If Nigerians ever thought that nobility found its way into the nation’s highest offices with the return of democracy and civil rule, the irreverent trading of words between supporters of the President, which has gravitated into outright display of animosity in the public space, against the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, is a pointer to the fact that Nigerian leaders are yet to imbibe statesmanship in the midst of collective suffering. If Nigerians ever hoped that high offices would ennoble their occupants, the bile, vitriol and banal aspersions cast on Kukah, who criticized President Muhammadu Buhari in his Christmas homily have indicated how misplaced that hope was; Nigerians should simply banish that thought. The fallout is a sickening reflection of the despicable depth of politicking in Nigeria and testifies to the incapacity of the governing class to rise up to the challenge of personal example, which is the hallmark of true leadership.
In his Christmas message last Friday, Kukah accused Buhari of elevating nepotism into instruments of statecraft, saying if a non-Muslim president did a fraction of what Buhari has done institutionalizing northern hegemony and “reducing others in public life to second-class status,” there would have been a coup. “This government owes the nation an explanation as to where it is headed as we seem to journey into darkness. The spilling of this blood must be related to a more sinister plot that is beyond our comprehension. Are we going to remain hogtied by these evil men or are they gradually becoming part of a larger plot to seal the fate of our country? President Buhari deliberately sacrificed the dreams of those who voted for him to what seemed like a program to stratify and institutionalize northern hegemony. He has pursued this self-defeating and alienating policy at the expense of greater national cohesion. Every honest Nigerian knows that there is no way any non-Northern Muslim President could have done a fraction of what President Buhari has done by his nepotism and gotten away with it. There would have been a military coup a long time ago or we would have been at war. The President may have concluded that Christians will do nothing and will live with these actions,” Kukah noted.
To this, the Presidency quickly retorted saying it was graceless and impious for a religious leader to use the period of Christmas, which is a season of love and peace, to stoke the embers of hatred, sectarian strife and national disunity. Information and Culture Minister, Lai Mohammed, in a statement, warned religious leaders that resorting to scorched-earth rhetoric could trigger unintended consequences. Kukah also came under more attacks as Buhari’s Special Assistant, Social Media, Lauretta Onochie, attributed the bishop’s criticism of Buhari to a loss of presidential largess and patronage. “Baba no dey drop! He’s rebuilding a nation battered by greed, political and religious favors. Buying the support of traditional/religious/political leaders is no longer on the table. Rebuilding our nation is the main focus,” Onochie sarcastically tweeted.
In its reaction, the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) in a statement by its National President, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, called for the arrest and prosecution of Kukah, describing Kukah’s comments as inciting and a “treasonable felony against the Nigerian state.” The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) also faulted Kukah. MURIC’s Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, in a statement, accused Kukah of making reckless, inflammatory, unguarded and irresponsible pronouncements, saying “It is the most egregious, luciferous and serpentine statement of the year 2020…Kukah knows those who engage in favoritism but he has chosen to be a pot calling the kettle black. Certain people are unhappy with a situation whereby they can no longer walk freely into Aso Rock for the low-hanging apples,” MURIC said.
In reaction to the barrage of condemnable invectives and uncomplimentary remarks directed at Kukah, the Catholic Church in Nigeria, in a statement, urged lovers of truth and justice to defend Kukah against the attacks on his person and the attempt to discredit his message. The Church hailed Kukah’s courage for speaking truth to power, saying the situation in Nigeria no longer allows fence-sitting or indifference. “We are quite aware of the 2020 Christmas message by our revered Bishop Hassan Kukah and the enormous space it has enjoyed on social media and in public sphere. As expected, the agents of evil have gathered to attack the person of the bishop and to discredit the simple obvious truth of the message. This is the stock in trade of evil people. However, they often succeed when good people, Christians, choose to do nothing. The truth about our nation is also that there are only two parties now existing: the good and the evil, the oppressed and the oppressor, the suffering people and the benefiting government officers and their families. Please stop allowing anyone fool you with these cards: religion and tribe,” the statement noted.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), in a statement by its Vice-Chairman, Rev. John Hayab, also dismissed allegations that Kukah called for a coup in his Christmas message and made any expression suggesting an affront to Islam. The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF) also rose in defence of Kukah. The group, in a statement by its leaders, Yinka Odumakin (South-west), Chief Guy Ikoku (South-east), Senator Bassey Henshaw (South-south) and Dr. Isuwa Dogo (Middle Belt), faulted the attacks on Kukah by the federal government, saying Kukah is a national icon who has been a beacon of truthfulness over the years, and remains a foremost defender of the aspirations of Nigerians across ethnic and religious lines, adding that the voice of truth and reason can never be suppressed.
That political and religious leaders, would descend to self-serving diatribes and shameless name-calling, especially at this time when the nation is in a state of sober soul-searching, is the height of selfishness, insensitivity and unhealthy for a nation in distress. In the judgment of an average sense of decency, this action is a moral weakness of asinine proportion. This absence of stately comportment by persons, who by authority and common trust are supposed to be epitomes of civility, is highly disturbing. If Buhari and his handlers should regard criticism with such acrimony, deceit and disregard for the populace, what is to be expected from the lower rung of the political ladder? Does it therefore surprise anyone why there is a high level of official rascality and rapid inbreeding of mediocre politicians, who willfully or ignorantly, lack the requisite temperament for governance?
Nigerian leaders often call on citizens to be peaceful, loving, tolerant and law-abiding. However, concomitant to this plea is always the ugly conduct of the leaders themselves, which emblemizes how not to build a good Nigeria. The words they speak, especially are most unedifying and do nothing other than devalue the nation whose greatness they claim to seek. In both submissions between Kukah and Buhari’s supporters, the language was absolutely indecorous and stripped the messages of any real significance. Like this exchange full of bile and vitriol, the public space has been irreverently smeared by a constant barrage of indecorous verbiage coming from all kinds of public officials, political chieftains and ethnic jingoists; who spew provocative and debasing comments that offend the sensibilities of the Nigerian people.
Presidency officials have been on record mouthing vitriol. Party chiefs, legislators and ministers have been known to be so over-bearing and needlessly violently voluble in delivering their reactions, that they ornate their comments with harmful grandiloquence where golden silence or at least, courtesy would do. Opposition politicians often make casual statements about profound matters of governance requiring constructive thoughtfulness while government officials have been willfully unscrupulous and vainglorious in their subservient desire to defend their paymasters. This is unbecoming of leaders who think seriously about bettering the lot of their country. By their perfunctory action, the president and his handlers have cheapened their exalted positions as leading lights of the people. The vituperative attacks on Kukah betrayed Buhari and his handlers as lacking the basic attributes of civility in public engagement
One of the values of democracy remains its support of and respect for a free, fair, and open decision-making process. This process is verily endowed by the dignified propriety of behavior and speech called decorum. Decorum entails the appropriateness of language in response to interlocutors in the public space. In the doctrine of master rhetoricians, decorum is qualified by an intersection of speech and thought, wisdom and performance, art and morality, assertion and deference, amongst other elements. It is described as an aptness of language that both expresses emotion and character, and corresponds to its subject; knowing what to say, where to say it and how to say it.
Decorum reflects a finesse of language and behavior, exemplified by civility and courtesy, and is gratifying to reason and the senses. The message here is that civil, courteous and respectful discourse and behavior are conducive to the democratic and harmonious airing of concern and decision-making. However, in Nigeria’s beleaguered polity, where power, privileges and talking down on people have become scandalous perquisites of office; it is no surprise that uncivil, discourteous and inappropriate behaviors have negatively impacted on the character and productivity of the decision-making process.
To this end, the relevance of decorum is a telling lesson to Nigerian leaders and statesmen not to turn their privileged positions into a casual platform for spewing invectives and misguided utterances. Spokespersons for the clergy, government and opposition parties, public representatives of ethnic groups and others who have made the public space their turf for social engagement should endeavor to address issues rather than personalities. They should ensure that their diction corresponds with the subject at issue. They should respect the offices and unofficial positions they occupy and let a decorous comportment edify and enrich the public space.
Given the knee-jerk responses to criticisms and snide remarks from detractors and political opponents, Buhari seems to wittingly or unwittingly consider his critics as personal enemies. History is beckoning on this administration to learn to appreciate the decorum for rivalry, and take a cue from the public comportment of political rivals in developed democracies. Nigeria is bigger than one group, one person, whatever his station, or one ethnic group. The value of any group lays only in the potential of such to enhance the wellbeing of the collective. It is a denigration of the collective spirit and a negation of the inviolability of the Nigerian people, for supporters and critics of this administration to continue conducting themselves in such impudent, supercilious, shameless and indecorous manner as they do now. Decorum, please!
