Islamic group threatening Bishop Kukah ignorant of what others can do – CAN Vice Chairman

Reverend John Hayab is the Vice Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria overseeing the 19 northern states and Abuja. He is also the Chairman of CAN in Kaduna, as well as the Country Director, Global Peace Foundation, Nigeria. In this interview, he speaks about the uproar trailing the Christmas homily delivered by the Bishop, Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah

The Muslim Solidarity Forum has demanded that the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Kukah, should either apologise for his Christmas homily, which has become controversial, or leave Sokoto. How seriously should the bishop take this demand?

Many people in this country like drama and what the group, that I am not sure has any physical address, has done is to start a new drama. What has Bishop kukah said wrong that they are asking him to apologise for? Offering an apology is not a big deal for a Christian because our Bible teaches us to make peace with even those who wrong us. For any true Christian, (tendering an) apology is one of our virtues and we can apologise even to our children and those working for us. But when the demand for an apology is rooted in blackmail, then you know something is wrong. In this country, for many decades some preachers have made many uncomplimentary remarks and said words that were provocative towards people of other faith and regions but we have tolerated them so that we can continue (to live) together and build a nation, where people have respect for others’ opinions. We therefore see this call for an apology from Bishop Kukah by this group as a show of disrespect and a display of complex attitude to abuse our tolerance spirit and our desire for a peaceful Nigeria. You cannot win your friend or neighbour by intimidation. You should, instead, win him with love and also respecting his opinion. We see this group as agents of blackmail and intimidation who want to infringe on the  right and freedom of expression of citizens which our Constitution guarantees.

Will CAN advise Bishop Kukah to apologise, as demanded by MSF, for the sake of peace?

Bishop Kukah is a spiritual father, preacher and knows this country better. Let no one rush to coach him.

Will CAN then advise him to leave Sokoto for some time, for his own safety?

Why threaten a fellow citizen just because he expressed his view about our underdevelopment and challenges? When other Nigerians start asking others to leave their town, state or region, it will then give room for what we are praying never to happen. This group is acting a script and testing waters but they are ignorant of what others can do.

Isn’t CAN apprehensive that the situation may degenerate?

Why should CAN be apprehensive because some funny characters are acting a drama? CAN is too big for that. There are many more issues of great concern about this country than their unpopular threat.

You said their threat is unpopular, but the Sultan of Sokoto-led Jama’atu Nasril Islam has also descended on Bishop Kukah over the Christmas homily.

I know this Sultan and I have great respect for his person and his office. The Sultan is the leader of JNI but from the language of the press statement, you can suspect that the statement came out from the source you saw because the Sultan will not allow sentiment to destroy his long friendship and inter-faith collaborative spirit. But the person that signed it may have done that to please some sponsors.

So, CAN does not see any anti-Islam elements in Bishop Kukah’s Christmas homily, despite the concerns raised by MSF and JNI?

I have read that homily over and over again; I have not seen where Bishop Kukah abused any religion. But if they have one, they should let us see, probably we are having eye problems and have a difficulty reading like them.

Does CAN share the views expressed by Bishop Kukah about alleged nepotism by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), in federal appointments?

Our President should be a listening leader and tell his fighting dogs to know he is people’s leader. The wrong and negative responses that do come from the men and women working in the Villa have contributed to why our President is badly misunderstood. Citizens have a right to complain, cry out and express concerns about what is happening in the land. When we all start talking nicely, to make Mr President and his men happy, we will help them to quickly fail us. Our criticism is because we love this country and love them.

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But some people feel that since Bishop Kukah has access to the President, he could have discussed the issues he raised in the homily privately with the President.

Why talking to Mr President privately when he is a public leader? Kukah is not Villa chaplain. Let the Villa chaplains go in privately and tell our President what Nigerians are saying. If Kukah had gone to the Villa, they would have twisted the reason for his visit. And now that he spoke from the pulpit where he has both divine and moral mandates to guide the land as a prophet, sadly, we have politicised a genuine spiritual concern.

What, in your view, is religious intolerance and do you think there’s religious intolerance in Nigeria?

Many groups have been working to promote religious tolerance in Nigeria but sadly the results are still not good enough. The reasons for these poor results include lack of genuine commitment from the different religious group leaders. It is sad and unfortunate for a leader to stand in a public place and talk about love and respect for people of other faith only to go into his church or mosque and tell the young people not to trust or accept the other group. These same young people listening to their respected leader speaking from the two sides of his mouth will never grow to tolerate others. I have listened to preachers who know how to tell good stories from religious teachings about good neighborliness but in practice they hate people of other faith and will not want to see people of other faith succeed. If we truly want to see religious tolerance in Nigeria then our faith and political leaders must show to other adherents and followers that they sincerely love, accept, celebrate and tolerate those who are not from their faith or group. How can you convince me to believe you when I hear you say leadership comes from God and He gives it to whoever he chooses but in practice you want God to only choose someone from your tribe, region or religion? Your negative actions have defeated your good words.

Do you foresee a religious war in Nigeria if religious tolerance does not improve?

No right-thinking person will want to see a religious war in Nigeria. A religious war can easily destroy any country and countries that have experienced religious war have still not come out of it. Therefore, we must not allow it and everyone should do his and her best to stop what can lead to a religious war. I do not want to envisage Nigeria in any kind of war again after the bad experience of the civil war, but we must do something positive to make this prayer come true. Our leaders have failed all of us but they have also successfully divided us along religious lines, which makes it difficult to fight a corrupt President, governor, senator or leader without seeing some people from his constituency coming after you, hiding under religion, tribe or region to defend someone we all should condemn.

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