* Kukah
By Udo Silas


 I have a lot of admiration for the man Kukah. I am talking about Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah. 
Do I admire my governor, Deacon Udom Emmanuel? No. I do not admire Udom; in the same way I do not admire Kukah for his priestly vocation. 

 I do not care about that. Kukah’s theological expertise is of no significance to me, in the same way Udom’s advertised Boardroom savvy is of no relevance to my psyche.

 Permit me to posit that admiration is evidence of a kindred spirit. It is as stated in the mutuality of thoughts. 

 It is a linear correlation between two or more people, of the understanding of what life should be and the participatory functions of mankind in the communality of our experience. It is a shared belief that the soul is parched that cannot speak truth to authority.

 Now don’t get me wrong. I do not know Kukah personally. I do not know his personal weaknesses or his ingrained strengths. I have never met him. But I have heard him.

Because I see him in his thoughts; I admire him. The preponderance of his objectivity in public discourse precipitates doses of intellectual orgasm that satisfies the libido of my inner person. That is why I admire him.

 I do not admire Udom. But I do not hate him. I cannot in any true sense say I know him. I do not think he knows me too. But I have heard him. My impression of him, like most leaders in our nation, is that he is fully subscribed to the folly of sycophancy.

 Like many Akwa Ibom people, I see him as not only arrogant, but wholly captive to the omniscience of his person. I may be wrong. But my perception of him has stimulated this verse, especially in the light of Kukah’s Easter message to him.

 Your Excellency, you may decide to take what I am about to say as an insult or as the outbursts of another disgruntled brother. If you so do, I would not be surprised, but would surely come to the conclusion that everything about you is anathema to opinions that do not massage your ego.

 Just in case you have forgotten what Kukah said to you, let me remind you.
“To Governors, Legislators, Senators, and all who are actively engaged in politics: Please recall that Nigerians have over the years struggled for the building of a democratic, free and egalitarian society. You who are in politics today are beneficiaries of the sacrifices of those who have gone before you. The nation has not been able to develop a political culture due to the disruptive nature of the political process marred by corruption and violence. Years of military rule have diminished or appreciation of Democracy.
The average age of Governors and Legislators across the country is 50. These are the years of dreams, maturity, sacrifice, patriotism and self-giving. But, sadly, you do not seem to be ready to depart from the culture of cronyism, prebandalism and primitive accumulation. The result has been ruination and decay…for accepting to make some sacrifice, respect and listen to our people, a happy Easter”

 Your excellency, I am sure that you and your coterie of aides, would be clinking glasses and patting backs for your own Easter message disseminated to all Akwa Ibom people.

 That is as it should be. But not one of them would tell you that your message was a mere pretension to compassion. Sir, I read through your Easter message and did not find one word of hope or empathy for and with, the families who lost loved ones at the Reigners Church collapse that killed so many innocent souls under your watch. Truth is you missed an auspicious occasion to RESURRECT their hope and assuage their thirst in the LIVING WATERS of our belief. Yet you describe your leadership as selfless, Christ-centric and People-centric. I cringe.

 In your Easter message you described us as belonging ‘in the category of those who talk’.  But you also admonished ‘those who talk’, to ‘please season your communication with honesty of purpose, integrity of heart and the salt of righteousness’. Be assured that in my ‘talk’, I would take that admonition to heart.

 Your Excellency sir, you paraphrased the late Myles Munroe in your Easter message in your description of different categories of people, enjoining us to become the kind of person that makes things happen.
Permit me sir to ask; what have you made happen in the matter of the Reigners church mishap? Akwa Ibom does not expect you to bring back the souls of the departed. You are not God. 

 Your aides would not tell you; but majority of Akwa Ibom believe that the reason why you have not done anything (lets not even begin to discuss your well publicized administrative report) is because of your friendship and loyalty to Bishop Akan Weeks. There is also talk on the streets of your government’s ALLEGED complicity in the events that led to that avoidable human waste. 

 Your Excellency sir, while Akwa Ibom may forgive you for the insensitivity of your Easter message, she may never forget the governor that professed the Godhead while putting a tar to the bar of justice that adorns it. 

 You may have only succeeded in advertising the politics of your achievements by your Easter message at the detriment of re-creating God’s love. Please hear me sir, there is no love, in the absence of justice.

 Lest I forget sir, you said somewhere in your Easter message that you are building an international worship center that we deserve. You warned us not to play politics with God’s name.

 With due respects sir, the people prodding you on, are the ones playing politics with God’s name. What you are about to build sir is not a worship center but a fellowship center. Worship does not need an edifice but fellowship does. ‘An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group…” 

 Worship is not the every week Sunday service. Worship is not our beautiful dresses and well cut suits paraded for human accolades in a congregation of dubious fellowship.

Worship is a deep personal commune with the Almighty. It is not a public show of hollow piety. Akwa Ibom deserves a leader who would enjoin them to build worship centers in their heart no matter the religion.

  Declaring Akwa Ibom a Christian State appears a mere play to religious sentiments. It is only a worship center built in the humanity and heart of the people that can sow love, kindness and self-giving. What you desire to build is not for us, but for yourself. It appears an exercise in self-glorification. It is of no economic value to your people. May you find honesty of purpose in my verse.

 Silas is a journalist and public affairs analyst