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Mathew Kukah, a
Catholic priest, has urged Nigerians to be ready to embrace the wind of
change that is blowing across the country’s political firmament.

Mr Kukah, the Vicar
General of the Kaduna Archdiocese of the Catholic Church said during a
sermon in Abuja that Nigerians should see the Goodluck Jonathan
presidency as a clear indication that God is ready to change the
country’s political equation for good.

During the service
held in honour of Ojo Maduekwe, former foreign affairs minister, Mr
Maduekwe, rededicated the rest of his life to the service of the prison
ministry in the country.

“Sometimes God is
ready to do something when Nigerians are not. At other times, Nigerians
are ready when God is not. But now it is clear God is ready to change
Nigeria for good. But it depends on what Nigerians want,” Mr .Kukah
said.

“What God has done
for Nigeria has never been done in any other democracy in the world. A
situation where one man has become deputy governor and governor of a
state, vice president, acting president of Nigeria, and now president,
without standing for any election, is neither ordinary good luck nor
mere coincidence.

“Goodluck Jonathan
has never stood for any election into any of the offices he has
occupied. He has never spent any money to campaign to be voted for in
any election. Nobody has ever cast any vote for him in any election.
Yet, he has become the president of Nigeria without spending any money.

“My argument is
that God is ready to do a new thing for Nigeria. God went to the Niger
Delta region, where they say there is lot of kidnapping, hostage taking
and other vices that give the country a bad image, and picked Jonathan
to take over the presidency, against all expectations. One does not
need to be happy or accept (it), but it has happened,” he said.

According to Kukah,
the coming of “the Goodluck effect” has also brought with it the
“collateral benefit” now being enjoyed by the people of Kaduna State,
who, he said, were not only having a Christian as governor of the state
for the first time, but also its indigene as vice president of Nigeria.

Giving back

The erstwhile
National Secretary and member, Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), Maduekwe, said he was grateful to God for sustaining him
throughout the difficult years in his political career, which saw him
occupying various top positions.

He said his
decision to invest the remaining part of his life in the ministry of
those who have found themselves behind bars is his own modest way of
giving back to God in appreciation of His favour to him politically.

“When I told my
father, who was a committed reverend minister of the Presbyterian
Church, that I was going into politics, he did not support the idea
initially. But when I explained to him that I was going in to render
service to the people, he changed his mind and gave me his blessings.
That blessing is what has made it possible for me to have this record
of over 11 years in service,” he said.

Though he said the father did not live long enough to see him make a
success of his dream career, he not only wants to erect a befitting
structure to his memory, but also to go into a ministry that would show
how grateful he is to God.