Bishop Kukah Clears Air Over Alleged Rift With Buhari

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, on Wednesday, cleared air over alleged rift with former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said his criticism of the administration of Buhari was never personal.

According to him, the only problem he had with the former President was his inability to manage the country’s diversity.

According to Kukah, former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to ex-president, Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina was only doing his job for defending his principal.

Kukah noted that he is shocked to hear the kind of things people who served in Buhari’s government are saying about him.

Speaking during an interview on Arise TV, Kukah said, “Buhari has served his term. He also knew and I respect him for that, that there was nothing I was saying that was personal. I imagined poor Adesina and his team had a job to do and they needed to do that job even though there was nothing to say.
“I will respect and I hope that Pastor Adesina knows that there is a Foursquare Gospel Church in Daura, I believe that the President of Foursquare Gospel Church should send him there as a Pastor so that he is quite close to his Godfather.

“But having said that, I mean President Buhari had finished his term and he is gone and there is very little else to be said for and against. But everybody knew we had a job to do. There was nothing I said about President Buhari that was personal, that was disrespectful, I just felt he was doing things that are, especially in the area of managing our diversity and look, I’m talking to Ministers now who served in that government, I cannot call names, I am shocked to hear the kind of things people are saying, those who served in that government, that is for another day.”

Speaking on the administration of President Bola Tinubu so far, he stated while the six months might be too short to rate a sitting President, many expected him to hit the ground running having prepared for the race for over 20 years.

He said, “I am not making excuses for anybody, I am just saying the very fact that you had to rely on governors to give you names of Ministers and you rely on external agencies to be able to do things that ordinarily you who is composing the team needs to be able to do.

“I mean a court decides who is going to come in at what time depending on the excuse that the person has. So, I totally agree with you that by now you would have thought, ‘Okay, this is what we want to do, this is who can do it and this is how it needs to be done.”

However, he said the best solution is to continue to hold those in power responsible and they have no excuse not to perform.

He added, “If you stand up to be elected and you are elected, you must be prepared to face the consequences of that election, that means we must constantly hold our feet to the fire. So that’s why I am saying institutions and instruments of engagement must be in full glass. But also we must help to clarify public policies by articulating the things that need to be done and where the country needs to be heading.”