If Jonathan Goes To Prison, He Will Be Remembered For Saving Nigeria From Doom Says Kukah

Matthew Hassan Kukah, the catholic Bishop of the Sokoto diocese had an interview  with Sunday Punch reacting to the controversy that trailed his recent television interview..

Many Nigerians have expressed their displeasure with your statement on a live breakfast television programme recently, where you said, if the incumbent president probes the former president, it could be the incumbent’s turn tomorrow.

I consider myself a public intellectual. My job is to stir the hornet’s nest, generating new ideas and pointing the way forward. I am quite lucky that I have the chance to air my views. You sound as if I was against the former President being probed. My point is that no one knows what will happen tomorrow and a routine procedure like a probe should not be made to sound like a mission of vengeance. What is more, can you honestly tell me what will happen tomorrow? Did Obasanjo know he would end up in prison? Was Gen. Buhari not detained himself? Some of us are concerned with the future and we do some reflections. I do not just talk, I try to think and I make mistakes; my views are not gospel and people are free and welcome to nourish me with new ideas. But it is sad when people turn ignorance and prejudice into marketable commodities.

I believe the Office of the President is a ‘semi-sacred’ office and we must respect it, even if we mistakenly put a scoundrel there. We can respect the office and still punish the occupant if he misbehaves. And Americans did some of this with, say, President (Richard) Nixon and even the way they handled (Bill) Clinton. There is the tendency to divide us into those who support presidents and those who do not. I was labelled a PDP and APC supporter; some of those looking for food said I was against Jonathan and so on. I actually feel vindicated when I hear people accuse me of one thing today and another tomorrow.

Nigerians must have heroes and heroines; people whose names will inspire some awe, not because they are saints but because of what they have done. Even if Jonathan goes to prison, the world will not forget that he saved our country from doom. I am saddened that some food-is-ready, fly-by-night supporters of Buhari, who are not interested in Nigeria but angling for positions, want to place the exigencies of the moment ahead of the nation. Their fanaticism endangers and blurs the path for both the President and country.

Nigeria has received overwhelming international acceptance under President Buhari. Why do you think this is so?

God knows. But again, this is the reason why I sound so impatient. I am not stampeding the President as some people think. What I am saying is that this goodwill is like snow; like ice, it could melt. The international community has a short attention span and we Nigerians have far more enemies than we understand. It is a pity if we think that everyone is happy with how the elections went. If the enemies sense that Nigerians are unsure, are still quibbling, are still incoherent, before you know what is happening, the drumbeat will change. Buhari will be accused of running an Islamic and northern agenda; he will be accused of persecuting Christians, ignoring this or that zone, and so on. This is what happens when you allow a vacuum, which nature abhors. I am genuinely concerned that we do not fritter this goodwill because all it takes is a small problem; earthquake or a major disaster somewhere, and attention will turn away from us.