The Presidency has urged clerics to avoid meddling into politics.
Responding to the Easter message of the Bishop of Sokoto , Diocese, Rev Father Mathew Kukah, Presidential Spokesman, Garba Shehu advised the cleric not to distort facts when commenting on issues.
Shehu insisted that a lot of progress has been made in the fight against terrorism, contrary to Rev Kukah’s claim.
He 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. Furthermore, the Hijab issue in Kwara State on which he dwelt is a state matter which the courts of the land have adjudicated.”
Shehu noted that the cleric was partisan as he urged him to leave President Buhari out of the matters he raised.
“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,” he said.
The Presidential Spokesman called on all well-meaning citizens to continue to support the ongoing efforts by the current administration to secure the country and move it forward.
Ime N
