The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah has submitted that some of President Muhammadu Buhari’s aides have no moral ground to talk to him on national issues.
Kukah identified the aides as the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Femi Adesina, and the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, Garba Shehu.
He made the submission in response to their various positions about his 2022 Easter message in which he called out the President over the insecurity and other challenges facing the nation.
Going down memory lane during an interview yesterday with Reuben Abati, the cleric pointed out that long before they all became aides of President Buhari, he had been at the forefront of the struggle for Nigeria to become better for everyone.
Kukah who said he has paid his dues charged each one of them to explain what they had done for their country, particularly at a time there were threats about bloodletting and the survival of Nigeria prior to the 2015 presidential election.
He reminded Femi Adesina, Lai Mohammed and Garba Shehu that they were working for Senator Orji Kalu, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, respectively.
Kukah said, “Remember the General Buhari’s famous statement about the [2015] election and the outcome when he made a famous statement, [saying] that if the election did not succeed it would be ‘blood for the monkey, blood for the dog?’That it was going to be fight to finish?
All of us were aware of the tension that existed in the country as of that time. I’m humbled that I was critical and central, led by Abdulsalam Abubakar, in getting both men to sign the Peace Accord.
The point I’m trying to make is that that morning, two days to the election, when General Buhari had finally agreed, we’ve been able to track him down and he had agreed to meet with us by 8:am in the morning, we didn’t know how to reach President Jonathan because he [Jonathan] had told us he was flying to Asaba at 9am that morning.
If you [Abati] could remember, I called you on the phone and told you we had a text of the Peace Accord that Jonathan had to sign. ‘Can you help take the text to him?’ I asked you. And you took it to him and he signed. I was able to persuade President Jonathan to sign the Peace Accord.
I’m saying this because I’m not a stranger to the process we’re in. While we were sweating and doing all these things, Femi Adesina was being paid a salary by Orji Kalu. He was doing a good job in the Sun as a journalist.
Garba Shehu was working for Atiku. Lai Mohammed was working for Tinubu. Everybody should answer their fathers’ names.
I can say that the reason why I’m emotional and passionate about the things of this country is that I’ve paid my dues. Let each and everyone of my critics tell me where they were at the most critical moment of Nigeria’s history.”
