Presidency berates Kukah over attack on Buhari, Says he doesn’t speak like a man of God

The presidency on Sunday night called out the bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Kukah for describing Nigeria as a killing field under the government of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Alabingo.com reported that Kukah had earlier on Sunday in his Easter message said both the government and the citizens have become helpless as criminals continue to cause havoc in parts of the country while the government of the day appeared to have gone on AWOL (absent without official leave).

“Taunted by Boko Haram, ravaged by bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, and other merchants of death across the nation, there is collective fear as to whether Nigeria’s glory is about to depart…” Kukah said.

“The nation has since become a massive killing field, as both government and the governed look on helplessly. A thick and suffocating cloud of desperation, despondency, desolation, gloom, and misery hangs in the hot air. We have no message and have no idea how long this will last.”

But in a statement on Sunday night, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, described Kukah’s “bashing” of President Muhammadu Buhari as “ungodly.”

Shehu said, “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.”

On the issue of those displaced because of the security crisis, Shehu cited the creation of the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development as part of the president’s efforts in that regard.

“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,” he said.