Bishop Kukah: African Church leaders must become beacons of hope

The Church can be a role model in the fight against the challenges of ethnic conflicts through the promotion of activities which enhance the common good, equality, justice and protection of the interests of all people of God.

This assertion was made recently by the Nigerian Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah. He said this when he delivered a paper on, “Managing Ethnic Identities in the Church: An African Perspective.” This was at a conference held recently at the Daughters of Divine Love Retreat and Conference Centre (DRACC), Sabon-Lugbe, Abuja.

Speaking extensively on historical perspectives and challenges of ethnicity on the continent, society and Church life, Bishop Kukah noted that a “sincere ecclesiology remains the key to dealing with this reality.”

According to Bishop Kukah, “Each and every one of us has his or her peculiar experience with ethnicity in one form or the other. We have all enjoyed the benefits of ethnicity or suffered its misuse and abuse.” He continued, “Our tendency to see only the dark and not the bright side of ethnicity is indeed unfortunate and of course, this only deepens our problems,” Bishop Kukah underlined.

The Bishop of Sokoto Diocese noted that the emergence of the colonial modern state in Africa destabilised entire tribes, dislocated whole communities and seriously altered Africa’s ethnic identities and politics. He therefore outlined post-colonial factors that have exacerbated the problems of ethnicity and tribalism as, colonial influence, greed for political power and the capture and control of resources to the exclusion of others.

Bishop Kukah decried the fact that post-colonial African politics has had the tendency to monopolise power and allow it to be wielded by select ethnic groups.  He added that in some cases, the Church has been sucked into ethnic politics. He stated further that the situation can be more complicated if the President of a country and the President of the Bishops Conference belong to the same ethnic group. The net effect of a complicit Church leadership is always the erosion of the neutrality of the Church.

Bishop Kukah further stated that, “Ethnic triumphalism could create the impression that when a group has political power, perhaps along with economic power, religious power then becomes the icing on the cake of their ethnic supremacy.” He added, “Church leaders must do all that is humanly possible to hold the fort and remain always the beacon of hope for the society,” said Bishop Kukah.

The Bishop of Sokoto insisted that the Church in Africa has to do all that is possible to offer the world the quality of leadership that inspires hope, as well as seek power only in order to do good in consonance with the social teaching and other guidelines of the Church.

(Catholic News of Nigeria)

e-mail: [e-mail]