By Sir Vincent Ujumadu
To many people in this part of the country, traveling to the northern part is considered a big risk, at least for now. However, having just returned from Kaduna, the famous capital of the North, I can confirm that everything about insecurity in the north is being over exaggerated .
In fact, when it was confirmed that Kaduna would be the host city for the 46th Supreme Convention of the Knights of St Mulumba Nigeria, the various platforms of the Order were questioning the rationale for that decision, considering the security situation in the country, especially in that part, where bandits and Boko Haram insurgents are holding sway.
But since the annual convention rotates from one part of the country to the other, there was little the Supreme Executive Board of KSM could do to shift it , having taken the decision in Calabar last year, that Kaduna would be the host in 2025.
Many Grand Knights, who are the core delegates at annual conventions, were relating to each other the pressure being mounted by their family members not to attend the convention for fear of being kidnapped by the bandits along the Abuja- Kaduna highway, or a possible attack by Boko Haram insurgents during the meeting.
Suggestions began to emerge for a possible holding the meeting via zoom to avoid exposing people to the the attack, but this did not fly because, being an election convention, physical presence is of utmost importance.
That was how over 1000 delegates made their way to the city of Kaduna, the first deliberately planned city in Nigeria after the amalgamation of the North and South in 1914. The main problem was traveling from Abuja to Kaduna because there is no direct flight connecting the two cities, unless by special arrangement.
On Thursday, November 27 , yours sincerely was booked to travel through the Chinua Achebe Airport, Umueri for 10.30am. As I arrived at 9.30am, the airport environment had no signs of flight and when I enquired, I was told that the flight had been rescheduled to 2.30pm. I did not know about this because I did not go to the platform before heading to the airport that morning.
After paying the N1000 gate fee for car passage, I drove back to Awka because I couldn’t imagine staying at the airport that long. Four hours later, I headed back to Umueri and was checked in. The United Nigeria Airways flight eventually took off at 3.00pm and we arrived Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport at 3.45pm.
As we hoped to head to Kaduna by road immediately, the travel agent came with a bombshell that we would wait for our colleagues flying in from Asaba, whose Airpeace flight had also been rescheduled from 10am to 4pm. So we sat in the bus until they arrived.
Traveling from Abuja to Kaduna that night was hellish following the heavy traffic and it took us almost six hours to do a journey that could ordinarily take a maximum of three hours. As we were on the road, family members were calling ceaselessly to know if we had reached our destination and when told that we were still on the road around 10pm, some wives were heard crying on phone, while some began emergency family prayers for God to us peacefully. Some brothers whose phones died because of lack of power, narrated how their wives started contacting relations to start making inquiries about those travelling from Abuja to Kaduna that day.
By the time we arrived at the Catholic Social Center, at 11.20pm, only the guides for the various hotels were around to receive the over 30 Knights that came from Anambra and Asaba airports. The kitchen people had all gone and we went home without food.
Yours Sincerely was lodged at Triumphant Hotel, which I discovered, was refurbished for the purpose of the convention. About ten hotels in various parts of Kaduna were used for the convention.
Since I started attending KSM conventions as a Grand Knight (Ibadan, Abuja, Calabar), the Kaduna Supreme Convention was the best organized. Food was surplus and of high quality, transportation arrangement from hotels to the convention center was excellent and security was superb.
Unlike what we experience here, I did not see any checkpoint from Abuja to Kaduna, but the operatives are all over the place, watching movements. The YarAdua Center, venue of the convention, was an eye to behold. The last time I was in Kaduna was between 1982 ay1983 during my NYSC at 1 Mechanized Infantry Division of the Nigerian Army and during this recent visit, the city has not changed much.
One remarkable thing I noticed was the beauty of the churches in Kaduna. For the three days, Masses were celebrated at different churches – St John de Baptist, Queen of Apostles and the Catholic Social Center. All these are wonderful pieces of architecture.
While we were holding our convention, the northern governors were holding a security meeting at the Government House opposite us.
Bishop Mathew Kukah, the Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, who was recently in the eye of the storm following his comments on the alleged persecution of Christians in Nigeria, delivered a powerful paper on the theme of the conference. He maintained his stand that killing people in the churches does not amount to persecution. And so, the argument about Christian persecution in Nigeria continues.
On Saturday when elections took place, tension was high. As you know, it was unlawful to campaign for offices in KSM in any form, although we knew the names of the candidates contesting. The Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, through the Supreme chaplain of KSM, Rev Fr Dr. Paschal Okeke, was keenly watching and looking out for any breach. The secretary of the Catholic Secretariat was also there. As provided by the Church’s guideline, the office of the Supreme Knight must rotate between the north and the south, and so, the three contestants for the exalted office, were all from Metropolitan Councils in the north. At the end of the election that lasted till about 4 am on Sunday, Sir Steve Adehi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, with over 40 years legal practice, emerged as the new Supreme Knight. He was also the president of the Papal Knights Association of Nigeria.
Because our return flight was scheduled for 12 noon from Abuja to Anambra, we merely rushed to our hotel rooms, picked our belongings and headed back to Abuja, only to learn on arrival, that our flight had been rescheduled to 4pm. One can imagine the feeling from 9.30 am when we arrived the airport, to 4 pm when we boarded the flight.
As we were about to take off, the pilot, Captain Ahmed, announced that the aircraft would be delayed on ground for about 15 minutes because of executive flight arrival. This turned out to be another 30 minutes waiting. We eventually arrived Umueri at about 5.13pm.
I was, however, happy that while at Abuja airport, I watched fully the match between Crystal Palace and Man United and part of West Ham vs Liverpool. But I missed the beginning of Chelsea vs Arsenal match, which I eventually joined at the beginning of the second half in my house.
It was indeed a wonderful experience traveling to the heart of Northern Nigeria at a time many people think that it was suicidal to do so.
