Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Catholic Archbishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, has said that Nigeria’s critical need is not infrastructure but security, social justice and respect for human rights.
Archbishop Kukah who stated this in his Easter message, urged the incoming administration to guarantee the security of, and social justice for Nigerians whom he regretted, are still frustrated by the outcome of the general election.
The cleric further regretted that never in the history of Nigeria was the country so divided along ethnic and religious lines as currently witnessed.
He, therefore, urged the incoming Government to as a matter of urgent priority, strive to unite the country and guarantee equal opportunity and protection to all irrespective of their religious or tribal background.
According to him, the incoming administration must establish the foundation that will ensure social justice for Nigerians of all backgrounds.
“I am hopeful that you will appreciate that the most urgent task facing our nation is not infrastructure or the usual cheap talk about dividends of democracy. These are important but first, keep us alive because only the living can enjoy infrastructure.
“For now, 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.”
Archbishop Kukah said that Nigerians were yet to recover from the frustrations of the just-concluded general election, while strongly condemning the violence that marred the polls.
“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 muted trumpet.”
He posited that the innocent blood shed in the course of the elections would give birth to a new Nigeria.
“Unpleasant as this may sound, 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. Because like the blood of Abel, the blood of those who have been murdered continues to cry out to heaven seeking for justice ( Gen. 4:10).”
The cleric advised against violence while urging frustrated and aggrieved Nigerians not to show their anger through violence but to transform it to a motivation to seek justice.
“Yes, we are all angry and we all want justice. Yes, we have the right to be angry and we should be angry. But, angry about what, angry with whom and justice for whom?
”St. Thomas Aquinas, known as the angelic doctor of the church, said: ‘He who is not angry when there is a just cause for anger is immoral because anger looks to the good of justice. If you can live with injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust,’
“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,” Kukah said.
He urged Nigerians not to despair but anchor their hope on God, declaring that the joy of Christ’s resurrection which overshadowed the dejection of his disciples after his crucifixion, would soon be replicated in Nigeria.
“Though we are tempted with the drudgery of fatigue and despondency, unlike the apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, we should be ready to wait in patience for one hour or more (Mt. 26:40),” Kukah said.
“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 road-map 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.”
