• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Security
  • Education
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Legal
  • Technology and Science
  • Opinion
  • Columns
  • Exposé
  • World
  • Lifestyle
Kukah Writes Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa Over State of Nation

Kukah, Pantami, and Self-Interested Government Critics

5 years ago
South Africa's Economy Stalls With 0.1% Growth As Structural Challenges Persist

South Africa Records 0.8% Growth In Q2 2025

55 minutes ago
Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

2 hours ago
UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

6 hours ago
MWC Kigali
Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

6 hours ago
Court Jails 7 Chinese Nationals Over Abduction, Forced Labour In South Africa

Court Jails 7 Chinese Nationals Over Abduction, Forced Labour In South Africa

9 hours ago
Thursday, September 11, 2025
  • About
  • HT Management
  • Privacy Policy
Heritage Times
No Result
View All Result
Translate |
  • Login
  • Politics
    France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

    France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

    At Washington Meeting, Trump Confronts Ramaphosa With Video Evidence Of “Genocide” Against Whites

    Trump Not Attending G20 Summit Taking Place First Time In Africa — White House

    Ivory Coast: Former First Lady Cleared To Contest Presidential Election

    Ivory Coast: Former First Lady Cleared To Contest Presidential Election

    US Deports Sierra Leone Coup Figure Charles Mbayo Over Human Rights Crimes

    US Deports Sierra Leone Coup Figure Charles Mbayo Over Human Rights Crimes

    Uganda: “Missing” Student Jailed Over TikTok Video Criticizing President Yoweri

    Uganda: Opposition Figure Arrested In Court During Colleagues Bail Hearing

    Burundi’s Nibigira Emerges President Of Central Africa’s Regional Bloc

    Burundi’s Nibigira Emerges President Of Central Africa’s Regional Bloc

    Senegal: Government Reshuffles Cabinet Amid Economic Tension

    Senegal: Government Reshuffles Cabinet Amid Economic Tension

    Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Resigns After Party’s Electoral Woe

    Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Resigns After Party’s Electoral Woe

    UK: Deputy PM Blames “Inaccurate” Advice For Tax Error

    UK Deputy Prime Minister Quits Over Tax Error

  • Economy
    South Africa: Ramaphosa Sends Officials On Trade Negotiation Trip To US

    South Africa: Ramaphosa Sends Officials On Trade Negotiation Trip To US

    Ethiopia Unveils Africa’s Largest Dam Amid Egypt Tensions

    Ethiopia Unveils Africa’s Largest Dam Amid Egypt Tensions

    African Leaders Demand Climate Justice At Ethiopia Summit 

    African Leaders Demand Climate Justice At Ethiopia Summit 

    Auto Draft

    Kenya: 66,000 Jobs At Risk As AGOA Deal Ends

    Africa’s Super Banker Resumes As AfDB President, Promises To Harness Africa’s Youthful Energy, Chart Bold Compass For Transformation

    AfDB President Unveils Four Urgent Priorities For First 100 Days In Office

    AfCFTA Key To Shielding Africa From Global Trade Shocks – Mene

    AfCFTA Key To Shielding Africa From Global Trade Shocks – Mene

    Registration Opens For MWC25 Kigali, Africa’s Biggest Connectivity Event

    Registration Opens For MWC25 Kigali, Africa’s Biggest Connectivity Event

    Zimbabwe Pays First Compensation To White Farmers Affected By Land Reforms

    Zimbabwe To Commence Export Of Blueberry To China

    Goldman

    Nigeria: Naira Records Third Consecutive Appreciation Against US Dollar

  • Security
  • Education
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Metro
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Legal
  • Tech & Science
  • Opinion
  • Exposé
  • Exclusive Videos
  • Niger Delta
  • World
  • Politics
    France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

    France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

    At Washington Meeting, Trump Confronts Ramaphosa With Video Evidence Of “Genocide” Against Whites

    Trump Not Attending G20 Summit Taking Place First Time In Africa — White House

    Ivory Coast: Former First Lady Cleared To Contest Presidential Election

    Ivory Coast: Former First Lady Cleared To Contest Presidential Election

    US Deports Sierra Leone Coup Figure Charles Mbayo Over Human Rights Crimes

    US Deports Sierra Leone Coup Figure Charles Mbayo Over Human Rights Crimes

    Uganda: “Missing” Student Jailed Over TikTok Video Criticizing President Yoweri

    Uganda: Opposition Figure Arrested In Court During Colleagues Bail Hearing

    Burundi’s Nibigira Emerges President Of Central Africa’s Regional Bloc

    Burundi’s Nibigira Emerges President Of Central Africa’s Regional Bloc

    Senegal: Government Reshuffles Cabinet Amid Economic Tension

    Senegal: Government Reshuffles Cabinet Amid Economic Tension

    Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Resigns After Party’s Electoral Woe

    Japan: Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Resigns After Party’s Electoral Woe

    UK: Deputy PM Blames “Inaccurate” Advice For Tax Error

    UK Deputy Prime Minister Quits Over Tax Error

  • Economy
    South Africa: Ramaphosa Sends Officials On Trade Negotiation Trip To US

    South Africa: Ramaphosa Sends Officials On Trade Negotiation Trip To US

    Ethiopia Unveils Africa’s Largest Dam Amid Egypt Tensions

    Ethiopia Unveils Africa’s Largest Dam Amid Egypt Tensions

    African Leaders Demand Climate Justice At Ethiopia Summit 

    African Leaders Demand Climate Justice At Ethiopia Summit 

    Auto Draft

    Kenya: 66,000 Jobs At Risk As AGOA Deal Ends

    Africa’s Super Banker Resumes As AfDB President, Promises To Harness Africa’s Youthful Energy, Chart Bold Compass For Transformation

    AfDB President Unveils Four Urgent Priorities For First 100 Days In Office

    AfCFTA Key To Shielding Africa From Global Trade Shocks – Mene

    AfCFTA Key To Shielding Africa From Global Trade Shocks – Mene

    Registration Opens For MWC25 Kigali, Africa’s Biggest Connectivity Event

    Registration Opens For MWC25 Kigali, Africa’s Biggest Connectivity Event

    Zimbabwe Pays First Compensation To White Farmers Affected By Land Reforms

    Zimbabwe To Commence Export Of Blueberry To China

    Goldman

    Nigeria: Naira Records Third Consecutive Appreciation Against US Dollar

  • Security
  • Education
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Metro
  • Entertainment
  • Lifestyle
  • Legal
  • Tech & Science
  • Opinion
  • Exposé
  • Exclusive Videos
  • Niger Delta
  • World
No Result
View All Result
First with the News

Kukah, Pantami, and Self-Interested Government Critics

By Farooq A. Kperogi

January 10, 2021
in Opinion, Top Stories
0
Kukah Writes Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa Over State of Nation

Bishop Kukah.

0
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

Bishop Matthew Kukah’s Christmas message, which called attention to the deepening depths of death and despair that Nigeria has been dangerously degenerating into in the last few years, attracted the commendations of critics of the Buhari regime and invited the condemnation of regime honchos and defenders.

The impassioned, partisan responses the bishop’s message provoked was predictable, which explained why I didn’t think it was worth commenting on it even though several of my readers asked for my opinion.

Relatedreading

South Africa Records 0.8% Growth In Q2 2025

Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

However, Professor Jibrin “Jibo” Ibrahim’s January 1, 2021 Daily Trust column titled “Bishop Matthew Kukah: Can a Partisan Tell Truth to Power?” inspired this intervention. Ibrahim, who is a Christian (or at least a non-Muslim) from Kano (and an apologist for the Buhari regime, I should add), argued that Kukah’s criticism of Buhari’s incompetence isn’t disinterested since he not only didn’t criticize PDP governments that were headed by Christians, he also condemned people who did exactly what he is doing to Buhari now.

MWC Kigali MWC Kigali MWC Kigali
ADVERTISEMENT

To back up his claim, Ibrahim reproduced a 2014 exculpatory and excusatory Kukah quote about the Goodluck Jonathan regime’s incompetence in securing the county. The quote uncannily mirrors what Lai Mohammed, Femi Adesina, Garba Shehu, or any Buhari regime propagandist would say today in defense of Buhari’s own incompetence.

“Nigerians love to criticize their country perhaps far more than any nation I know of in the world,” Kukah was reported to have said during Professor Wole Soyinka’s 80th birthday lecture in 2014. “The President and the security agencies have become the objects of attacks and vilification and yet, there is very little that is being done to point at the way forward. I know that as day follows night, we shall pull out of this tragedy that we face as a nation. But the least we can do is to stand in the comforts of highways and homes that someone else constructed and thrown stones at ourselves and our people simply because we are living off someone else’s sweat.”

In other words, when Kukah’s co-religionists are in power, he chafes at social criticism of governments, but when people he doesn’t share the same religious faith with are in power he not only countenances criticisms of governments, he actually uses his pulpit to censure them in the severest forms possible. That’s not disinterested criticism; it’s self-interested criticism.

Bishop Kukah is my friend, and I had always assumed that he was an equal-opportunity critic of all bad governments, but now that I think about it, I frankly don’t recall him being as severely censorious of Jonathan—or even Obasanjo— as he has been of Buhari even though Jonathan was the absolute worst president we had had until Buhari came to beat his record.

Was Bishop Kukah benign to Jonathan because he benefited from his government in either symbolic or material terms? I don’t know, but it’s entirely legitimate to be suspicious of the intent of his very accurate and unassailable assessment of the Buhari regime. If he wasn’t nearly as critical of Jonathan when he also supervised Nigeria’s descent into anarchy and precarity, which made Buhari’s emergence possible, his motivation can’t be attributed entirely to telling truth to power.

Anyone who defended—or, worse, still defends—Jonathan has no moral right to criticize Buhari and expect to not invite ridicule or a questioning of their motives.

Nothing in Goodluck Jonathan’s temperaments and comportment suggests that he is different from Buhari. Like Buhari, he fiddled and engaged in crackpot conspiracy ideations while the country burned. Boko Haram’s fury not only raged in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Bauchi, and so on, bombs periodically went off in places like Kano, Kaduna, and even the federal capital territory.

Instead of confronting the widening insecurity that engulfed the country, Jonathan sulked—and sucked. He said the insecurity was a plot by the elites of the North to get him out of power, a silly conspiracy ideation that has been undermined by the escalation of the same insecurity—and its intensification in the North— on the watch of a northerner.

“Some of them [Boko Haram members] are in the executive arm of government, some of them are in the parliamentary/legislative arm of government, while some of them are even in the judiciary,” Jonathan said on January 8, 2012 at the interdenominational church service to mark Armed Forces Remembrance Day in Abuja. “Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies. Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won’t even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house.”

That was an astonishingly astounding level of presidential cluelessness and irresponsibility that Kukah ignored, defended, or excused.

Recall that Jonathan also defended the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) when it carried out a terrorist attack in Abuja that it owned up to and even forewarned—similar to Buhari’s defense of Fulani murderers and mollycoddling of Boko Haram terrorists.

As I pointed out in my October 16, 2010 column titled “A MENDacious President!” MEND had bombed the venue of a two-day “post- amnesty” dialogue organized by Vanguard Newspapers in Warri and even Jonathan’s own home in his hometown of Otuoke on May 16, 2007 after he was appointed Vice President. Why did he insist they didn’t bomb Abuja on October 1, 2010 when they—and even British intelligence agencies—warned that they would strike?

Does anyone who either ignored or defended Jonathan’s disaster of an administration, which has been made only more tolerable in hindsight when compared with Buhari’s, deserve to be shielded from having their motive questioned when they criticize Buhari?

In other words, if Buhari’s successor turns out to be even worse than he is (the one thing no one can say with certainty about Nigeria’s leadership is that it won’t get worse than it is now), should people who ignored or defended Buhari be allowed to criticize his successor without having their motives questioned? I don’t think so.

Bishop Kukah’s defense of Jonathan in 2014 isn’t different from current Buhari apologists’ defense of Buhari’s incompetence. He shouldn’t be allowed to get away with selective outrage.

The truth is that every previous administration often benefits from a kind of cognitive bias that psychologists call rosy retrospection, which is the tendency to remember past times more positively as they recede into distant memories. Even Buhari will benefit from rosy retrospection years after his tenure. Should people who defend or ignore him now be given a pass if they come down hard on his successor?

But Kukah is not alone. My good friend Sheikh Dr. Ali Isa Pantami is now the object of Twitter attacks by young educated northerners who remind him that his cold detachment from the horrors that afflict northern Muslims today is such a disconcerting contrast from his erstwhile persistent, shrill, and lachrymose attacks on former President Goodluck Jonathan from his pulpit.

In a widely circulated audio tape, he tearfully told Jonathan that, as president and commander-in-chief, he should take responsibility for the daily mass murders of Muslims in the North.

Today, more Northern Muslims are dying and being violently kidnapped than at any time in Nigeria’s entire history, but Sheikh Pantami hasn’t placed the blame for this on Buhari in whose government he served as DG of NITDA and serves as minister of Communication and Digital Economy.

Like Kukah, Pantami’s criticism of Jonathan wasn’t disinterested; it was self-interested. Although they have a right to their religiously tinged selective outrage against governments, those of us whose chronicling and censures of missteps in governance isn’t animated by partisan or primordial impulses also have an obligation to call them out.

Yes, Buhari is worse than Jonathan, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Jonathan was also terrible president. No one who defended—or defends—Jonathan has moral superiority over current Buhari defenders.

ShareTweetSend
Previous Post

Osinbajo Welcomes Microsoft’s Offer To Support Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan

Next Post

FA Cup: Everton forward Cenk Tosun says there was nothing political about goal celebration in Rotherham win

Related Posts

South Africa's Economy Stalls With 0.1% Growth As Structural Challenges Persist

South Africa Records 0.8% Growth In Q2 2025

September 11, 2025
Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

September 10, 2025

UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

Court Jails 7 Chinese Nationals Over Abduction, Forced Labour In South Africa

France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

Next Post
FA Cup: Everton forward Cenk Tosun says there was nothing political about goal celebration in Rotherham win

FA Cup: Everton forward Cenk Tosun says there was nothing political about goal celebration in Rotherham win

Please login to join discussion
MWC Kigali MWC Kigali MWC Kigali
AfriHeritage Magazine Issue 2 AfriHeritage Magazine Issue 2 AfriHeritage Magazine Issue 2

Updates

Plugin Install : Widget Tab Post needs JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
South Africa's Economy Stalls With 0.1% Growth As Structural Challenges Persist

South Africa Records 0.8% Growth In Q2 2025

September 11, 2025
Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

September 10, 2025
UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

September 10, 2025
Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

September 10, 2025
JESIN GAMES - AfriTrivia JESIN GAMES - AfriTrivia JESIN GAMES - AfriTrivia
ADVERTISEMENT

Most Recent

South Africa Records 0.8% Growth In Q2 2025

September 11, 2025

Trump’s Ally, Kirk Dies From Gunshot Injury At Utah Rally

September 10, 2025

UK Urged To Arrest Israeli President Over Alleged Genocide In Gaza 

September 10, 2025

Junk Food: One In 10 Kids Obese Worldwide – UN Report 

September 10, 2025

Court Jails 7 Chinese Nationals Over Abduction, Forced Labour In South Africa

September 10, 2025

France Gets New Prime Minister After Bayrou’s Resignation

September 10, 2025

Illegal Migration: Children Among Dead As Migrant Crossings Soar Past 30,000 In UK

September 10, 2025

Trump Not Attending G20 Summit Taking Place First Time In Africa — White House

September 9, 2025

About

Heritage Times HT stands as a beacon of pan-African journalism, dedicated to amplyfing the rich tapestry of voices and narratives across the continent. With unwavering commitment, we illuminate the evocative essence of Africa, offering a fresh perspective that captivates our global audience.

Featured

One Year of Transformative Stewardship: Walson-Jack’s Innovative Impact on Nigeria’s Civil Service

Africa’s Largest Tech Event, MWC25 Kigali, Returns With Focus On Innovation, Policy

Nadine Djuiko: Meet The Cameroonian Woman Behind Maryland’s Million-Dollar Braiding Empire

Connect

Connect with us on social media and receive timely updates on the go.

Get Updates

  • About
  • HT Management
  • Privacy Policy

© 2025 Heritage Times (HT) Media.

No Result
View All Result
  • Welcome
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Security
  • Exposé
  • Education
  • Sports
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Legal
  • Technology and Science
  • Columns
    • Opinion
  • World
  • __________________
  • Make a Donation
  • Photo Speaks
  • Videos
  • You-Report
  • Whistleblower
  • Advertise
  • HT Events
  • HT Management
  • About HT
  • Contact us

© 2025 Heritage Times (HT) Media.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In