A Man Of God Shouldn’t Speak Like You – Presidency Replies Kukah On Buhari

The presidency has warned the Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Mathew Kukah to stop dragging President Muhammadu Buhari’s name into issues that don’t concern him.

This is even as it noted that the clergyman is not speaking like a man of God based on some of his submissions.

The Presidency in a statement on Sunday signed by Buhari’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, Garba Shehu, accused Kukah of playing partisan politics but hiding under the cover of his office as a catholic Bishop to do so.

The response from the presidency comes after Bishop Kukah in his Easter message to Nigerians on Sunday had earlier attacked the Buhari administration, saying Nigeria has become a massive killing field under the President’s watch as both government and the governed look on helplessly.

The popular cleric also accused Buhari’s government of rewarding bandits, adding that Nigeria’s current predicament reminded him of Israel’s situation that led to the death of Eli.

But in a quick response, the presidency said Buhari was handling the nation’s security challenges appropriately, and called on all citizens to support the government rather than discredit their efforts.

The presidency statement reads: “All citizens have their individual ideologies, even their own versions of 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.”

Meanwhile, the Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano, on Sunday vowed that the families of the policemen who were killed during an attack on the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Charles Soludo, would not be abandoned.

Obiano stated this on Sunday during his statewide broadcast to address the violent attacks in the state.