Garba Shehu Fights Dirty, Posts 2018 Photo Of Bishop Kukah ‘Reconciling’ Atiku With Obasanjo

Mr. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, appears to have taken personal offence at the recent criticism of his principal by Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto.

Shehu, for the second time in 48 hours, criticised Kukah after he reprimanded the Buhari administration in his Easter message on Sunday.

Shehu said that Bishop Kukah did not speak as a Christian in his Arise TV interview, where the cleric responded to the presidency’s riposte and reiterated that Buhari had done “a terribly bad job” as Nigeria’s president.

“A very un-Christian response. In fact, he does not mention religion at all this time – his response is all politics and nothing but,” Shehu said in a Facebook post accompanied with a 2018 photo that shows the cleric reconciling 2019 presidential aspirant, Atiku Abubakar, with ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo ahead of the election.

In his initial response to Kukah’s Easter sermon, the presidential aide had said the cleric “devoted his Easter message not to Christ’s death and rebirth so Man might be saved – but to damning the government in the most un-Christian terms.”

He added that Kukah neglects the Bible’s teachings in James 1:26 which says “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless”.

But Kukah, in his response on Arise TV, said: “those guys (Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina) 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.”

The cleric’s words: “I don’t know whether any of them (Adesina and Shehu) has the ability or the capacity to speak about guilt or no guilt, but let me first of all set that records straight.

“I delivered my sermon to my congregation in the cathedral. So, the bearer of the message is primarily the good people of the Diocese of Sokoto.

“Of course, I am not unaware of my two friends’ state of mind, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, when it comes to talking about Bishop Kukah. They seem to suspend reason and go into overdrive.

“Unless, of course, Garba Shehu has plans to convert to Christianity or a closet Christian or an anonymous Christian, I appreciate the fact that when it comes to talking, he has not quoted the Holy Quran. All he does is end up with some convoluted interpretations of the Bible and embarrassing in their contexts.

“And I am surprised that Femi Adesina, who I believe is a reverend of the sort in the Foursquare Gospel Church, I’m surprised that he’s unable to help his friend who they sat together.

“But let me say that I have made an offer to them and still make the offer that they can choose the venue, choose the time and just let me know. I want to sit down with the three of them, beginning with their minister and both of them. Let us sit down together and talk about Nigeria. I’m ready. I will pay my way, and I still repeat that offer to them.”

Kukah further challenged the presidential spokesmen to stop engaging in “poor quality writings” and argue with him on issues.

“These are the only spokesmen that have spent a lot of time buying, photocopying paper, and simply typing away texts. They have been involved in writing the poorest quality, never talking about the issues.

“So, the first thing is to show you their inefficiency. They are used to writing statements as opposed to talking to Nigerians about policies.

“What this tells you is that 99.99% of what they write imply second-guessing what the president’s mind is. They have no contact with the president. They have no contact with government policies. All they are doing is writing on behalf of the president.

“There is nowhere where the job of this nature is being done and has been done so poorly.”

Kukah recalled that he played a role in getting former President Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari to sign a peace accord ahead of the 2015 presidential election.

“The reason I am saying so is that I’m no stranger to the process we are in.

“While we’re doing all these things, Femi Adesina was being paid 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. So, I think everybody should be able to answer his father’s name.

“And I can say that the reason why I am emotional and passionate about the things of this country and about where we are today is I have paid my dues. Let each of my critics tell me where they were at the most critical moment in Nigeria’s history.

“It’s not that now, people’s bank accounts are swollen. They are probably trying to preach the gospel to us that they don’t believe,” he said