The Presidency has faulted comments attributed to the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah on the state of insecurity in the country and nature of appointments by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Kukah had in a virtual presentation to a United States Congress Commission, a few days ago, said that the Buhari administration had woefully failed to address the security crisis in the country. He added Christians in the country were the targets of the security crisis.
The Presidency said that it was regrettable that “people like Kukah are doing their best to sow discord and strife among Nigerians” at a time the nation needed peace the most.
In a statement issued by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, the Presidency said “it takes a warped frame of mind for a critic to believe that ethnicity and religion” play a role in the challenges facing the country.
On the claim that the Buhari administration was favouring a particular ethnic group and Islam against other faiths, Shehu argued that such would not be possible under a setting where the Vice-President is of a different ethnic group and faith from the President.
The presidential aide said: “There is no bias in this government when the President is Northern Muslim, the vice-president, a Southern Christian, and the cabinet equally balanced between the two religions.
“But, neither is there anything in our Constitution to state that political posts must be apportioned according to ethnicity or faith. It takes a warped frame of mind for a critic to believe ethnicity is of primary importance in public appointments. It is yet more troubling to hear a Churchman isolating one group for criticism purely on ethnic lines.”
