The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev Matthew Kukah, has reacted to the responses of Presidential aide, Garba Shehu to his Easter message where he said Nigerians were more divided under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
It would be recalled that Garba Shehu, in a statement on Monday evening, accused the cleric of making baseless accusations against the Federal Government, advising the Bishop to read James 1.27 before commenting on political issues.
“We respectfully ask Bishop Kukah to leave government to the voters and the politicians they elect, while he concentrates on his job, as it is expressed in James 1:27: ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.’
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According to the presidential aide, Bishop Kukah chose to use the Easter period, which serves as a period of reflection for Christians, to “make dissensions and quarrels about the law. His accusatory list against the government revealed only his hatred for them”.
The preacher’s criticisms of the government, if for any reason, he said, should be done in the “spirit of gentleness,” the presidential aide said.
However, appearing on Arise TV’s The Morning Show, Bishop Kukah described the statement by Garba Shehu as being shallow and evasive as it doesn’t address the issues he raised in his Easter message.
He said Garba Shehu as a Muslim cannot teach him Bible scriptures.
“If Garba Shehu will be man enough to go back, sit and listen to himself in the past six years, he (Garba Shehu) has caused this country so much embarrassment from his statements.
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“I can tell you what is happening in Borno, what is happening in Yobe, just as they think they have the privilege of information, we also have. The church is virtually everywhere, a lot of our members have been victims, so we know the story, we know the pains they go through, so there’s nothing that has changed in terms of security challenges in parts of the country.
“So we cannot celebrate our government just because we just want to please anybody in government. We want to tell our government the truth because we want them to be better and do what is just.”
According to him, “what is happening today is that they (government) don’t listen to Nigerians, they only pay attention to praise singers.”