By Chesa Chesa
The Presidency has taken another swipe at fiery Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari’s handling of burning national issues.
Kukah bared his mind during a an Easter homily on Sunday; just like he did last Christmas, which attracted similar response from Aso Rock Villa.
Reacting to the latest salvo from Kukah, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, accused the renowned cleric of playing partisan politics by claiming that insecurity and terrorism had got worse since Buhari assumed office in 2015.
According to Shehu in a statement he issued on Sunday, “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 massage.
“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.”
