The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan Kukah, had in a telephone interview with PUNCH correspondents on Saturday, described Governor Yahaya Bello’s statement that "only those who were no more getting stolen money to pay tithes were angry with Buhari" as “a tragedy of leadership in Nigeria.”
Recall that Governor Yahaya Bello, in an interview with State House correspondents on Friday, told the Catholic bishops that only those who were no more getting stolen money to pay tithes were 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,” the governor had stated.
Reacting to the statement Kukah 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.”
When prodded to speak further on the issue, Kukah added, “This is a character (Bello) 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.”
