FULL TEXT: Bishop

Kukah's Christmas
Message That Sparked
Reactions
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?

Being the 2020 Christmas Message to

Nigerians by the Bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan
Kukah.

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.