WHO IS NIGERIA’S DESMOND TUTU?

[Ayo Olukotun]

WHO IS NIGERIA’S DESMOND TUTU? 

Ayo Olukotun

The passing, last Sunday, of South Africa’s iconic religious leader, liberation fighter and apostle of racial justice, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has set in motion, a torrent of accolades. Tutu will be buried on New Year day in Cape Town following week-long activities related to his funeral. Described by a former United States President, Barack Obama, as a moral compass and by the Washington Post as an “exuberant apostle of racial justice”, Tutu was one of those Elder Statesmen whose pulpit became a podium for his unique philosophical thrust of non-violence, equality and justice, not only for the blacks of South Africa but around the globe. His definitive forte was speaking truth to power and becoming, by so doing, the conscience of his nation. He was most effective in the struggle against apartheid and the suppression of the black population often leading demonstrations and at great cost to himself, straddling liberation fighters, angry crowds and the apartheid government of the day.

 

Nobel prize winner for Peace, Tutu, was the first African Anglican bishop of South Africa and the winner of the American President’s Medal for Freedom, one of the highest civilian honours in the United States. Remarkably, the end of apartheid did not close the curtain on his struggle for freedom as he consistently criticized post-apartheid leaders for betraying, as it were, the promise of black freedom, the platform upon which they fought racial injustice. One of his most prestigious appointments was the chairmanship of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an assignment given to him by former President Nelson Mandela, a task which resituated his voice in the national and global communities in the era of black rule. This brings us to the question raised by the title of this intervention as to whom a Nigerian Desmond Tutu could be, in a period when several courageous voices are needed to provide redirection and a guiding compass for a nation adrift. In the period of authoritarian rule, heroic individuals, organizations, religious leaders, students, played splendid roles in the struggle against military dictatorship. With the onset of civilian democracy and the return of political parties, most of these civil society activists have become party leaders and henchmen, thus, diminishing their perspectives and positions as the conscience of the nation.

Political apologetics and sophistry have replaced weighty and non-partisan analyses and forthright speeches which speak directly to the conscience of those in power. Sadly, political discourse has lost its gravity, reduced to political brickbats between the two major parties, paying little attention to the electorate and distressed majority who bear the brunt of the Nigerian brand of politics devoid of governance fervour. To an extent, this is the inherent nature of political competition, which even in the most advanced democracies, brings out the worst in politicians who tend to be creatures of expediency and short-term profit. The difference, however, is that Nigeria has carried this feature to an absurd extent where issues are bowed to partisanship and the sense of right and wrong twisted to serve political purposes. How come, to give an instance that the National Assembly almost routinely approves, the ever soaring borrowing by the current administration with little thought for the eventual unfortunate consequences of the country’s return to debt slavery?

Why was it so easy for the first resolute opposition by the same National Assembly to backtrack on the expressed decision to reverse Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd)’s decision not to sign the electoral amendment bill on the electronic transmission of results? At first, recall that signatures of legislators were being collated before the Christmas break to overturn the President’s veto. All of a sudden, that initial, courageous activity fizzled out and it remains to be seen whether on resumption, our lawmakers will have the courage to do that which is expected of them by most Nigerians. The point being made is that there is a moral vacuum in the political arena with very few voices coming above the fray to address the woes of a troubled nation. This is precisely what the search for the Nigerian version of Desmond Tutu is all about. People and movements going beyond party lines to speak to the festering wounds of the nation, beyond the opportunistic rhetoric of politicians. Woes such as the national security jinx in which hundreds of Nigerians are murdered or kidnapped daily by the ubiquitous unknown gunmen; ever-increasing unemployment, the ravages of continuously ascending inflationary upswing, educational decay and eroding  infrastructure in the midst of surging pandemics. Amidst all that and the shenanigans of the political elite as they prepare for the 2023 elections, there is a disconnect between the people crying out for alleviation and the politicians obsessed with their search for power. That is why a voice of salvation like Desmond Tutu’s is required as the country sinks under the weight of intense political activity with little or no governance results.

 

Nigeria’s Tutu does not have to be a Christian or religious leader, he or she might well be outside the priesthood but must possess the purpose and convictions of a Tutu. Looking at the Christian community, names such as Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Father Ejike Mbaka, Pastor Tunde Bakare, Bishop Mathew Kukah, Archbishop John Onaiyekan, and Bishop David Oyedepo come to mind. None of them, in spite of their virtues, fits the bill. Adeboye is often criticized as being too close to the power elite to be an independent voice. He justifies this by saying that the gospel is to be taken also to the rich and powerful. Bakare has a resonant voice but he may be too much involved with the ruling elite for critical distance. Mbaka has a problem of consistency, prophesying on this side today and on that side tomorrow. Kukah comes quite close but it is not clear whether persecution has tended to mellow him in recent times. Onaiyekan has the right moral thrust but his voice is a little enfeebled by age. In the case of Oyedepo, his pulpit brims with fire and brimstone on national issues in the manner of an Old Testament prophet but his reach and amplitude are yet to assume a truly national dimension in this respect. How about Islam, the other major religion? There was Ahmed Lemu, an Islamic scholar who died late last year, but he was more immersed in technocracy and jurisprudence during his lifetime. Sheikh Abubakar Gumi once looked like it, but recently, his controversial position on tolerance and cultivation of the bandits has put his teachings in a difficult-to-grasp perspective. There are other Islamic clerics but they are yet to attain national, much less, global stature, in the search for a national conscience. At the end of the day, we may have to revisit the non-religious, non-political civil society activists to fish out Nigeria’s Tutu in waiting.

Bearing this in mind, we must rummage among the warriors of the anti-military protest and see who best can wear the cap. If we can’t find one, then, perhaps, a social movement with some of the characteristics of the #EndSARS upsurges without its disturbing spin-offs considering that we are looking for another apostle of non-violence. At this rate, the search very much continues. 

Once again, this columnist wishes our readers a happy new year!

-          Professor Ayo Olukotun is a director at the Oba (Dr.) S. K. Adetona Institute for Governance Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye.

 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

The paragraph assessing various Nigerian public figures is remarkable.

Toyin

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[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Bishop Matthew Kukkah!

Cheers.

IBK 

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Kuku as Nigeria’s Tutu ?

Cuckoo!

What a thought!

Tutu, Anglo-Catholic ( Anglican, Canterbury, Church of England

Kukah, Roman Catholic , Rome, The Vatican

One Jesus ( the Head of the Church), different denom-inations

I almost misspelled that word : demon-inations

That would have been an abomination

As it is for some people when they hear the dreaded word revolution!

Since it’s a non-violent cleric that IBK has in mind, then obviously our shuffering but not always shmiling Bishop Kukah of Sokoto fits the bill handsomely – as one of the main contestants he’s certainly not lacking in the kinds of integrity and courage Professor Kenneth Harrow sees as some of the main ingredients if not the sine qua non for the title, and in the case of Nigeria too should The Revolution come, I can imagine the non-violent prelate Kukah (non-violence being one of the teachings of the Holy Roman Catholic Church - “ For all who take the sword will perish by the sword”) Bishop Kukah therefore telling the corrupt elite not to worry, even though enough is enough and justice is long overdue, they will not be summarily swept away and lined up to be savagely beheaded/ executed by Nigeria’s irate, long-suffering plebeian masses comprising the army of the unemployed, the lumpen proletariat, the neglected, marginalised, despised, little people, little grammar, but big army of the beggar class of Almajiri - to some extent the equivalent of what Satyagraha Gandhi baptised Harijan (the children of God) because the equally privileged Nigerian Middle class, Nigeria’s petty-bourgeois clientele who get some share , their petty share in the form of breadcrumbs from the masters high table up there, will all come to the aid of the upper lootocracy since they will not be likely to wanna bite the hand that’s feeding them, albeit with only a few breadcrumbs and droplets of the loot, apparently enough to keep them going, hence their proverb showing gratefulness instead of ingratitude: “ Half a loaf is better than no bread”

All this talk of loot and breadcrumbs raining down like manna from the tables of the rich, if Kukah the Believer was truly up to it then he would be fulfilling what Jesus promised , “Verily, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these” - and literally – and liberally too, Kukah himself would have been feeding more than 5, 000 of the destitute who hunger and pray , “ give us this day our daily bread” , with a mere five loaves and two fish, every day...

Fortunately or unfortunately - depending on which side you’re on, there will be no public trial of Omoyele Sowore who used the one word that’s anathema to the lootocracy’s interest - the word revolution , a word that makes them see red , cower in their underwear, issue instructions to the military that’s usually protecting the whole rotten system from imminent collapse – in the case of being attacked by the unimaginable revolutionary energy – the imminent overthrow by force - the powers would be commanding the military to barricade the banks, where some of their loot and other ill gained goods are stashed.

In the case of Iran at the point where Imam Khomeini said “ the army is the people and the people is the army” it was all over the the Shah.

Ditto, a public trial of Nnamdi Kanu – giving him a public platform to ventilate certain grievances would not have been to the advantage of his prosecutors...

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah fits the Bill alright -as a kind of Nigerian Desmond Tutu , but if we listen carefully to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s funeral oration , a great eulogy indeed, among other things he had this to say about Archbishop Tutu :

“ He was not content to preach about social justice from the pulpit.

He was with the homeless, the helpless, the persecuted, the sick and the destitute in the streets, in shelters and in homes.

He embraced all who had ever felt the cold wind of exclusion and they in turn embraced him.”

It is in that area of greater grassroots participation that Bishop Kukah appears to be lagging behind, besieged as he is on his oasis of Christianity his Bishopric in Sokoto which is the Heartland of Islam in Nigeria. Bishop Kukah struck me as pre-eminently academic and not at all comedic in that extended Toyin Falola Interview , However, since I have only read some of his ( Kukah’s) communiques and not followed him I cannot gauge how far he has to climb down from his pulpit and his podium and start doing his masses more down on the ground in the language of the people….since, as a prelate -a holy cow of the Vatican he enjoys a degree of cover - as does the Ghanaian Cardinal Turkson who resigned recently.

Once upon a time, with South Africa standing at the crossroads, Dr. Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour posed this question and answered it :

CHRISTIANITY, COMMUNISM OR ISLAM WHICH IS THE SOLUTION TO SOUTH AFRICAN'S PROBLEM ?

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Dear Cornelius,

Let me tell you a story of some relevance to your essay. Sometime in or about 2005, Bishop Matthew Kukkah was doing one of his academic pursuits on Conflict Resolution. 

He visited the ICTR - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for materials and insight. The then, Registrar, Mr. Adams Dieng was his friend so he asked him to talk to me about the work and the achievements and prospects of the state of the experiment. 

The man was a delight. He was at the same time a researcher, a teacher, a student, a prelate and a revolutionary. Apart from his refusal of the deserved  lavish lodgings his friend offered, I almost tore his Cassock when I tried to drag him to stay with me in my modest digs in Arusha. He. Informed me that the Roman Catholic Church had arranged plush accommodation for him but he also refused it. 

He instead chose to stay in a poor non descript Kijenge Parish Church with some Clerics and Trainee clerics. They spoke kiSwahili but one who could speak English translated for him.

By the time he left after 5 days and 4 nights young priests and trainee priests were on fire, revolutionary fire!

I follow him. He is from Southern Kaduna the hardest hit by the Arewa Jihadi elite. He is now in Sokoto as a Bishop. When the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria adopted a "See no evil, hear no evil stance" he as the Secretary of the Bishop's Conference spoke out. Against Babangida, Sanni Abacha, Obasanjo. You know what?  They all offered him the filthy lucre as enticements but he refused them all. 

I agree like most Catholic priests, he is, "over well read," but he is also humble  spartan, disciplined, brave and can relate with the grassroots and share empathy with them.

Before, I commit the same sin as you in attempting to fill a basket with excess verbiage that is blown away on the cadence of the breeze, let me stop here. 

Happy New Year. 

Cheers. 

IBK 

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Powerful on Kukah from IBK.

But why is it that those who are perhaps well informed on the section of IBK's comment I hereby outline in bold do not talk about it?

''I follow him. He is from Southern Kaduna the hardest hit by the Arewa Jihadi elite. He is now in Sokoto as a Bishop. When the Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria adopted a "See no evil, hear no evil stance" he as the Secretary of the Bishop's Conference spoke out. Against Babangida, Sanni Abacha, Obasanjo. You know what?  They all offered him the filthy lucre as enticements but he refused them all.''

The term ''Arewa'' means Northern Nigeria as a political entity.

toyin

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear IBK,

You must be mistaking me for Chidi, but unlike him, I won’t allow IBK to bully me. Strict policy. But what do I know, since some of us are still on the plantation, perhaps, none of us is free until we all get beyond an eye for a eye and a tooth for a tooth.

“Vengeance is Mine”, says the Lord, the sort of verse that I imagine Tutu quoted to Botha or his brother when they met face to face , but for all we know, back in 1994 it went something like this scene in Pulp Fiction , someone speaking truth with power:

“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know My name is The Lord when I lay My Vengeance upon thee!”

After wishing you a prosperous new year, I shouldn’t like to rain on your parade, but give me a break and if you can, please indulge me a little, because, unlike you , I’m not “attempting to fill a basket with excess verbiage that is blown away on the cadence of the breeze “ which from my point of view, and that of The Catholic Church too I suppose is only what they refer to as a “venial sin” of exactly the same type that Bishop Kukah commits extensively in that Toyin Falola Interview – check it out, but not to worry, it’s the kind of sin that won’t send Kukah or you to hell directly or cause you to have to do time in purgatory, not that I believe in that kind of crap. When I ask, “if you can, please indulge me a little” the indulgence that I crave is not the kind of indulgence that Martin Luther was objecting to - hence along with Revolution, the other dreaded word that Roman Catholics don’t like to hear is The Reformation

Bishop Kukah is a “ revolutionary” - according to your own chosen definition of that word in the Yoruba Dictionary, I suppose. Give me a break . According to you Kukah is “a revolutionary “ because “ the Roman Catholic Church had arranged plush accommodation for him but he also refused it. He instead chose to stay in a poor nondescript Kijenge Parish Church with some Clerics and Trainee clerics.” Wow ! And in addition to that, according to you , and in accordance with his priestly vow of poverty he refused to be bribed by that special Nigerian military trinity, Babangida, Sanni Abacha, and holy Obasanjo. How magnanimous of Kukah. I get the drift. Perhaps he will eventually be canonised as the first Nigerian Catholic Saint.

Consider Brazil’s Hélder Câmara and his famous compliant :”When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist."

Since on the whole, the Catholic Church does not embrace Liberation Theology it's going to be an uphill battle for your Bishop Kukah the Revolutionary !

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Correction : Perhaps Bishop Kukah of Sokoto will eventually be beatified as the first Revolutionary Nigerian Catholic Saint.

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