The Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah and the presidency have further escalated their war of words as the former declared that he doesn’t hate the personality of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Bishop said that though he is a strong critic of Buhari, he has nothing personal against him.
Kukah has been very vocal about the administration of Buhari. The Bishop, during his Easter sermon had knocked Buhari’s administration over security challenges, corruption and disunity being witnessed in the country.
The presidency, in its reaction took a swipe at Kukah over his Easters sermon, asking him to consider joining partisan politics and see how far he can go.
The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement titled ‘Kukah’s virus of hate,’ faulted the Bishop for devoting his Easter message to criticising the Buhari-led government instead of preaching about “Christ’s death and rebirth so Man might be saved.”
“Nigeria knows too well Bishop Kukah’s views of the government. He has made quite clear how much he dislikes them from the day they were elected.
“Whether expressing his political views is a good use or an abuse of religious office is for others to decide. But the people of Nigeria have spoken – twice: they support this government at the ballot box. They have not been swayed by hateful talk from any bully-pulpit,” the statement partly reads.
However, Kukah in a counter reaction during an interview on Arise TV on Tuesday said he had nothing personal against the President but his policies, of which even Aisha also disagrees with.
The Bishop said though Buhari is a gentleman, he has done a bad job as the President of the country.
In his words, “All those saying I attacked the President, I have never attacked his person. All I have spoken about is his inability to manage diversities effectively and efficiently. I have studied diversity as a subject and I know what I am talking about.
“Those who think these things are personal would see that I have never talked about his person or character; I believe he is a gentleman but as far as being the President is concerned, he has done a bad job, even his wife has also disagreed with his policies.
“So, those guys should not sit in their air-conditioned office drinking coffee and thinking everything is honky-donkey. Let them disagree with the text of my message.
“Let me set the record straight, I delivered my sermon to my congregation and the message. The bearers of the message are directed primarily to the good people of Sokoto dioceses.
“The President knows that I have great respect for him and he is a gentleman, but he has done a terribly bad job as the President of Nigeria.
“There is nothing I am saying that is new; all the pastors who preached yesterday during the Easter service said the same thing. Tell me one thing about the message that I preached that you disagree with and let’s discuss.
“For a Muslim (Garba Shehu) to sit down and tell me what an Easter message should contain is something.
“Buhari himself knows that there is nothing personal in what I say. One thing the President has said that humbled me is that he told me, ‘Bishop Kukah, I know where you stand on any issue that has to do with Nigeria.’
“What connected me with Buhari and a lot of Muslims is not the Catholic Church, it is my public position on a lot of things. And I am not saying it so that you must agree with me. But Nigerians have been extraordinarily magnanimous because I have not had many people saying we disagree with you and I have not spoken because I know the issue. The primary beneficiary of what I say is me and I speak for myself. If you have any issues with me, let’s clarify the issue.”
