Lamido’s fixations, Akintola’s concerns and Bishop Kukah’s truths,
By AMINU JAHUN
The trio of Sule Lamido, Professor Ishaq Akintola and Bishop Hassan Kukah aren’t greenhorns in their vocations: politics, advocacy for inclusive governance, and evangelical activism. Lamido is fixated on shouldering the burden of a political party; Akintola’s fixation is Muslim rights, whilst Kukah is fixated on speaking “truth” to power. Their callings may seem unrelated, but the drift of the nation to a dangerous territory requires robust party politics, inclusive governance and speaking truth to power to pull it out of the woods.
Lamido’s fixations
Lamido’s politics is defined by shifting fixations and obsessions. He was fixated with change in the Second Republic, and by PDP in national politics in the Fourth Republic. His body language signposts that since the party is G9’s political legacy- a political club he belonged- the party should remain undiluted and ossified within the territory earmarked by its founding fathers. And still expected to remain relevant, if not for all seasons, at least for the rest of the Fourth Republic.
For Lamido, the PDP is more than a political party. It is the conflation of a party, political gospel, dreams and obsessions, which transformed it into an overarching political reality, shaping his proactive and reactive responses in national politics. His tender attitude to the party made Lamido passionately defensive of its earlier transgressions: its refusal to let the North complete the late President president Yar’Adua’s tenure, preventing the North to exclusively produce its presidential candidate in 2023 in accordance with its zoning policy, the imposition of Ifeanyi Okowa as a running mate, which imploded the party, etc. To Lamido, the PDP was always right, it could do no wrong, it was beyond reproach.
Belatedly it has dawned on him that the PDP has parted ways with the ideals of its founding fathers. From the prideful height of being the largest party in Africa, pushing a sitting vice president out of its fold, it has now been incapacitated to even sanction an errant member. Lamido reacted to the rascality by boycotting its future meetings. With the way the party has been captured by other interests, it may take a long time before he resumes attending PDP meetings. It may be after the 2027 elections.
Akintola’s concerns
Piqued by the violations of Muslim rights, and discriminatory policies against them, Professor Ishaq Akintola of Lagos State University, LASU, established the Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, in October 1993, as an advocacy outfit for the promotion and defense of Muslim rights. And the abrogation of discriminatory policies, which infringe the constitutional rights of Muslims to practise their religion as they deem fit in the nation.
Despite the judicial restoration of the rights of female Muslim students to wear hijab in 2021, after their infringement by the Raji Fashola government in 2013, the concerns of Professor Akintola wouldn’t ebb. Muslim rights aren’t yet guaranteed, they are still being discriminated against by the APC’s Muslim- Muslim government.
The declaration by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, that Christians constitute 62 per cent of government’s appointments, whilst Muslims- at least as populous as the Christians- enjoy only 38 per cent of the appointments, belies the claims of an inclusive government. And the discriminatory policy of offering a two-week free railway ride during Christmas, and the denial of the same privilege during Sallah festivities, heightened Akintola’s concerns about the continuing infringement of Muslim rights and discriminatory policies against them.
Bishop Kukah’s ‘truths
A social media gone viral homily, tagged Bishop Kukah Speaks Truth To Power, reveals his Bishopric propositions on the state of the nation. Since they are many, one could only discuss a few with implications for national unity and cohesion. Kukah states that “in this country the same standards are not held against all”. No one could be more right than Kukah. Where members of a religious group hold 62 per cent of political appointments, and another group- as populous as the other group- makes do with only 38 per cent, vindicates him. And when the group with 62 per cent political appointments, is offered free train services during its religious festivity, and the other group with 38 per cent is denied same privilege during its own, reinforces Kukah that same standards are not held against all in this country.
The disparity of standard fits into Kukah’s next proposition that: “Some can get away with anything, but others can’t get away with something “. This “truth’ aptly describes the activities of the ruling classes, who get away with almost anything, whilst the people cannot even protest against their policies. Here too Bishop Kukah is right.
The other Kukah truths are: “Everyone knows what is good for them. And if you don’t know what is good for you, then shut up don’t obstruct those who know what is good for them .And if I have my way, I will cease to be a Nigerian, because there is no sense of nationhood”. These propositions could advance the cause of terrorism in the nation.
As groups, terrorists know what is best for them, and those who don’t know what is best for them shouldn’t obstruct them from terrorism.
A Kukah assertion that “I want independence from a country that embraces terrorists and terrorises agitators” dangerously separates separatist agitations, however violent, from other forms of terrorism; condoning it and subtly encouraging it in a divided nation.
An incontrovertible Kukah “truth” is: “Those who have leverage over others use it to oppress them” . The only problem with this truth is that it is generalised to apply it to ethnic and religious others. It has glossed over the fact that oppressors are drawn from all ethnic or religious groups. Beyond the upper classes, no one else has a monopoly of oppression in the nation.
Furthermore, Kukah avers: “Otherwise how can one explain the audacious impunity of a certain section of this country. They can intimidate everybody even a sitting president and get away with it “. No ethnic or religious group could intimidate everybody, including a sitting president. Kukah equates the democratic right of Nigerians to change their government to intimidation by the ethnic or religious others.
On a final note, had Lamido’s tender feelings for the party not been an obsession, had it been tinged with the detached nurse-it-fully disposition of weather beaten politicians, the PDP couldn’t have been in its present form. It could have been saved from the political charlatans driving it to only God knows where.
After three decades of the establishment of MURIC, its founder, Prof Akintola has to be extra vigilant to protect Muslim rights and deepen interfaith cooperation in the nation. And Bishop Kukah should articulate his truths on the state of the nation, not on ethnic and religious sentiments. The nation could fare better without some of his” truths”.
*Jahun, a commentator on public affairs, wrote from Dutse, Jigawa State.
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By AMINU JAHUN The trio of Sule Lamido, Professor Ishaq Akintola and Bishop Hassan Kukah aren’t greenhorns in their vocations: politics, advocacy for inclusive governance, and evangelical activism. Lamido is fixated on shouldering the burden of a political party; Akintola’s fixation is Muslim rights, whilst Kukah is fixated on speaking “truth” to power. Their callings […]
The post Lamido’s fixations, Akintola’s concerns and Bishop Kukah’s truths appeared first on Vanguard News.
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