The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah on Sunday celebrated his 45 years of priesthood and 10 years as Bishop.
Speaking in his homily at the epoch-making memorial service, Bishop Kukah said he was using the occasion to thank his parents and the Catholic Church for giving him the opportunity to be what he had become.
“There is nothing I have accomplished as a result of myself. If not for the Catholic Church, I would have been nothing. I would not have been a Priest. Constantly remind yourself that everything about you is God’s gift,” Kukah urged the congregation.
He noted that his happiness was not about how far he had gone as a Priest in the vineyard of the Lord, but about how well he had remained committed to his vow by accepting to preach the gospel with fidelity and constancy.
Bishop Kukah who prayed that those coming behind should do greater things than he and others were doing, recalled with nostalgia how he took the vow to keep preaching the gospel with fidelity and constancy, not minding whose ox was gored.
He said that in keeping to this vow, some might construe it to mean that he was causing trouble, adding, “I did not promise to serve the President, serve the Governor, serve any politician and any businessman or individual, but to preach the gospel with fidelity and constancy.”
To achieve this therefore, Kukah stressed that, “keeping silence in the face of injustice is corruption. The things I keep saying is not for any government. I was saying it before this government came and I will continue to say the same even after this government.
“We are doing it because we must passionately and deliberately fix this country. It is not by accident that we are here today. We must fix this country together.”
Kukah said that God had richly blessed Nigeria. He however, lamented that greed remained the country’s greatest undoing.
“Human greed gives birth to all the problems in the world. This therefore means that human beings propel us to literacy, which caused all the evil in the world.
“If we look at how the world is broken today, we must all ask ourselves what is our individual contributions to the broken world? You must have contributed by not necessarily joining the fight but your refusal to live a life that is sufficiently regulated by the spirit, as the spirit illuminates darkness.
“Religion is not going to fix Nigeria. Politics will not fix our country, as those in power in Nigeria are not any different from the colonial masters. They have the same mentality as they still continue to steal the resources which is our collectively patrimony and hide the same abroad.”
Kukah tasked Nigerians to be faithful to the word of God and have confidence in the country, saying “the situation where we are today is not about whether Christian is the President or not. We must ask ourselves why the decay in the system? And the simple answer is because we are not doing what God asked us to do as Christians.”
On the political front, Kukah said, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was not wanting to take over power because they wanted to do anything better, just as the ruling All Progress Congress (APC) did not want to handover power because they were going to do something different, adding.
He declared that all they needed was promotion and preservation of their selfish interests.
This, therefore according to him, explained why in Africa, you could lose election and lose your life as well.
Speaking on why we should continue to be proud of our country at all times, Kukah said, “God did not make mistake for you coming from your small village.
“I talk about Nigeria with pride because before our very eyes, God will do a great thing that we will all rejoice for.”
Reflecting on his journey in life, Bishop Kukah said he was happy that aside preaching the gospel of God, he had in the last 20 years, positively impacted numerous lives through his sustained scholarship programme to students from across the federation.
“And today I am happy that sometimes, somebody will stop me somewhere and say thank you my Lord Bishop Kukah for making such a huge impact in my life. I schooled courtesy of your scholarship.”
He further assured that his next plan was how to take five thousand (5000) families out of poverty through an empowerment programme that was upcoming soon by the grace of God. (Edited National Accord report)
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