By Matthew H. Kukah
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan
Kukah has expressed his thoughts about the state of the nation in
his 2020 Christmas Message, describing Nigeria as a nation in
search of vindication.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
He further stated that the recent killings and other vices in
Nigeria have left the country in a rudderless state, with no
particular sense of direction.
In addition, he said President Muhammadu Buhari has betrayed the
people who voted for him because of his alleged nepotism geared
towards the northern region.
The full statement reads:
A NATION IN SEARCH OF VINDICATION, Christmas
2020 Message by Matthew Hassan KUKAH, Bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Sokoto
1: Another Christmas with Dark Clouds of
Death:
Let me paraphrase the holy prophet Isaiah who said: “For
Jerusalem (Nigeria’s sake), I will not be silent until her
vindication shines forth like the dawn…..No more shall people call
you forsaken, or your land desolate, but you shall be called my
delight and your land espoused.” (Is. 62:1,4).
Against the backdrop of our endless woes, ours has become a
nation wrapped in desolation. The prospects of a failed state stare
us in the face: endless bloodletting, a collapsing economy, social
anomie, domestic and community violence, kidnappings, armed
robberies etc. Ours has become a house of horror with fear stalking
our homes, highways, cities, hamlets and entire communities. The
middle grounds of optimism have continued to shift and many
genuinely ask, what have we done to the gods? Does Nigeria have a
future? Where can we find hope? Like the Psalmist, we ask; from
where shall come our help? (Ps.121:1).
Whatever the temptations to despair, we cannot to give up. When
the Psalmist asked where help shall come from, he answered that it
will come from the Lord. Therefore, like Zachariah, the father of
John the Baptist, we Priests must stand before the mercy seat of
God and plead the cause of our great country (Lk. 1:8). Like
Abraham, we must plead for the Lord to save our nation because we
have more than ten righteous men (Gen. 18: 16ff). Like Moses, we
believe that as long as our hands are held up in prayer, the Lord
will be on our side ( Ex. 17:11). These are trying but life
changing moments in the history of our nation. Politics and
Economics alone will not resolve our problems. There is enough hate
and bitterness to go around. We need to pause, reflect, pray, be
honest and courageous in facing tomorrow.
Yes, our dreams have been aborted. Yes, our commonwealth has
been stolen. Yes, our cancer of corruption has metastasized. Yes,
we have been guilty of patricide, fratricide and attempted even
suicide. Yes, we are hungry, angry, thirsty and starving. Yet, we
stand firmly with the unshaken belief that no matter the
temptations, the world has known worst times. These may be the
worst of times, but for men and women of faith, they could be the
best of times. We must stand firm and resolute because, our
redeemer liveth (Job 19:25).
2: Annus Mirabilis or Annus Horribilis?
The roads to the graveyards are busier than those to the farms.
Amidst the wails and laments, I hear the congregants saying; the
world is coming to an end, it has never been so bad. Yes, people
are dying, but they are not dying more now than they did in recent
years. It is the social media and its connectivity that has given
us a sense of greater urgency and added to our seeming despair with
the way things are. The social media is value neutral. It depends
on what we make of it. Its instantaneous impact is often times
dizzyingly traumatic, but the other benefits more than compensate.
In a way, the choices we make will help us decide whether this year
is our annus mirabilis or annus horribilis.
When Isaac Newton, at the age of 23, made the spectacular
discoveries in the areas of Calculus, Motion, Optics, and
Gravitation, the year of those discoveries, 1666, was referred to
as, annus mirabilis, the year of joy. On the other hand, in 1992,
when the marriages of three of her children collapsed, Queen
Elizabeth in her Christmas address referred to that year as her
annus horribilis, the year of horror. As such, notwithstanding all
the earth shaking impact of the Covid-19, our own individual,
communal and national tragedies, it is not just a choice between
annus mirabilis and annus horribilis. At various levels, there have
been grey areas of hope, flickers of light, achievement and so on.
It to these flickers of hope that we must cling tenaciously. For
our son, Anthony Joshua, the loss of his title to Andy Ruis on June
1, 2019 after 25 fights without a loss, that year was his annus
horribilis. When he pummeled Kubrat Pulev, this year became his
annus mirabilis. Things change and, joy or sorrow, we must know
that nothing lasts forever. What matters is how we handle
failure.
3: Another Christmas in Cloud of Doom:
Not unexpectedly, this Christmas is again coming against a
backdrop of so much pain, sorrow and uncertainty in our land. We
all seem to have become sedated and inured to pain. Tragedy has
been standing as our gate keeper. For over ten years now, at almost
each Christmas, a dark pall of horror, sorrow and death has
consistently hung in our horizon threatening to eclipse the
promises of the joy of Christmas. Recall the bombing of St.
Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla on Christmas day in 2011. In the
wake of the Christmas day bombing, I issued a statement titled, An
Appeal to Nigerians. In the statement which enjoyed a wide
circulation, I stated: All of this should cause us to pause and
ponder about the nature of the force of evil that is in our midst
and appreciate the fact that contrary to popular thinking, we are
not faced with a crisis or conflict between Christians and Muslims.
Rather, like the friends of Job, we need to humbly appreciate the
limits of our human understanding. Terror is a product of hate, but
while hate tries to divide us, terror and death should pull us
together.
4: Is Government in Suspended Animation?:
As our country drifts almost rudderless, we seem like people
travelling without maps, without destination and with neither
Captain nor Crew. Citizens have nowhere to turn to. After he
assumed power, a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference had
audience with President Buhari. In the course of our discussion,
the President shared with us his frustration over the state of
decay and rut that he had met. In frustration, I vividly recalled
him saying that, from the decay and neglect, it seemed as if
preceding governments had been doing nothing but just eating and
going to the toilet! Looking back, one might conclude that those
were happy times because at least there was food to eat and people
could go to the toilet. Now, a journey to the toilet is considered
by the poor an extra luxury. Our country’s inability to feed itself
is one of the most dangerous signs of state failure and a trigger
to violence.
5: Breaking the Ice: From Chibok through Dapchi to
Kankara:
The sleepy town of Kankara, just 130 kilometers outside Katsina,
like Chibok and Dapchi before it, has leapt into prominence not
because they now have potable water, electricity or any dramatic
improvement in the quality of their lives. Rather, it is because of
large footprints of the evil men who have passed through their
terrain. As always, we were unsure of how many children were
missing: 80, 820, 800, 500, 520, 333, 320,no one knew. The numbers
kept changing between the government and Boko Haram. The story of
Chibok and Dapchi was for some time, a metaphor that exposed the
vulnerability of the girl child. Kankara has added to the mix and
now we have to face the mortal dangers of the Nigerian child in
northern Nigeria. The Almajiri is the poster child of the horrible
and inhuman conditions of the northern child. It is a best kept
secret that the region refuses to confront but it has now exposed
its underbelly. Now, what next for the children of the north? In
another ten or twenty years, these children will be leaders in
their communities. What will they remember and how will they
remember? Their fate and future are a dream deferred, a nightmare
that will be ignited by the fire next time.
We thank God that the children have been returned safely. This
is the easy part. The challenge now is how to deal with the scars
inflicted by a derelict nation which is still unable or unwilling
to protect its citizens. Yes, we commend the federal and state
governments for the rescue operation. The larger issues now are
whether the federal government understands the evil web of
intrigues into which Boko Haram has tied it. Will the federal
government continue to reward and fund Boko Haram by playing its
game? How long can this circle of deceit last for given that every
kidnap merely strengthens their arsenal? The men of darkness have
shown far greater capacity to shock and awe a forlorn nation by
constantly blindsiding us all. When will it all end?
6: A Nation in Search of Vindication:
This government owes the nation an explanation as to where it is
headed as we seem to journey into darkness. The spilling of this
blood must be related to a more sinister plot that is beyond our
comprehension. Are we going to remain hogtied by these evil men or
are they gradually becoming part of a larger plot to seal the fate
of our country?
President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who
voted for him to what seemed like a programme to stratify and
institutionalise northern hegemony by reducing others in public
life to second class status. He has pursued this self-defeating and
alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion.
Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non-Northern
Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President
Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it. There
would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have
been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will
do nothing and will live with these actions. He may be right and we
Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to
draw from or threaten our country. However, God does not sleep. We
can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North.
7: Nepotism and the Worship of False Gods:
It is curious that President Buhari’s partisanship and
commitment to reinforcing the foundations of northern hegemony have
had the opposite consequences. For a long time, beyond the pall of
politics, very prominent northerners with a conscience have raised
the red flag, pointing out the consequences of President Buhari’s
nepotism on national cohesion and trust. With time, as hunger,
poverty, insecurity engulfed the north, the President’s own
supporters began to despair and lament about the state of their
collective degradation. Was this not supposed to be their song? The
north that the President sought to privilege has become a cauldron
of pain and a valley of dry bones. Today, the north itself is
crying the most and why not? No one has suffered as much as they
have and continue to. The helplessness is palpable and the logic is
incomprehensible.
One Northern Imam after the other have posted videos of
lamentation on the social media asking why, with all the cards of
power in the hands of northern Muslims, everything is bursting in
the seams. How come our region has become a cesspool of blood and
death? Why did President Buhari hand over a majority of the plum
jobs to Northern Muslims? Was it for efficacy and efficiency? What
was the logic? President Buhari must pause and turn around because
his policy of nepotism has been rejected by the gods.
During the Endsars Protests, the north pretended that it was
ensconced from the pain that was driving the protests and that they
had nothing to complain about. The northern elites claimed that the
protests were part of a plot by Christians to overthrow a northern,
Muslim government. Their sentiments false, but understandable.
However, it turned out to be the lull before the storm. The dam
soon broke as the bandits tightened their grip on the region as the
spiral of kidnappings, abductions and killings of innocent citizens
intensified.
The North spurn into denouement: the idea of a united north
seems to have ended. The northern Governors’ Forum has split into
the three zones. With the killings, kidnappings and abductions of
Emirs and other traditional rulers in the north, the signals have
gone out that no one is safe and nothing is sacred. In the wake of
the Endsars protests, the traditional rulers across the country
assembled to express solidarity with the President. Then it all
changed. The Emir of Katsina, the President’s home state, only
recently said; We cannot continue to live like animals. I have not
seen this type of country. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto,
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar said that the north has now become the worst
part of the entire country. The Senate whose leadership is almost
totally dominated by Northern Muslims has raised alarm. The
Northern Elders’ Forum has called on the President to resign. Has
the politics of nepotism run its course? Perhaps, the spirit of
Christmas should offer us an answer.
8: A People that Walked in Darkness has Seen a Great
Light.
The rut and decay in our country today is evidence of a people
who have not yet seen the light. The experience of northern Nigeria
is evidence that nepotism is a counterfeit currency. The nation
must therefore now pull together. It is not enough to blame the
military. After all, they neither run the economy or the
bureaucracy. It is not enough to blame even the political class or
even the President alone. We found our way here by the choices we
have made as a nation over time.
Indeed, the colonialists claimed that they were bringing light
to a dark continent. In a way, despite the cost, we could see
ingredients of their light; good education, running water,
relatively good roads, security, among others. We finally accepted
Democracy as the platform for actualizing these. However, today,
there is evidence that we have literally returned to the cave,
those times when life was brutish, nasty and short. Each and every
one of us has contributed to the darkness of our nation. The light
of Christ which we all received at baptism calls on us to act in
the mind of Christ. To be a follower of Christ is to be in his
footsteps. This moment calls on us as Christians to celebrate the
simplicity of Christ represented in Christmas. Joy to the world,
the Lord has come, the song says. Jesus has offered us a roadmap.
We are challenged to bring light into the darkness of our
society.
Darkness has its own logic. St Paul reminds us without Chris,
our lives are characterised by; immorality, filthy and indecent
actions, worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and
they fight, they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They
separate into parties and groups, they are envious, get drunk and
have orgies (Gal. 5: 19-21). When it is dark, we cannot see our way
and we stumble. Nigeria has stumbled so much. It is time to for us
to turn on the light of the torch. Each of us can make a
change.
9: Wailers and Redeemers:
Finally, today, amidst the pains and the trials, we can say with
the Psalmist: Our tears have become our bread (Ps. 43:2). We have
no reason to doubt that at the fulfilment of time, in His own time,
the Lord will dispense justice to our nation. It will come as day
follows light.
Our brother Femi Adesina, a Pastor of the Four Square Gospel
Church was right when he referred to those who were calling
attention to our situation as Wailers. The wailing started quite
early in the day. To the herdsmen across Nigeria whose cattle have
been lost to rustlers, bandits, or lightening, the Prophet
Zechariah said: There is a sound of a shepherd’s wail for their
glory has been ruined (Zech 11:3). To the thousands of widows left
to mourn their husbands or children across our country, the Prophet
Jeremiah is saying; Send for the wailing women, that they may come!
Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may
shed tears and our eyelids flow with water (Jer. 9: 17). For our
hapless nation overrun by bandits? Prophet Jeremiah still says; A
voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping
for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no
more (Jer. 31:15).
So, Pastor Adesina was right. On the sad situation in Nigeria,
the United Nations has wailed. The Pope has wailed. Cardinals,
Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Pastors have wailed. Emirs have
wailed. Politicians have wailed. The Sultan has wailed. Surely, it
is time for the Lord to hear the wailer as they have sung their
redemption songs. With St. Paul, I say: The hour has come for you
to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now
than when we first believed. The night is nearly over the day is
almost here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on
the armor of light. (Rom. 13:11-12). Let us unite and seek the Lord
in sincerity because the Lord will vindicate the righteous. Happy
Christmas to you all.
By Matthew H. Kukah
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan
Kukah has expressed his thoughts about the state of the nation in
his 2020 Christmas Message, describing Nigeria as a nation in
search of vindication.
He further stated that the recent killings and other vices in
Nigeria have left the country in a rudderless state, with no
particular sense of direction.
In addition, he said President Muhammadu Buhari has betrayed the
people who voted for him because of his alleged nepotism geared
towards the northern region.
The full statement reads:
A NATION IN SEARCH OF VINDICATION, Christmas
2020 Message by Matthew Hassan KUKAH, Bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Sokoto
1: Another Christmas with Dark Clouds of
Death:
Let me paraphrase the holy prophet Isaiah who said: “For
Jerusalem (Nigeria’s sake), I will not be silent until her
vindication shines forth like the dawn…..No more shall people call
you forsaken, or your land desolate, but you shall be called my
delight and your land espoused.” (Is. 62:1,4).
Against the backdrop of our endless woes, ours has become a
nation wrapped in desolation. The prospects of a failed state stare
us in the face: endless bloodletting, a collapsing economy, social
anomie, domestic and community violence, kidnappings, armed
robberies etc. Ours has become a house of horror with fear stalking
our homes, highways, cities, hamlets and entire communities. The
middle grounds of optimism have continued to shift and many
genuinely ask, what have we done to the gods? Does Nigeria have a
future? Where can we find hope? Like the Psalmist, we ask; from
where shall come our help? (Ps.121:1).
Whatever the temptations to despair, we cannot to give up. When
the Psalmist asked where help shall come from, he answered that it
will come from the Lord. Therefore, like Zachariah, the father of
John the Baptist, we Priests must stand before the mercy seat of
God and plead the cause of our great country (Lk. 1:8). Like
Abraham, we must plead for the Lord to save our nation because we
have more than ten righteous men (Gen. 18: 16ff). Like Moses, we
believe that as long as our hands are held up in prayer, the Lord
will be on our side ( Ex. 17:11). These are trying but life
changing moments in the history of our nation. Politics and
Economics alone will not resolve our problems. There is enough hate
and bitterness to go around. We need to pause, reflect, pray, be
honest and courageous in facing tomorrow.
Yes, our dreams have been aborted. Yes, our commonwealth has
been stolen. Yes, our cancer of corruption has metastasized. Yes,
we have been guilty of patricide, fratricide and attempted even
suicide. Yes, we are hungry, angry, thirsty and starving. Yet, we
stand firmly with the unshaken belief that no matter the
temptations, the world has known worst times. These may be the
worst of times, but for men and women of faith, they could be the
best of times. We must stand firm and resolute because, our
redeemer liveth (Job 19:25).
2: Annus Mirabilis or Annus Horribilis?
The roads to the graveyards are busier than those to the farms.
Amidst the wails and laments, I hear the congregants saying; the
world is coming to an end, it has never been so bad. Yes, people
are dying, but they are not dying more now than they did in recent
years. It is the social media and its connectivity that has given
us a sense of greater urgency and added to our seeming despair with
the way things are. The social media is value neutral. It depends
on what we make of it. Its instantaneous impact is often times
dizzyingly traumatic, but the other benefits more than compensate.
In a way, the choices we make will help us decide whether this year
is our annus mirabilis or annus horribilis.
When Isaac Newton, at the age of 23, made the spectacular
discoveries in the areas of Calculus, Motion, Optics, and
Gravitation, the year of those discoveries, 1666, was referred to
as, annus mirabilis, the year of joy. On the other hand, in 1992,
when the marriages of three of her children collapsed, Queen
Elizabeth in her Christmas address referred to that year as her
annus horribilis, the year of horror. As such, notwithstanding all
the earth shaking impact of the Covid-19, our own individual,
communal and national tragedies, it is not just a choice between
annus mirabilis and annus horribilis. At various levels, there have
been grey areas of hope, flickers of light, achievement and so on.
It to these flickers of hope that we must cling tenaciously. For
our son, Anthony Joshua, the loss of his title to Andy Ruis on June
1, 2019 after 25 fights without a loss, that year was his annus
horribilis. When he pummeled Kubrat Pulev, this year became his
annus mirabilis. Things change and, joy or sorrow, we must know
that nothing lasts forever. What matters is how we handle
failure.
3: Another Christmas in Cloud of Doom:
Not unexpectedly, this Christmas is again coming against a
backdrop of so much pain, sorrow and uncertainty in our land. We
all seem to have become sedated and inured to pain. Tragedy has
been standing as our gate keeper. For over ten years now, at almost
each Christmas, a dark pall of horror, sorrow and death has
consistently hung in our horizon threatening to eclipse the
promises of the joy of Christmas. Recall the bombing of St.
Theresa’s Catholic Church, Madalla on Christmas day in 2011. In the
wake of the Christmas day bombing, I issued a statement titled, An
Appeal to Nigerians. In the statement which enjoyed a wide
circulation, I stated: All of this should cause us to pause and
ponder about the nature of the force of evil that is in our midst
and appreciate the fact that contrary to popular thinking, we are
not faced with a crisis or conflict between Christians and Muslims.
Rather, like the friends of Job, we need to humbly appreciate the
limits of our human understanding. Terror is a product of hate, but
while hate tries to divide us, terror and death should pull us
together.
4: Is Government in Suspended Animation?:
As our country drifts almost rudderless, we seem like people
travelling without maps, without destination and with neither
Captain nor Crew. Citizens have nowhere to turn to. After he
assumed power, a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference had
audience with President Buhari. In the course of our discussion,
the President shared with us his frustration over the state of
decay and rut that he had met. In frustration, I vividly recalled
him saying that, from the decay and neglect, it seemed as if
preceding governments had been doing nothing but just eating and
going to the toilet! Looking back, one might conclude that those
were happy times because at least there was food to eat and people
could go to the toilet. Now, a journey to the toilet is considered
by the poor an extra luxury. Our country’s inability to feed itself
is one of the most dangerous signs of state failure and a trigger
to violence.
5: Breaking the Ice: From Chibok through Dapchi to
Kankara:
The sleepy town of Kankara, just 130 kilometers outside Katsina,
like Chibok and Dapchi before it, has leapt into prominence not
because they now have potable water, electricity or any dramatic
improvement in the quality of their lives. Rather, it is because of
large footprints of the evil men who have passed through their
terrain. As always, we were unsure of how many children were
missing: 80, 820, 800, 500, 520, 333, 320,no one knew. The numbers
kept changing between the government and Boko Haram. The story of
Chibok and Dapchi was for some time, a metaphor that exposed the
vulnerability of the girl child. Kankara has added to the mix and
now we have to face the mortal dangers of the Nigerian child in
northern Nigeria. The Almajiri is the poster child of the horrible
and inhuman conditions of the northern child. It is a best kept
secret that the region refuses to confront but it has now exposed
its underbelly. Now, what next for the children of the north? In
another ten or twenty years, these children will be leaders in
their communities. What will they remember and how will they
remember? Their fate and future are a dream deferred, a nightmare
that will be ignited by the fire next time.
We thank God that the children have been returned safely. This
is the easy part. The challenge now is how to deal with the scars
inflicted by a derelict nation which is still unable or unwilling
to protect its citizens. Yes, we commend the federal and state
governments for the rescue operation. The larger issues now are
whether the federal government understands the evil web of
intrigues into which Boko Haram has tied it. Will the federal
government continue to reward and fund Boko Haram by playing its
game? How long can this circle of deceit last for given that every
kidnap merely strengthens their arsenal? The men of darkness have
shown far greater capacity to shock and awe a forlorn nation by
constantly blindsiding us all. When will it all end?
6: A Nation in Search of Vindication:
This government owes the nation an explanation as to where it is
headed as we seem to journey into darkness. The spilling of this
blood must be related to a more sinister plot that is beyond our
comprehension. Are we going to remain hogtied by these evil men or
are they gradually becoming part of a larger plot to seal the fate
of our country?
President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who
voted for him to what seemed like a programme to stratify and
institutionalise northern hegemony by reducing others in public
life to second class status. He has pursued this self-defeating and
alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion.
Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non-Northern
Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President
Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it. There
would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have
been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will
do nothing and will live with these actions. He may be right and we
Christians cannot feel sorry that we have no pool of violence to
draw from or threaten our country. However, God does not sleep. We
can see from the inexplicable dilemma of his North.
7: Nepotism and the Worship of False Gods:
It is curious that President Buhari’s partisanship and
commitment to reinforcing the foundations of northern hegemony have
had the opposite consequences. For a long time, beyond the pall of
politics, very prominent northerners with a conscience have raised
the red flag, pointing out the consequences of President Buhari’s
nepotism on national cohesion and trust. With time, as hunger,
poverty, insecurity engulfed the north, the President’s own
supporters began to despair and lament about the state of their
collective degradation. Was this not supposed to be their song? The
north that the President sought to privilege has become a cauldron
of pain and a valley of dry bones. Today, the north itself is
crying the most and why not? No one has suffered as much as they
have and continue to. The helplessness is palpable and the logic is
incomprehensible.
One Northern Imam after the other have posted videos of
lamentation on the social media asking why, with all the cards of
power in the hands of northern Muslims, everything is bursting in
the seams. How come our region has become a cesspool of blood and
death? Why did President Buhari hand over a majority of the plum
jobs to Northern Muslims? Was it for efficacy and efficiency? What
was the logic? President Buhari must pause and turn around because
his policy of nepotism has been rejected by the gods.
During the Endsars Protests, the north pretended that it was
ensconced from the pain that was driving the protests and that they
had nothing to complain about. The northern elites claimed that the
protests were part of a plot by Christians to overthrow a northern,
Muslim government. Their sentiments false, but understandable.
However, it turned out to be the lull before the storm. The dam
soon broke as the bandits tightened their grip on the region as the
spiral of kidnappings, abductions and killings of innocent citizens
intensified.
The North spurn into denouement: the idea of a united north
seems to have ended. The northern Governors’ Forum has split into
the three zones. With the killings, kidnappings and abductions of
Emirs and other traditional rulers in the north, the signals have
gone out that no one is safe and nothing is sacred. In the wake of
the Endsars protests, the traditional rulers across the country
assembled to express solidarity with the President. Then it all
changed. The Emir of Katsina, the President’s home state, only
recently said; We cannot continue to live like animals. I have not
seen this type of country. His Eminence, the Sultan of Sokoto,
Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar said that the north has now become the worst
part of the entire country. The Senate whose leadership is almost
totally dominated by Northern Muslims has raised alarm. The
Northern Elders’ Forum has called on the President to resign. Has
the politics of nepotism run its course? Perhaps, the spirit of
Christmas should offer us an answer.
8: A People that Walked in Darkness has Seen a Great
Light.
The rut and decay in our country today is evidence of a people
who have not yet seen the light. The experience of northern Nigeria
is evidence that nepotism is a counterfeit currency. The nation
must therefore now pull together. It is not enough to blame the
military. After all, they neither run the economy or the
bureaucracy. It is not enough to blame even the political class or
even the President alone. We found our way here by the choices we
have made as a nation over time.
Indeed, the colonialists claimed that they were bringing light
to a dark continent. In a way, despite the cost, we could see
ingredients of their light; good education, running water,
relatively good roads, security, among others. We finally accepted
Democracy as the platform for actualizing these. However, today,
there is evidence that we have literally returned to the cave,
those times when life was brutish, nasty and short. Each and every
one of us has contributed to the darkness of our nation. The light
of Christ which we all received at baptism calls on us to act in
the mind of Christ. To be a follower of Christ is to be in his
footsteps. This moment calls on us as Christians to celebrate the
simplicity of Christ represented in Christmas. Joy to the world,
the Lord has come, the song says. Jesus has offered us a roadmap.
We are challenged to bring light into the darkness of our
society.
Darkness has its own logic. St Paul reminds us without Chris,
our lives are characterised by; immorality, filthy and indecent
actions, worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and
they fight, they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They
separate into parties and groups, they are envious, get drunk and
have orgies (Gal. 5: 19-21). When it is dark, we cannot see our way
and we stumble. Nigeria has stumbled so much. It is time to for us
to turn on the light of the torch. Each of us can make a
change.
9: Wailers and Redeemers:
Finally, today, amidst the pains and the trials, we can say with
the Psalmist: Our tears have become our bread (Ps. 43:2). We have
no reason to doubt that at the fulfilment of time, in His own time,
the Lord will dispense justice to our nation. It will come as day
follows light.
Our brother Femi Adesina, a Pastor of the Four Square Gospel
Church was right when he referred to those who were calling
attention to our situation as Wailers. The wailing started quite
early in the day. To the herdsmen across Nigeria whose cattle have
been lost to rustlers, bandits, or lightening, the Prophet
Zechariah said: There is a sound of a shepherd’s wail for their
glory has been ruined (Zech 11:3). To the thousands of widows left
to mourn their husbands or children across our country, the Prophet
Jeremiah is saying; Send for the wailing women, that they may come!
Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may
shed tears and our eyelids flow with water (Jer. 9: 17). For our
hapless nation overrun by bandits? Prophet Jeremiah still says; A
voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping
for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no
more (Jer. 31:15).
So, Pastor Adesina was right. On the sad situation in Nigeria,
the United Nations has wailed. The Pope has wailed. Cardinals,
Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Pastors have wailed. Emirs have
wailed. Politicians have wailed. The Sultan has wailed. Surely, it
is time for the Lord to hear the wailer as they have sung their
redemption songs. With St. Paul, I say: The hour has come for you
to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now
than when we first believed. The night is nearly over the day is
almost here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on
the armor of light. (Rom. 13:11-12). Let us unite and seek the Lord
in sincerity because the Lord will vindicate the righteous. Happy
Christmas to you all.