OBASANJO/ATIKU RAPPROCHEMENT:
BISHOP KUKAH'S EXPLANATIONS
Sola Ebiseni
If you ask me, the elaborate explanations by Bishop Kukah on his roles in the Obasanjo/ Atiku reconciliation was most unnecessary. The distinction he sought to pass on between 'reconciliation' and 'endorsement' in this context will only achieve the opposite of the salutary efforts of the eminent Nigerians in this regard.
If, as rightly noted by His Lord Bishop, the event has received 90% public applause, trying to play safe by drawing a thin line of distinction between reconciliation and endorsement, in a conflict brought about strictly by politics will be an uphill and futile exercise.
Bishop Kukah is popular among Nigerians for his public speeches and pious dispositions, yet more often than not, the renowned cleric falls short of the expectations of his compatriots, who would want to see him in the mould of other religious leaders whose acts have affected their societies positively.
The people often wished that Bishop Kukah was Rev Martin Luther King or Bishop Desmond Tutu, so much that they sometimes published statements for him against government's seeming condonation of the acts of killer herdsmen. Just when Nigerians are hailing such heroic acts, Bishop Kukah's statements in denial would rent the press and social media.
It must be stated that the reconciliation that Bishop Kukah partook in, was also being long worked upon by different groups, including the Afenifere and it will be strange to Nigerians to expect that the motive is anything but political. Every conflict has its appointed time. When the time assumes its fullness thereof, efforts of mediators are merely complimentary.
As Chief Ayo Adebanjo of Afenifere noted, the choice Nigerians are confronted with is clearly between Buhari, for what we have gone through in the last three and a half years, and the hope represented in Atiku.
Since his famous letter to Buhari, Obasanjo has sought solidarity and mended fences with several groups. He sought a third force platform comprising mostly the youths, he visited Babangida, met Pa Fasoranti in Akure he was brought before Chief Ayo Adebanjo in Lagos and thereby reconciled with the Afenifere with which Obasanjo has a more deep seated disagreement than with Atiku. In line with the new rapprochement with the Afenifere, Obasanjo has, at least, held his peace on his truculent views on restructuring.
The essence of the Abeokuta meeting was not about ensuring response from Obasanjo when greeted by Atiku, but a patriotic endeavour in the coalition of forces against the rejected Buhari government.
The reconciliation in that meeting involved many opposites. Kukah represented orthodox christianity; the presence of Sheikh Gumi and Bishop Oyedepo represented peace between the volatile groups of Islam and christianity. Afenifere, in which territory the event took place, would report to their allies of Ohaneze, Middle Belt Forum, PANDEF (South-South) and the newly incorporated Northern Elders.
The national coalition thickens and the Abeokuta accord is an integral part beyond the dramatis personae thereof. Bishop Kukah further lives for history thereby; he owes none an explanation for such patriotic duty.
Sola Ebiseni (ONE).
