Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, will celebrate his 70th birthday on Wednesday, August 31, 2022.
The event, which will be held at Ladi Kwali Hall at the prestigious Sheraton Hotel, Abuja, is expected to attract a cross section of the Nigerian society, including the political, business, religious leadership as well as the academia.
According to a statement issued by The Kukah Centre, the event, which will kick-start at 4.pm, will be chaired by the Sokoto governor, Rt. Hon. Aminu Tambuwal.
The Kukah Centre also informed that the former President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan will be the Special Guest of Honour.
The statement indicated that the main feature of the event will include a Round Table Discussion on ‘Nigeria’s Unfinished Greatness: Next Steps’.
The panelists penciled down for the discussion included the Ekiti State governor, Dr.Kayode Fayemi, Bishop Godfrey Onah, Dr. Sam Amadi, Goria Ballason, Kabiru Adamu.
It will be moderated by Maupe Ogun-Yusuf of Channels Television.
A major feature is the fund raising for the permanent site of The Kukah Centre, while there will also be a presentation of awards by the Centre at the event.
According to the Kukah Centre, the wards, which is its first edition, is meant to encourage innovations from young Nigerians.
The Centre said, the award, tagged the ‘Kukah Prize Award for Young Innovators’, seeks to promote modern trends in resolving the challenges that affect the youth in society through innovations.
Meanwhile, members of the Catholic faith and Christians in general have been advised to begin to play active roles in politics in order to influence the authorities to create a better society.
The advice came from the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, the Most Reverend Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, at the flag-off of the seventieth anniversary lecture of the Order of the Knight of Saint Mulumba, held at the St. Leo’s Catholic Church, Ikeja, Lagos.
Kukah said that active involvement in politics by Christians would change the ugly stories of the country’s politics which is marked by corruption, killings, impunity and other vices.
He noted that the passive posture of Christians has given room for people of no credibility and integrity to dominate the governance space hence the ugly experience Nigerians are witnessing today.
He challenged Catholics to take their rightful place in politics because the Church can lead the country creditably given the known culture of fear of God and belief in selfless service to the society.
The cleric lamented over the spate across the country which he said many clergy of the Catholic Church were victims of.
“As I speak, for past three weeks my Priest, a young man and a sister, are still in captivity even though the Nigerian state wishes to pretend that we are not negotiating with the kidnappers.
“But, as I am talking we are negotiating with the kidnappers because I don’t know how else to get back my priest.
“It is a very painful experience, my own blood relations have been kidnapped. I lost a priest last year to kidnappers.
“I have lost a seminarian to kidnappers and somehow, we like to pretend we have a government. Of course, we have the apparatus of government.
“We have the scaffolding, but this scaffolding is important because people are able to see access and appropriate resources of the state.
“As to what the state needs to do, they are still far away from that reality. It is a very painful and sad reality that as at the last conversation with the kidnappers we have negotiated up to N20 million which I do not have.”
Bishop Kukah commended the Knights of Saint Mulumba for the great work they are doing at the Veritas University, Abuja, and the numerous projects across the country that impact positively on the less privileged and vulnerable in the society.
In a remark, the Deputy Governor of Imo State, Sir Placcid Njoku, said Christians need not be scared that they would lose their integrity if they join politics, saying that it would rather give them the opportunity to right many wrongs.
Also, Mr. Gabriel Nyitse, the Chief of Staff to Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State thanked the Catholic Church for being the mouthpiece of the downtrodden in the country.
He said that the Catholic Church has always spoken the truth to power and even demonstrated publicly to draw the attention of the government to ills in the society.
Mr. Nyitse said that because of insecurity, Benue has become home to one point five million internally displaced persons and raised the alarm that the country is on the verge of food crisis as farmers can’t farm because of herders and bandits.
In his welcome address, the Supreme Knight of the Order, Sir Charles Mbelede, said that series of programmes had been lined up between now and May 2023 when the Order would clock 70 years.
He said that they planned to execute projects worth one hundred and fifty million Naira to mark their 70th anniversary.
Earlier, during the Holy Mass to kick start the celebration, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Lagos, the Right Reverend Monsignor John Aniagwu commended the Knights of Saint Mulumba for the charity work that they are noted for.