Even Buhari’s wife, Aisha, disagrees with his policies – Kukah

The Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Sokoto, Most Rev Matthew Hassan Kukah, is not fazed by attacks by presidential aides, Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina.

Both Shehu and Adesina had launched verbal attacks on the revered clergyman, taunting him to remove his cassock and become a politician, following his Easter Sunday message to his congregation where he criticised President Muhammadu Buhari’s policies.

But in a no-holds-barred interview on Arise TV’s The Morning Show, on Tuesday, Kukah told the presidential spokesmen that even the president’s wife, Aisha Buhari, disagrees with the president’s policies, adding that he had nothing personal against the President.

“All those saying I attacked the President; I have never attacked his person. All I have spoken about is his inability to manage diversities effectively and efficiently. I have studied diversity as a subject and I know what I am talking about.

“Those who think these things are personal would see that I have never talked about his person or character; I believe he is a gentleman but as far as being the President is concerned, he has done a bad job, even his wife has also disagreed with his policies.

“So, those guys should not sit in their air-conditioned office drinking coffee and thinking everything is honky-donkey. Let them disagree with the text of my message,” Kukah said.

Not done, he renewed a challenge he had earlier thrown at his traducers.

READ: You have destroyed Nigeria, Kukah to Buhari on Easter

He said: “To set the record straight, I delivered the sermon to our congregation and of course, I am not unaware of the state of mind of Adesina and Shehu. They seem to suspend reason. Except Shehu has plans to convert to Christianity, all he does is misinterpret the Bible and I am also surprised Adesina can’t help his friends.

“I have made an offer for them to choose the venue and time to sit down and talk about Nigeria. The job of the spokesman is to publicise Federal Government policies and clarification. These are the only spokesmen that have involved in all types of writing, never talking to the issue. They are used to just talking rather than clarifying policies. They just second-guess the President while they do the job in an appalling way.

“The spokesmen want to be seen as doing their jobs. President Muhammadu Buhari knows I have the greatest respect for him and he is a gentleman but as a President, he has done a terrible job. The President knows it is nothing personal; the President once said to me, ‘Kukah, I know where you stand on issues.’ If you don’t agree with me, let us clarify. I didn’t attack his person, but his policies. His inability to manage diversity effectively is one of the issues I have with him. I am not the first person to disagree with his policies; his wife also did, so these guys should not sermonise when Nigerians are suffering.”

He added: “There is nothing I am saying that is new; all the pastors who preached yesterday (Easter Sunday) during the Easter service said the same thing. Tell me one thing about the message that I preached that you disagree with and let’s discuss.”

Kukah affirmed that he speaks directly with the President, saying that his criticism of the government is nothing personal but the zeal to see things get better in the country.