Prominent Catholic cleric and Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah has blasted Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello over his comments about the Catholic bishops visit to President Muhammadu Buhari.
Reacting to a statement by Catholic Bishops in a Thursday meeting with Buhari that Nigerians were angry with his administration and his goodwill among Nigerians was fast being “depleted”, Bello had said only corrupt politicians and those who used private jets to move cash to South Africa could be angry with Buhari.
“And of course , those who have looted the country dry and normally go to the church and mosque to pay tithe, are no longer doing so. Of course, these are the category of people that are angry,” Bello told journalists after observing Jum’at prayers at the Presidential Villa mosque on Friday.
But speaking with The Punch, Kukah said the governor missed the point of what the bishops told Buhari.
He added that Bello’s statement exemplified “a tragedy of leadership in Nigeria.”
He said, “The statement of the governor is not worthy of my comment because I believe that the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria stands for something higher than that. I won’t even dignify him with a response.
But when prodded further, the cleric said, “This is a character that nobody heard anything from until he suddenly accidentally found himself in power. What does he (Bello) know about what the bishops have said? So, I don’t even want to dignify him with any response. I don’t think it’s worth giving him a story.
“Frankly, people of his calibre do not deserve our response. It is also a measure of the kind of people who have strayed into power. I am not going to go into any details. It is a tragedy of what we call leadership now in Nigeria. People who have come with no antecedents; they just come out of the woodworks and occupy an office. And so, I won’t dignify him (Bello) with any response.”