Seldom has a Christmas message from any Nigerian cleric garnered the sort of reactions as those that greeted Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s 2020 Christmas Message.
The Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto remembered the words of the current English Queen, Elizabeth II, memorably spoken in 1992, referring to the year as an “annus horribilis,” She was right: three royal marriages had collapsed that year, a fire destroyed more than a hundred rooms in Windsor Castle and a toe-sucking scandal involving Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, rocked Britain and the monarchy. Moreover, the Lady Diana and Prince Charles’s marriage was not only terribly shaky, the entire world was in on that fact.
It is likely that those well-chosen words of the sage could have dwelt only in the minds of the literary-minded few who could have endevoured to answer the question the cleric posed: whether year 2020 would be remembered as “Annus Mirabilis (Miraculous, marvelous, remarkable amazing, wonderful year) or Annus Horribilis (horrible year)?”
The Bishop explained: “When Isaac Newton, at the age of 23, made the spectacular discoveries in the areas of Calculus, Motion, Optics, and Gravitation, the year of those discoveries, 1666, was referred to as, annus mirabilis, the year of joy”.
Please, bear in mind that there is a great need to dwell at length on the poet who titled his poem “Annus Mirabilis”, John Dryden, and why he did so. He it was, who turned the minds of Londoners from a certain annus horibilis to annus mirabilis.
Was Kukah also trying to so change our collective view of these terrible times? We shall interrogate that later.
Then, some members of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari reacted, excoriating the Bishop and the floodgates of attack opened against Kukah as sundry northern groups (real and imagined) began to issue statements. Other organisations responded, supporting Kuka. Now, a major controversy has broken open upon this luckless nation, but really, over what?
Really, over nothing!
Ah, straight to the point; what do I have against Bishop Kukah? Here is my answer: I quarrel with the statement he issued to explain that he never called for a coup. He had no reason to issue that second or explanatory statement. I hold it against him. It was totally clear to anybody who understands ordinary English that he did not call for a coup. Only somebody intent on mischief would stretch the good Bishop’s words to such a ridiculous extent. There was nothing that Bishop Kukah had said that had not been said by others. Other Bishops had condemned the state of insecurity in the land, the traditional rulers have done the same, the Sultan of Sokoto, the state governors, even the newspaper Publishers and the Managing Directors said so when they met with the Information Minister in Lagos late last year. What dropped from their mouths were more acidic than what Bishop Kukah ever said, except that they did not make their stand and stance public.
And even as some persons continued excoriating Kuka, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has alleged that camels are being used to carry deadly weapons into the country. Chief Audu Ogbeh, national chairman of ACF, said so in a statement on the last day of 2020 that weapons are being imported from a neighbouring country through Sokoto and Zamfara states.
Going into specifics, he said the weapons being ferried into Nigeria included rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and anti-aircraft guns, adding that security operatives do not check the cargoes. To show that what he was saying was not novel, he charged: “At the last meeting of our National Executive Council, NEC, in October 2020, our members, particularly from Sokoto and Zamfara, reported that large consignments of camels were crossing our borders into Nigeria with a lot of baggage on their backs on a daily basis. And they observed that nobody checks their baggage and nobody knows what is being brought into Nigeria. The question Arewa Consultative Forum would like to ask the security agencies is what are the camels carrying and where they are heading?
The ACF is alarmed that this kind of situation should persist at a time when weapons of all kinds are coming into our country and worsening the climate of terror and national uncertainty. It is clear now from what we know that, as victims pay ransoms to the kidnappers the money is instantly converted to more sophisticated weapons and instruments of death by the kidnappers.”
Kukah said nothing as damaging as what Ogbeh did say. And Ogbeh recounted what was discussed at ACF meeting in October 2020, two full months ago. Now, Bishop Kukah deserves some apologies from all those who condemned him.
Someone should remind Alhaji Lai Mohammed that he is serving in a democracy. He should remember that even during Ibrahim Babangida’s military administration, one Bishop Ukaegbu, while preaching at the 1986 or 1987 Independence Anniversary church service, said “If God does not punish Nigeria’s leaders for corruption, He would have to apologise to Sodom and Gomorrah” and nobody threatened him with direct or veiled reprisals.
Now back to the front: Bishop Kukah is an intellectual of such a towering height that I feel rather uncomfortable just to help further explain how exactly the Annus Mirabilis phrase came into public discussion about England of 1666. Actually, the Latin phrase gained public recognition from “Annus Mirabilis”, a poem John Dryden published in 1667 to commemorate 1665–1666, the “year of miracles” of London. Despite the poem’s name, the year had been one of great tragedies, including the Great Fire of London. In fact, Dryden wrote the poem while at Charlton in Wiltshire, where he went to escape one of the great events of the year: the Great Plague of London.
In 1666, the Great Fire of London left a scorched path 40 miles long, through the city, destroyed over 15,000 homes, 100 churches and an unknown number of businesses. So, why did Dryden the poet see hope instead of disaster? Here is the answer: the burnt buildings were constructed of wood and were often lined with tar paper to keep out the famous London rain. The narrow streets and jam-packed houses helped the fire to spread rapidly, even as London lacked a fire brigade then.Loading…
Yet, in a short while, a new London began to rise; better designed houses, wider streets began to emerge. That was when Christopher Wren, the most famous British architect of his time commenced work on St. Paul’s Cathedral, that lofty monument of stone and marble, which still stands to this day.
So, John Dryden’s poem was actually an epic poetic call to the patriotic spirit of Londoners, to turn their Annus Horibilis into Annus Mirabilis – which they did. Where others concluded that the fire and the plague proved that God was punishing the city, Dryden saw in the destruction an opportunity to cleanse and purify London and turn it into a superior metropolis. The Oxford English Dictionary credits Dryden with the first known written use of that phrase in an English text.
Hey, I know that President Buhari studied at military academies, and so he must have studied various forms of strategy, the art of war, leadership, and how to survive in harsh terrains and the like. But poetry? I doubt if such a soft topic has ever arrived at any military academy.
So, let us not blame Buhari for not wondering if Bishop Kukah, by bringing the Annus Miraabilis and the Annus Horibilis ideas, was actually leaving a choice, a challenge even to Nigeria, to make the nation what it would choose to, despite the unconscionable killings taking place. Did I say the Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, look up the essence of Dryden’s poem even after Bishop Kukah had copiously invoked it? I doubt it. In fact, I must confess that from the way the man forces his arguments, it is obvious he has little respect for logic, but from the way he and certain others reacted to Kukah’s Christmas sermon, I began to wonder who their teachers were. Why did the fact that Kukah deliberately chose to end his sermon on a hopeful note not force them to return to Dryden’s poem?
Kukah said: “This moment calls on us as Christians to celebrate the simplicity of Christ represented in Christmas. Joy to the world, the Lord has come, the song says. Jesus has offered us a roadmap. We are challenged to bring light into the darkness of our society.
“Darkness has its own logic. St Paul reminds us that without Christ, our lives are characterized by: immorality, filthy and indecent actions, worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight, they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups, they are envious, get drunk and have orgies (Gal. 5: 19-21). When it is dark, we cannot see our way and we stumble. Nigeria has stumbled so much. It is time to for us to turn on the light of the torch. Each of us can make a change.”
Please dwell on the Bishop’s conclusion: “So, Pastor Adesina was right. On the sad situation in Nigeria, the United Nations has wailed. The Pope has wailed. Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops, Priests, Pastors have wailed. Emirs have wailed. Politicians have wailed. The Sultan has wailed. Surely, it is time for the Lord to hear the wailer as they have sung their redemption songs. With St. Paul, I say: The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over the day is almost here, so let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Rom. 13:11-12). Let us unite and seek the Lord in sincerity because the Lord will vindicate the righteous. Happy Christmas to you all.”
On another level I wish to let some people know that if they wanted to intimidate the Bishop, they are blowing against the wind. Catholic prelates have faced down the worst tyrants the world has ever known. Some have been cut down in their churches, such as Bishop Thomas Becket and Oscar Romero was shot while saying mass. Yet, such has never stopped them from speaking truth to power.
Bishop Kukah did not deserve the knocks he has received. One group was decidedly against him because he, a Christian, served as a secretary to the Oputa panel even though the Chairman was also a Christian. I laughed so hard it hurt, wondering how they could have forgotten, if that was a sin, that someone was a Military Head of State though his number two man was also a Muslim – just like himself.
Kukah should even be applauded. Only a scholar like him would bother with annus mirabilis or annus horibilis. I would have just gone ahead with annus calamitous or annus disastrous.
