we are in a civilian democracy with the military literally looking like an army of occupation with an octopussean spread across all the 36 states and Abuja. “This has very serious consequences both for its professionalism, its integrity and perceived role in protecting society. No other person than the immediate past Chief of Defense Staff, General Lucky Irabor who recently referred to the military as facing the dilemma of what he called, see finish. It is now difficult to say whether the persistence of insecurity is a cause or a consequence of military ubiquity.” Lamenting that trillions of Naira continue to go into bottomless pits with little measurable benefits, Bishop Kukah noted that the military’s professionalism cannot be diluted by the recruitment of hunters, vigilante groups and other unprofessional and untrained groups.
He remarked, “This is not sustainable because it leaves the military open to ridicule and perceptions of surrender. Fighting insecurity is now an enterprise. I believe our security men and women can defeat these criminals in a matter of months. All we hear and see are fingers pointing to the top. No, this must end. The alternative is too frightening to contemplate. The time was yesterday, but today is still possible.” Commending the president over his announcement that kidnapping and banditry are now to be treated as acts of terrorism, he stressed that Nigerians need to see a relentless and implacable plan to end the menace with a definite dateline for bringing the terrorists to their knees, no matter what it would take. “Without a timeline for eliminating these evil, despicable, malevolent and execrable demons from among us, our future as a people will be imperiled.”
He commended the government over its promise to stop paying ransom to bandits and kidnappers, noting that merely going to the forest and returning with victims leaves the government open to suspicion from citizens. Bishop Kukah stressed, “The government needs to show results of a well co-ordinated plan and timelines to bring back all citizens in captivity and give us back our country.” He called on the President to maintain the path of probity, as he enjoined him to take further steps to cut down the overbearing costs of governance and put in place more comprehensive plans towards achieving both food and physical security across our nation.
The Bishop faulted the recent palliatives introduced by the Federal Government “Merely distributing money through already corruption riddled structures is not enough and diminishes the dignity of our citizens. No one needs to line up to receive aid when we are not in a war. Give our people back their farms and develop a comprehensive agricultural plan to put our country back on the path of honour and human dignity.” The cleric took a swipe at the country’s succession of political leadership, drawing an analogy between them and a drunken stupor, staggering, stumbling and fumbling, slurring in speech, with blurred visions, searching for the way home. He noted, “The corruption of the years of a life of immoral and sordid debauchery have spread like a cancer destroying all our vital organs.
The result is a state of a hangover that has left our nation comatose. Notwithstanding, Easter is a time to further reflect on the road not taken. It is a time to see if this Golgotha of pain can lead us to the new dawn of the Resurrection. Nigeria can and Nigeria will be great again. Let us ride this tide together in hope. “Many Nigerians are wondering and asking questions such as, what time of day is it? Where are we? How did we get here? Where is here? Where are we going? How long do we still have to travel, and are there any map readers to tell us if we are on the right path? Neither I nor anyone can answer all these questions, but together, we can think through them. Let us not all pretend to be ignorant. It is not so much who knows what. It is rather a matter of accepting the challenges, having the honesty to ask the most difficult questions, and holding each other accountable.
In this way, the road may be long, but it will be easier to travel together in faith and confidence.” Bishop Kukah however assured that there is light at the end of the tunnel. In his words, “Even though it is not daybreak yet, all of us must agree that the night is far gone. The only reason why I am confident that daybreak may not be too far away is because of my faith in God and the power of the risen Christ. There could not be a better metaphor for addressing the situation we are in now than to turn our attention to the meaning of Easter and the promises that are contained in the meaning of Christianity. St. Paul said: The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light (Rom.13:12). With the risen Christ, we can dispel encircling clouds of doom.”
