Christian faithful celebrate Monsignor Kukah’s elevation

He is to take over from Bishop Kevin Aje who retires after serving Sokoto Catholic Diocese for several years. No date has been fixed for Kukah’s installation yet but it is expected that it will be in July. Kukah was born in Kaduna State. He is a remarkable priest who has extended his area of […]

He is to take over from Bishop Kevin Aje who retires after serving Sokoto Catholic Diocese for several years. No date has been fixed for Kukah’s installation yet but it is expected that it will be in July.

Kukah was born in Kaduna State. He is a remarkable priest who has extended his area of service from the pulpit to the political arena. Last month, he was among those invited to speak during the induction course for the newly elected officials in Nigeria. Typical of him, he drew loud cheers when he pointedly chastised the public figures.

He is fluent in several Nigerian languages and he has worked hard to promote understanding across ethnic and religious fault lines. He has been described as an “idealist” in the sense that he wants Nigeria to be a far better country than it is and that he believes its peoples have the capacity to take it there. Kukah is indeed, a brutal realist in his assessments of Nigeria’s political and developmental state.

In demand by governments and civil society as both a mediator and an analyst, Kukah has worked with a wide range of Nigerians and foreigners who are trying to tackle Nigeria’s chronic underdevelopment.

His disinterest in taking up partisan positions in Nigeria and his drive to bring the country together gives him an important role as both actor in Nigeria’s political dramas and spokesman for those Nigerian nationalists who have been trying to push the country forward.

Rev Fr Kuha Indyer, principal of Holy Ghost Secondary School Zaki-Biam in Benue State has described Kukah as “a big fish” who has contributed to the socio-political development of Nigeria. Kuha said Kukah should use his wealth of experience to douse the political tension ignited by some religious groups (like Boko Haram) in the country.

Barrister Mike Utsaha who was Provincial Secretary, Health/JDPC Kaduna Province between December 1, 2005 and Aug. 31, 2009 said, “I first met Kukah in May 2006 when I was on an assignment on behalf of the German Catholic Bishops’s Organisation for Cooperation and Development otherwise known as Misereor. Since then we have remained friends. My relocation to Kaduna in February 2007 cemented this relationship even the more.”

Utsaha who is now Nigeria Programme Officer, Law, Justice and Human Rights, Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) expressed, “This is not the time Kukah should be bishop but we thank God that it has come.

“To underscore this point, the current Auxiliary Bishop of Makurdi Diocese Bishop Williams Avenya was Kukah’s student in the major seminary in Jos. The current Archbishop of Kaduna was his junior in the priesthood by 10 years.

“Because he has been a very humble individual from a modest background, he has not allowed anything to come in between him and these colleagues. Additionally, there is nothing he has not been able to do because he is not a bishop and there is nothing any bishop has done that he is unable to do because he is not bishop.”

Meanwhile, President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated Kukah. Jonathan, last week wrote Kukah describing Kukah’s elevation as a testimony of his worthy antecedents of patriotism and belief in Nigeria’s potential.

Jonathan’s letter dated June 13, 2011 read, “As you assume duty as the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, I am confident that you will continue to use the pulpit to advance the cause of peace, progress, prosperity, harmony and justice in Nigeria.”