Monday, October 15, 2018  21.09PM / By Bishop Matthew HassanKUKAH

I have deliberately madethis explanatory note long because I think it is necessary that people make uptheir minds based on the facts, given my central role in the event. I note thatSheikh Gumi has already told his own side of the story. I feel obliged to statemy own side so that Nigerians can have a clearer picture of my own involvement.Sadly, I personally did not read President Obasanjo’s statement until two dayslater on the Internet since I was not physically in the hall.

Although trying toreconcile President Obasanjo and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was something I had beenworking on intermittently in the last few years, nothing could have prepared mefor the way things finally shaped up. My focus all along had been withPresident Obasanjo and I had never brought Alhaji Abubakar into what I wasdoing. Quite fortuitously, a chance meeting changed the tide in favour ofreconciliation.

Understandably, thepictures of the four of us (President Obasanjo, Alhaji Abubakar, Shaikh Gumiand I) literally lit up the social media and elicited divergent reactions fromthe general public. Although over 99% of the reactions that have come to mehave been largely those of commendation, with people focusing, rightly, on thereconciliation, there have been others whose focus has been on an isolateddevelopment that had absolutely nothing to do with what I had in mind all theseyears, namely, the endorsement.

I must say that I ameternally grateful to God that this reconciliation finally happened. The focusof attention has been on the endorsement of Alhaji Abubakar by PresidentObasanjo, a development that I can call the third leg of the process which Iinitiated. I am not sure of President Obasanjo’s other interlocutors after weagreed to meet leading to the participation of other actors and so, I will onlyclear the air on what I can take full responsibility for.

Let me state first that Iam a priest of the Catholic Church and by the grace of God, a Bishop. I havemore than a passing knowledge of our discipline and doctrine in mattersrelating to the role of a Catholic priest in political engagement. My doctoralthesis was on Religion and Politics in Nigeria. So, this is an area that I havewritten and spoken extensively about for over thirty years. I am therefore veryclear about the boundaries, the slippery slopes and the contexts. Unlike ShaikhGumi and Rev. Oyedepo who were invited to this event, I am a central actor. Solet me explain what really happened.

On Tuesday, October 9th,2018 I had the honor of being the Guest Speaker for the annual Conference ofthe Four Square Gospel Church in Alagomeji, Lagos. (The Presidential Spokesman,Femi Adesina, a member of this Church had first invited me some years back butI could not honour the invitation). President Obasanjo was the Chairman of theoccasion. At the end of the lecture, he indicated that he would have to leavebecause he had a scheduled meeting. I told him I needed to see him briefly andhe obliged. I brought up again the issue of what he thought of hisreconciliation with Alhaji Atiku.

My last discussion with himthis year was either January or February. His response was still negative andhe told me what he later told the media. I reminded him that I was notinterested in the politics of reconciliation but the spiritual angle. Afterall, I said to him, ‘as a Christian, this is an important thing for you to do’.He was quiet and then said he would speak with me later that evening on hisfinal decision. We parted, he to his car and I returned to the Church to endthe event.

At about 9pm the sameTuesday, he called to say that he had thought over the issues I had raised andfinally decided to accept my suggestion and that yes, he would be happy toreconcile with Alhaji Abubakar. When did he think we could meet then, I askedhim? He said he would look at his diary and get back to me later. Then, justbefore 11pm the same Tuesday, I received another call from him saying his diarywas full, that the earliest date for him was October 21st. I accepted happilyand told him that I would try and reach Alhaji Abubakar either directly, orthrough his aides to convey the news.

My initial intention hadbeen to return to Abuja that same evening from Lagos, but my hosts at the FourSquare Gospel had suggested that I should get some rest. Next morning,Wednesday October 10th, after I had finished celebrating the Holy Mass, I receiveda call from President Obasanjo: ‘Bishop, listen, I have changed my mind’. Myheart nearly sank, but before I could ask why, he said: ‘Let us do it tomorrowif you can reach Atiku. I am going to deliver a lecture in Ife and will be backhome before 1pm. So, tell him to come at 1pm’. I started frantic efforts toreach Alhaji Atiku without luck. I reached one of his aides, Paul Ibe, andasked him to please let him know I am trying to reach him. Finally, at about1pm, I received a call from him. I told him what had happened with PresidentObasanjo. He agreed and said he would be in Abeokuta for 1pm on Thursday.

I got back to my hosts, theFour Square Gospel Church to tell them about the change in my travelling plansespecially as I had no car to take me to Abeokuta. I didn’t want to askPresident Obasanjo’s people to send me a vehicle because I believed I needed aleeway of independence and trust. My hosts were exceedingly gracious in makinga vehicle available, a driver and an aide to take me to Abeokuta. Earlier thatmorning, President Obasanjo had called me a second time and told me that hewanted Alhaji Abubakar to come with the Chairman of the PDP, and two or threeothers. He also told me he had also invited both Shaikh Gumi and Rev. Oyedepo.This was welcome news- Rev. Oyedepo is a kinsman of his, and the presence ofShaikh Gumi made sense. I was a bit nervous, seeing that the circle was gettinglarger for something I thought was between three of us.

I arrived Abeokuta about12.15pm ahead of both President Obasanjo and Alhaji Abubakar and his team.Alhaji Abubakar and his team arrived, and then I saw more and more peoplecoming in. I saw familiar faces of different people who turned out to be theleaders of Afenifere. All these years, whenever I brought up this matter ofreconciliation, my idea has always been for the three of us to sit downtogether. I still believed that the meeting would be between the two of themand the three religious leaders.

When President Obasanjoappeared, I walked up to him and said I wanted to know the protocol for themeeting. He suggested that we would meet in a hall and that I should say a fewwords about how we got here. I declined because it seemed again that at thispoint, we were in small forest of politics and I had no wish to be caught init. I was happy that what I wanted to achieve had been achieved, namely,getting these two men to put the past behind them. My personal preoccupationwas a pastoral one, and not a political one. I was uncomfortable with this andI decided to make my position clear. I offered a different proposal to help ussift the moral grain from the chaff of politics via a three-step process so asto insulate the three of us from the political fallout.

I proposed that the firststep would be for he and Alhaji Abubakar to sit down behind closed doors, sortout their issues and then the next step would be for both Sheikh Gumi and I togo in and listen to the two of them as Rev. Oyedepo had not arrived. Afterthat, I said, they could continue with the third phase which from what I couldsee was high wire politics and I had no wish to be caught in the web. Afterthey both finished their brief meeting, Sheikh Gumi and I went in and sat downwith the two of them. We had some small briefing and then both of us spokebriefly on what they had done, encouraging them to ensure that thisreconciliation holds. I even said jokingly that I am a Catholic priest and ourmarriage vows are indissoluble! After that, we prayed and then took what hasnow become the famous photograph behind closed doors.

At this point, I felt thatmy spiritual duties had been achieved and I was prepared to maintain myindependence. Sheikh Gumi and I shook hands and although I was hungry and foodwas being laid out, I skipped lunch. I quietly let myself out by the side door,got into the Four Square Gospel car and we drove off to Lagos. Despite thedread of Lagos traffic and the disruption of flights at the Airport in Lagos, Ihad declined the offer of a seat in the Aircrafts which had flown them toAbeokuta. Although flying with them was the best (and most convenient)assurance I had of getting to Abuja in time for a speaking engagement at anevent with the Sultan and Cardinal Onaiyekan for 9am the next day, it wasnecessary to ensure that I took no favours from any of the two parties.

I was not in Abeokuta toendorse Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the Peoples’ Democratic Party.I perfectly understand the feelings of many of my friends and members of theopposition who believe that I travelled with Alhaji Abubakar and his team toattend his endorsement by President Obasanjo, but I reiterate that this was notthe case. All the bills for my travel were settled by the Four Square Gospelhosts for the earlier dated programme who had bought my tickets, bookedaccommodation for me and took care to get me to the airport for my flight toAbuja and Sokoto.

I am a strong believer in apeaceful and united Nigeria, ideals for which I have striven and served myentire adult life as a thinker and a priest. My instincts for reconciliationand peace were sharpened during my involvement and experience with the OputaPanel. When the Generals refused to respond to the invitation of Oputa Panel, Ipersonally undertook to visit both General Babangida and Buhari (he was not athome) at a time that today’s latter day Buharists were asking the Panel tocompel them to come or risk being blacked out of national life.Objective-minded people will remember that back in 2001, when the Christiancommunity and many of President Buhari’s opponents claimed that General Buharihad said that Muslims should vote only for Muslims, many people in theChristian community were disappointed that I wrote a long article to explainthe context of what he had said after speaking with the General. His party, theANPP later used part of my article for their 2003 campaigns! My faith andexperience have taught me to learn to suspend judgment till I have heard bothsides of a story, no matter what.

I hope that thisclarification helps to allay the concerns of those who may have seen all ofthese in a different light. Many minds will remain set no matter thereasonableness of my comments here, and this is to be expected- one can notplease everyone. This is why it is often best to seek to please only one’s ownconscience, and here, mine is very clear.

I have been involved in afew behind-the-scene shuttle diplomacy for years, largely on my own initiative,taking advantage of my knowledge of those engaged in the conflict or at theinvitation of third parties. Some have succeeded and some have not. As priest,it is not in my place to publicise what we have achieved.

I am the Convener of theNational Peace Committee. This alone is enough to place a moral boundary whichI am bound to respect. The NPC able to accomplish much because of trust andthat is not what I can treat lightly. When it became clear that both PresidentObasanjo and Abubakar were on the verge of making peace, I alerted the Chairmanof the NPC, General Abdusalam. Since I happen to be in Lagos, I drove to theIkoyi home of Chief Emeka Anyaoku and alerted him. I spoke to my Metropolitan,the Archbishop of Kaduna, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso. All in all, everyonebelieved this was a very good move if we could achieve it. None of us imaginedthe third phase of this meeting.

Both theoretically andpractically, I have come to know that peace making is a very risky business andoften a thankless job. I recall listening to the late Kofi Anan speak about hison two different occasions. Anyone involved in peace making from domesticquarrels to larger battles, must be ready for the good, the bad and the ugly.In the end, we must wear the shoes of the long distance runner, believing andtrusting that the truth never ever sinks to the bottom of the sea. The truthwill always have a stubborn way of defying the hostile elements and popping upat the right time, no matter how long it takes.

I perfectly understand thatwith Alhaji Abubakar having just picked up the Presidential ticket of hisParty, without providing this context, definitely, I can appreciate why manypeople will have a lot of anxieties. They will definitely be right to questionmy neutrality.

However, I have far toomany friends across party lines for me to openly endorse one candidate or partyagainst the other. It will be against the principles of the Code of Canon Lawof the Catholic Church which regulates our public life in the political space.The President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has signed a statement to theeffect that no altar of the Catholic Church must ever be open to anypolitician, something we have all taken seriously. I therefore hope that thisclarification helps those whose minds are open.

I am thankful to God andquite pleased that this reconciliation took place and that I was a smallinstrument in making it happen. However, I am sorry that it has been given adifferent colouration and doubts to many people. Its timing was purely fortuitousand purely circumstantial not a contrivance. Personally, I will never relent inthe very urgent task of making peace and reconciliation across the spectrum ofour country. 

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