The president has replied the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of Nigeria’s security challenges.
Kukah had in his Easter message on Sunday said the Boko Haram terrorists were consuming the nation under President Buhari’s watch.
He recalled that Buhari had in 2015 described Boko Haram insurgents as a typical case of small fires causing large fires.
But the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said Bishop Kukah did not speak like a man of God.
Shehu said since Kukah professed to be a man of God, ideology should not stand in the way of facts and fairness, adding that he played politics in some of his submissions in the Easter message.
READ ALSO: Boko Haram Consuming Nigeria Under Buhari’s Watch, Says Kukah
“But, in saying that the Boko Haram terrorism is worse than it was in 2015, he did not speak like a man of God. Kukah should go to Borno or Adamawa to ask the citizens there the difference between 2014 and 2021,” the statement partly read.
“Furthermore, the Hijab issue in Kwara State on which he dwelt is a state matter which the courts of the land have adjudicated. They are matters that have appeared in several states as far back as the Obasanjo administration. In all of that, when and where did the name of President Buhari feature?”
SEE FULL STATEMENT BELOW:
KUKAH’S BUHARI BASHING IS UNGODLY
All citizens have their individual ideologies, even their own versions of the truth.
But if you profess to being a man of God, as Father Mathew Hassan Kukah does, ideology should not stand in the way of facts and fairness.
Father Kukah has said some things that are inexplicable in his Easter message.
But, in saying that the Boko Haram terrorism is worse than it was in 2015, he did not speak like a man of God. Kukah should go to Borno or Adamawa to ask the citizens there the difference between 2014 and 2021. Furthermore, the Hijab issue in Kwara State on which he dwelt is a state matter which the courts of the land have adjudicated. They are matters that have appeared in several states as far back as the Obasanjo administration. In all of that, when and where did the name of President Buhari feature?
He is playing partisan politics by dragging the President into it.
An administration that has created a whole Ministry, for the first time in the country’s history, appropriating enormous resources to it, to deal with issues of internally displaced persons cannot, in all rightfulness be accused of not caring for them.
Some of the comments are no more than a sample of the unrestrained rhetoric Fr. Kukah trades in, which he often does in the guise of a homily.
We urge well-meaning citizens to continue to support the ongoing efforts by the administration to secure the country and move it forward.
Garba Shehu.
Senior Special Assistant to the President
(Media & Publicity)
April 4, 2021
