President of Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU), Jonathan Asake says few people in the presidency act like “attack dogs” whenever any prominent Nigerian criticises President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
He was reacting to the presidency’s response to a virtual presentation by Bishop of Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Most Rev. Matthew Kukah before the US Congress last month.
During the presentation, Kukah faulted the Buhari government’s handling of the nation’s security situation and accused the administration of giving Muslims more opportunities than Christians.
But in a statement signed by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the presidency described Kukah’s comments during the presentation as “unfortunate and disappointing”, lamenting that Kukah “castigated” Nigeria before the US lawmakers.
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Reacting, Asake noted that it was telling that President Buhari hardly personally spoke on such matters.
He said, “When you say the presidency, have you heard the voice of the president? What you called that presidency are just a few people.
“They are just on queue that whenever anything happens, they come out as attack dogs with an explanation as to why that thing must happen, even if it is against the people of Nigeria.
“Let me give you an example, There have been series of attacks in Kaduna State; series of criminalities where a whole community is wiped out, like in Zangon Kataf alone where attacks took place within days, over 100 people were killed, and in Chukun Local Government Area, virtually 80 per cent of the community has been displaced, and many killed. But you will never hear anything from that presidency.
“Wherever they want to talk, they will say this is the reason it is happening. When Zangon Kataf came under heavy attacks, Garba Shehu came up in the media and said it was a reprisal. When somebody talks like that from that highly placed position, that means he knows what is going on; he knows who has been offended and the other person is coming to revenge.
“When that person is coming to revenge, he has taken the law into his hands. If there is rule of law, do we have leaders that are responsive and accountable to the people? Of course, if you are responsible, you ought not to allow a reprisal to take place, because we have the military, the police and the intelligence agencies who can nip that in the bud. Do you call it a reprisal, where a whole community was wiped out; their houses burnt, their crops destroyed and they are displaced from their ancestral land? And you called that a reprisal without going there to see what has happened. That is the kind of people we have in the presidency.”
He said the presidency was shameless to have attacked Kukah.
“When reasonable members of the society; a statesman like Kukah, who is concerned about governance in this country; a revered man of God, who knows the worth of human lives by divine arrangement, when he makes his comments, these people are shameless enough to attack him and anybody who dares to raise his voice against the atrocities going on in this present administration. Something wrong is going on and that is not what governance is all about,” Asake said.