Mathew Kukah, Catholic bishop of Sokoto diocese, has explained how
he convinced ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo to reconcile with Atiku
Abubabar, former vice-president.
Obasanjo had on Thursday played
host to Kukah, Ahmad Gumi, a Kaduna-based Islamic cleric; and David
Oyedepo, founder of Living Faith Church Worldwide, and some top
politicians and civil rights activists at his hill-top residence in
Abeokuta, Ogun state.
The ex-president, during the occasion
announced his endorsement of Abubakar as his preferred candidate for the
2019 presidential election, saying he has forgiven his former deputy.
Criticisms had trailed the visit, with many accusing the religious leaders of swimming in the mud of politics.
Oyedepo has since absolved himself of the criticisms, saying his presence during the meeting was that of a mediator.
Kukah
followed suit in a wordy statement, to explain his role in the meeting.
Both Oyedepo and Kukah said they received no financial tipping from any
politician.
Kukah said he only went to Obasanjo’s residence to complete the reconciliation agenda which he had been pursuing for years.
He expressed delight that the meeting took place, saying he remained eternally grateful to God.
According
to him, he had planned for the meeting to be between just the three of
them, but his host requested the presence of other parties, a plan he
says he was not comfortable with.
“I was not interested in the
politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. Although trying to
reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I
had been working on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could
have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up,” Kukah said.
“My
focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never
brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a
chance meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation.
“I
am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and
the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to
this event, I am a central actor.”
Read the full statement below
I
have deliberately made this explanatory note long because I think it is
necessary that people make up their minds based on the facts, given my
central role in the event. I note that Sheikh Gumi has already told his
own side of the story. I feel obliged to state my own side so that
Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement. Sadly, I
personally did not read President Obasanjo’s statement until two days
later on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall.
Although
trying to reconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was
something I had been working on intermittently in the last few years,
nothing could have prepared me for the way things finally shaped up. My
focus all along had been with President Obasanjo and I had never brought
Alhaji Abubakar into what I was doing. Quite fortuitously, a chance
meeting changed the tide in favour of reconciliation.
Understandably,
the pictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar,
Shaikh Gumi and I) literally lit up the social media and elicited
divergent reactions from the general public. Although over 99% of the
reactions that have come to me have been largely those of commendation,
with people focusing, rightly, on the reconciliation, there have been
others whose focus has been on an isolated development that had
absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all these years,
namely, the endorsement.
I must say that I am eternally grateful
to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focus of attention
has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by President Obasanjo, a
development that I can call the third leg of the process which I
initiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjo’s other interlocutors
after we agreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and
so, I will only clear the air on what I can take full responsibility
for.
Let me state first that I am a priest of the Catholic Church
and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I have more than a passing knowledge
of our discipline and doctrine in matters relating to the role of a
Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoral thesis was on
Religion and Politics in
Nigeria. So, this is an area that I have written and spoken extensively about for over thirty years.
I
am therefore very clear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and
the contexts. Unlike Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to
this event, I am a central actor. So let me explain what really
happened.
On Tuesday, October 9th, 2018 I had the honor of being
the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference of the Four Square Gospel
Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman, Femi Adesina, a
member of this Church, had first invited me some years back but I could
not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of the
occasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to
leave because he had a scheduled meeting.
I told him I needed to
see him briefly and he obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he
thought of his reconciliation with Alhaji Atiku. My last discussion with
him this year was either January or February.
His response was
still negative and he told me what he later told the media. I reminded
him that I was not interested in the politics of reconciliation but the
spiritual angle.
After all, I said to him, ‘as a Christian, this
is an important thing for you to do’. He was quiet and then said he
would speak with me later that evening on his final decision. We parted,
he to his car and I returned to the Church to end the event.
At
about 9pm the same Tuesday, he called to say that he had thought over
the issues I had raised and finally decided to accept my suggestion and
that yes, he would be happy to reconcile with Alhaji Abubakar.
When did he think we could meet then, I asked him? He said he would look
at his diary and get back to me later. Then, just before 11pm the same
Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diary was full,
that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happily and
told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, or
through his aides to convey the news.
My initial intention had
been to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at
the Four Square Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next
morning, Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the
Holy Mass, I received a call from President Obasanjo: ‘Bishop, listen, I
have changed my mind’.
My heart nearly sank, but before I could
ask why, he said: ‘Let us do it tomorrow if you can reach Atiku. I am
going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be back home before 1pm. So,
tell him to come at 1pm’. I started frantic efforts to reach Alhaji
Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, and asked him
to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about 1pm, I
received a call from him. I told him what had happened with President
Obasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on
Thursday.
I got back to my hosts, the Four Square Gospel Church
to tell them about the change in my travelling plans especially as I had
no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didn’t want to ask President
Obasanjo’s people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed a
leeway of independence and trust.
My hosts were exceedingly
gracious in making a vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me
to Abeokuta. Earlier that morning, President Obasanjo had called me a
second time and told me that he wanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the
Chairman of the PDP, and two or three others. He also told me he had
also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo. This was welcome news-
Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence of Shaikh Gumi made
sense.
I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was getting
larger for something I thought was between three of us.I arrived
Abeokuta about 12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji
Abubakar and his team. Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I
saw more and more people coming in.
I saw familiar faces of
different people who turned out to be the leaders of Afenifere. All
these years, whenever I brought up this matter of reconciliation, my
idea has always been for the three of us to sit down together. I still
believed that the meeting would be between the two of them and the three
religious leaders.
When President Obasanjo appeared, I walked up
to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for the meeting. He
suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a few words
about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at this
point, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be
caught in it.
I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been
achieved, namely, getting these two men to put the past behind them. My
personal preoccupation was a pastoral one, and not a political one. I
was uncomfortable with this and I decided to make my position clear. I
offered a different proposal to help us sift the moral grain from the
chaff of politics via a three-step process so as to insulate the three
of us from the political fallout.
I proposed that the first step
would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors,
sort out their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh
Gumi and I to go in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had
not arrived.
After that, I said, they could continue with the
third phase which from what I could see was high wire politics and I had
no wish to be caught in the web. After they both finished their brief
meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat down with the two of them.
We had some small briefing and then both of us spoke briefly on what
they had done, encouraging them to ensure that this reconciliation
holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and our marriage
vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what has now
become the famous photograph behind closed doors.
At this point,
I felt that my spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to
maintain my independence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I
was hungry and food was being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let
myself out by the side door, got into the Four Square Gospel car and we
drove off to Lagos.
Despite the dread of Lagos traffic and the
disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, I had declined the offer
of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them to Abeokuta. Although
flying with them was the best (and most convenient) assurance I had of
getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at an event with the
Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it was necessary to
ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties.
I was
not in Abeokuta to endorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the
Peoples’ Democratic Party. I perfectly understand the feelings of many
of my friends and members of the opposition who believe that I travelled
with Alhaji Abubakar and his team to attend his endorsement by
President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was not the case. All the
bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospel hosts for the
earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, booked accommodation
for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight to Abuja
and Sokoto.
I am a strong believer in a peaceful and united
Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served my entire adult life
as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliation and peace
were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the Oputa
Panel.
When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of
Oputa Panel, I personally undertook to visit both General Babangida and
Buhari (he was not at home) at a time that today’s latter day Buharists
were asking the Panel to compel them to come or risk being blacked out
of national life.
Objective-minded people will remember that back
in 2001, when the Christian community and many of President Buhari’s
opponents claimed that General Buhari had said that Muslims should vote
only for Muslims, many people in the Christian community were
disappointed that I wrote a long article to explain the context of what
he had said after speaking with the General. His party, the ANPP later
used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith and
experience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard
both sides of a story, no matter what.
I hope that this
clarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all
of these in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter the
reasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can
not please everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please
only one’s own conscience, and here, mine is very clear.
I have
been involved in a few behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years,
largely on my own initiative, taking advantage of my knowledge of those
engaged in the conflict or at the invitation of third parties. Some have
succeeded and some have not. As priest, it is not in my place to
publicise what we have achieved.
I am the Convener of the
National Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary
which I am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of
trust and that is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear
that both President Obasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making
peace, I alerted the Chairman of the NPC, General Abdusalam.
Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to the Ikoyi home of Chief Emeka
Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan, the Archbishop of
Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyone believed this
was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imagined the
third phase of this meeting.
Both theoretically and practically, I
have come to know that peace making is a very risky business and often a
thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about his
on two different occasions.
Anyone involved in peace making
from domestic quarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good,
the bad and the ugly. In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long
distance runner, believing and trusting that the truth never ever sinks
to the bottom of the sea. The truth will always have a stubborn way of
defying the hostile elements and popping up at the right time, no matter
how long it takes.
I perfectly understand that with Alhaji
Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of his Party,
without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why many
people will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to
question my neutrality. However, I have far too many friends across
party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or party against the
other.
It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Law
of the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political
space. The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has signed a
statement to the effect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever
be open to any politician, something we have all taken seriously. I
therefore hope that this clarification helps those whose minds are open.
I
am thankful to God and quite pleased that this reconciliation took
place and that I was a small instrument in making it happen. However, I
am sorry that it has been given a different colouration and doubts to
many people. Its timing was purely fortuitous and purely circumstantial
not a contrivance.
Personally, I will never relent in the very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum of our country.
