*MR. PRESIDENT: PLEASE BRING US DOWN FROM THIS CROSS*
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Catholic Diocese of Sokoto
Easter Message 2025
1: A very happy Easter to you and millions of our countrymen and women. For us Christians, this is the most important event in the history of our faith. It is the season of the Cross, the season of Christ’s triumph over death. This triumph was marked by the blind passion of those who crucified innocence. I am therefore using the metaphor of the cross to draw attention to the sufferings and afflictions that have befallen our country in the last years. These sufferings have been marked by a culture of brutality and savagery never witnessed in the history of our dear country. Taken together, they have placed our country outside the purveyor of human civilization. Across the entire country, every day, innocent citizens are kidnapped and held under the most inhuman conditions. A dark pall of death hangs languidly from north to south. It is impossible to find a home, a family, or a community that has not been caught in the cusp of this savagery. Now, Mr. President, Nigeria is reaching a breaking point. The nation is gradually becoming a huge national morgue. Mr. President, with a greater sense of urgency, hasten to bring us down from this cross of evil.
2: Mr. President, we all admit that you neither erected this cross nor did you effect our collective crucifixion. Notwithstanding, Nigerians have been dangling and bleeding on this cross of pain and mindless suffering for too long. A culture of cynicism and self-doubt over our capacity to secure peace for ourselves pervades our land. Indeed, a majority of our citizens feel that there is no hope in sight. However, for us as Christians, Hope is the anchor on which we hang all our hopes (Heb. 6:19). Now is the time to re-enkindle and renew that hope.
3: With broken navigational aids, our journey to greatness is threatened. Yet, amidst all of this, we Christians are compelled to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2). In times of deep moral and physical crises, we are often tempted, like the scribes and the elders to ask Jesus to prove himself by coming down from the cross (Matt. 27:40). Yet, we must learn to look up to the cross as the source of our boast (Gal: 14). Therefore, these times of great suffering should be times of hope, hope beyond human imagination, a hope which, as St. Paul assures us, does not disappoint (Rom. 5:5). Mr. President, renew our hope by bringing us down from this cross of brutality and suffering.
4: We believe that all is not lost. Our hope has an allay in the holy father, Pope Francis, who last year declared this year, 2025, the Year of Hope with the theme, Pilgrims of Hope. The Pope appreciates that pilgrims are often sailing against the harsh currents of a broken world characterized by violence, pain, suffering, tribulation and death. The Pope said: Uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future as if nothing could bring them happiness. The road to our collective discouragement in Nigeria has been laid by marauders, murderers, savages and ravenous predators who threaten to overrun our nation. Mr. President, immediately rid our dear country of these forces of darkness and bring us down from this cross of cynicism.
5: Mr. President, hunger, sickness and desolation stalk the land. We still believe removing the subsidies was the right decision. We note that the country now has a huge volume of resources in its domestic reserves. For over ten years now, farming has become one of the most hazardous pre-occupations in our country. I restate the obvious by warning that mere palliative distribution diminishes the dignity of citizens. We have remained between the rock of self-doubt and the hard place of hopelessness. Make food security a fundamental human right to all citizens. Mr. President, please bring us down from this painful cross of hunger.
6: Some years back, some of our public officers confessed that they brought our current killers into our country as a strategy for upstaging the government of the day and to gain power. Strange as it may sound, today we have watched as the cancer of insecurity and violence have metastasized. Now, this cancer threatens the very foundation of our common humanity. The bandits have not only become embedded in every sphere of our lives, they threaten to destroy all that holds our communities together. This self-destructive cancer has invaded our communities and kidnapping is a now a dog whistle for undermining the very structure and foundation of our country. We now hang on the cross at the mercy of these forces of darkness. Mr. President, please, bring us down from this cross of insecurity.
7: Finally, we are confident that a majority of the citizens of our country want to live in peace with one another. However, allowing this insecurity to persists will undermine all forms of goodwill that this or any government in Nigeria espouses. We have all the ingredients to create a toxic mix of violence that can spin out of control. Right now, frustration has penetrated every spectrum of our society especially as the government and its security agencies seem to have largely become spectators in the dance of death that has overtaken our country. We are in a dilemma now and the question is simple: is the persistence of the insecurity a statement of the lack of capacity of our men and women in uniform, or is it evidence that those at the top are reaping the fruits of funding their own war machine? In other words, are Nigerians lambs being sacrificed to an unknown god? Mr. President, step up, get to the finishing line and bring us down from this cross of shame.
8: The resurrection of Jesus equips Christians to face life’s challenges with confidence. At Easter, we must remember that the law of the Lord is written in our hearts (Rom2:15). The structural deformities, the iniquities and corruption of our country are not an excuse for us to let down our guard. We are the light of the world, a city set on a hill. We are equipped with the light of Christ to drive out the darkness that threatens to engulf our country. Let us collectively renew our commitment and hope for building a society after the mind of our creator. I wish you, Mr. President, a happy Easter. Blessings and a happy Easter to all Nigerians.
