CATHOLIC Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto Matthew Hassan Kukah on Tuesday said Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu have done a poor job as presidential spokespersons.
Kukah said this on Tuesday during an interview on Arise Television.
The cleric was reacting to accusations levelled against him by Adesina and Shehu, who claimed he was an enemy of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The presidential spokespersons had attacked Kukah after he criticised Buhari in an Easter Message.
Hitting back at the presidency, Kukah said the presidential spokesmen have paid less attention to providing Nigerians with clarity on government policies and their effect and were more focused on issuing statements that pre-empt the president.
“They are used to writing statements as opposed to talking to Nigerians about policies, and what this tells you is: ninety-nine per cent of the things they write are simply second-guessing what is in the president’s mind.
“All they are doing is simply writing on behalf of the president. There is nowhere in the world where a job of this nature is being done and has been done so poorly,” he said
Reiterating his stance that Buhari had performed poorly, Kukah added that the president had shown an inability to manage diversity within the country.
“President Buhari knows that I have the greatest respect for him, and I believe he is a gentleman. But for me, he has done a terribly bad job as president of Nigeria,” he said.
Adesina and Shehu had earlier reacted to Kukah’s criticism of Buhari’s administration in his Easter message, where he condemned the Buhari-led administration over the division, corruption and insecurity ravaging the country.
Referring to the Easter message, Adesina had said via his Twitter handle that critics were the reason for division in the country and not Buhari’s administration.
Shehu also released a statement on Monday night, accusing the Bishop of nursing hatred for the president and daring him to put away his religious garb and join partisan politics.
