“Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.” MATTHEW 5:9.

Into a world that is ugly with violence and hate, Jesus sends us as peacemakers. We aren’t given the choice of whether or not we would like to be peacemakers and we certainly aren’t given the choice of what kind of world we would like to live in. As bad as things may be, this is the only world we have and if we are going to be true to our Lord, we must be peacemakers.- Rick Ezell

It is time to reawaken Mathew Hassan Kukah to his biblical responsibility as a cleric and a leader of the church.

Undoubtedly, the only way clerics can live up to expectation and traverse the world in the service of God and man, is by distancing themselves from partisanship.

The more Mathew Kukah speaks to partisan politics, from the pulpit or on other platforms, the more he discredits himself. It doesn’t take much time for anyone to realise the difference between speaking the truth and dancing to the tunes of political melodies.

I am pretty sure that soon, many congressmen in the US will realise how much sentimental lies a cleric from Nigeria came to peddle on the floor of their Congress on July 14, 2021.

One would have, out of respect, refrained from referring to the words of a cleric as blatant lies, but nothing could be farther from the truth as Kukah’s claim that extremists, bandits, Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram were targeting many schools in the North, especially Christian ones. The attacks by bandits and Fulani herdsmen occur mostly in Northern Nigeria and a vast majority of the schools affected cannot be described as Christian schools. That is, honestly, a blatant lie.

It is grossly unfair and very much unlike a clergy to fail to point to how the violence has affected hundreds of thousands of Muslim families and children alongside their Christian brethren.

Those who dance to the tunes of politicians are often compelled to speak half-truths and even blatant lies; while it fetches you the paycheck in the very short run, in the long run, the loss of credibility and the loss of face that is associated with such venture is indeed very expensive. Matthew Kukah should take note of these facts.

And the cleric went ahead to delve into a matter usually defined and settled by political parties when he referred to the lopsidedness in the election of the President, Senate President and Speaker, all from the same faith. That is Matthew Kukah’s biggest blunder.

Historically, political parties do not “zone” the election of Senate President and Speaker along religious lines. They share those positions to regions, often assigning one position to the South and the other to the North, regardless of the region the elected President comes from.

Between 1999 and 2007, when Obasanjo was the President, the Senate Presidents emerged from the South (Evan Enwerem 1999-1999, Chuba Okadigbo 1999-2000, Anyim Pius Anyim 2000-2003, Adolphus Wabara 2003-2005 and Ken Nnamani 2005-2007) while the Speakers emerged from the North (Salisu Buhari 1999-2000, Ghali Umar NaAbba 2000-2003, and Aminu Bello Masari 2003-2007).

It is the same arrangement that worked in the current political dispensation where the Senate President (Ahmad Lawan) emerged from the North and the Speaker of the House (Femi Gbajabiamila) emerged from the South.

It is unfortunate that Matthew Kukah has to view this political distribution from a religious prism, in fact suggesting that either Lawan or Gbajabiamila should have been a Northern Christian or Southern Christian respectively.

While not holding fort for this government, but then history is a hounding bitch, and Kukahs statement on political appointments and nepotism points to another shortcoming of the clergyman. At different times, Matthew Kukah benefited from lopsided appointments and clinched them up without raising an eyebrow.

In 2004, for example, Obasanjo convened a National Conference and appointed Justice Niki Tobi as the Chairman and Mathew Kukah as Secretary. In the outcry that followed, many thought that such a National Conference, happening in a country like Nigeria, shouldnt have had its leadership drawn from one faith.

In spite of the fact that the outcry emanated mainly from Muslims, it was Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (the recently deposed Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II) that wrote an article in the online medium gamji.com in defense of Mathew Kukah.

One would have thought that in the unfolding days of his life after that Conference, Matthew Kukah would have borrowed a leaf from Sanusi Lamido Sanusi to eschew religious bigotry and preach unity in Nigeria, the same way Sanusi Lamido Sanusi did.

Then Sanusi Lamido Sanusi enjoined Muslims to accept Kukah, arguing that Mathew Kukahs appointment was based on merit and credibility. Later, Obasanjo only acceded to the pressure and outcry on the lopsideness of the leadership of the National Conference by appointing a Muslim to Co-Chair the Conference.

It is on record that Nigerian Muslims still went to the Conference with Niki Tobi as substantive Chairman and Mathew Kukah as Secretary. Heavens did not fall, and no one took a long trip to the US Congress to make a point.

That same period when Obasanjo ruled Nigeria between 1999 and 2007 (when Kukah was walking the corridors of power and wasnt far from the cutting and sharing and eating of the national cake); was characterised by the most lopsided federal appointments.

Yet, there was no outcry from Mathew Kukah, and the reverend never bothered to shout from the pulpit that a certain religious group was marginalised, or accuse Obasanjo on the floor of any Congress, in Nigeria or abroad. In fact, the reverend thought that all was well, as at different occasions he was running errands for the Obasanjo government.

It may sound mischievous, but many would have thought that at that time, Mathew Kukah had had a big bite of the national cake in his mouth to be able to speak, or even muster the truth.

While Kukah was engaged in a silence of complicity, Obasanjo appointed only 17 Muslims as Ministers out of a total 41; out of the 84 ambassadors Obasanjo appointed, 50 were Christians and 34 were Muslims; of the 45 permanent secretaries only 16 were Muslims, and only 4 of the 46 heads of parastatals were Muslims.

Around the same time, Obasanjo sacked many senior Muslim officers of the army; and appointed 18 Christians as army commanders with only one Muslim; and of the 15 in the air force one was a Muslim and 14 were Christians. In the same Obasanjo era, and at a particular time, the heads of Nigeria Custom Service, Nigeria Immigration, NIA, SSS, Prison service were all Christians.

Yet again, Nigerian Muslims did not go to the US Congress to report Obasanjo and Mathew Kukah didnt see it right as a man of God to point to this apparent lopsidedness. Someone should teach Matthew Kukah how to encourage Nigerians to live side-by-side in spite of the differences in their cultures, religion, and regions.

It is obviously a very unfortunate turnout, and a blatant waste of time that a cleric who serves as the Secretary to the National Peace Committee and is a member of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) is in contradiction of his roles in those important institutions, deliberately and tactfully fanning the embers of religious crisis and disunity in Nigeria.

Perhaps the only thing that will bring Matthew Kukah back to his original calling as a man of God is a daily dose of Matthew 5:9- BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS, BECAUSE THEY WILL BE CALLED SONS OF GOD.

For St. Ambrose of Milan (c. 340 397), who was a theologian and a Bishop of Milan once said When you have made your inward parts clean from every spot of sin, that dissentions and contentious may not proceed from your temper, begin peace within yourself, that so you may extend it to others.

This opinion article is written by Nasiru Yauri in Sokoto on 17/07/2021.