From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The member of the House of Representatives representing
Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency of Kogi State, Tajudeen Yusuf, has dismissed attacks on the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Kukah, in the aftermath of his Christmas homily, as hypocritical.
Yusuf, in a statement on Tuesday, said attacks on Kukah, over his message, which touches on the prevalent security situation, as well as the state of affairs in the country, is a deliberate
” effort to ignore the message and attack the messenger.”
The Catholic Bishop’s homily, which decried the poor state of affairs had not gone down well with the Federal Government and some interest groups.
However, the lawmaker noted that many of those attacking Bishop Kukah have extended family members who are facing the stark realities of current waves of insecurity, unemployment and poverty that is far much worse than what obtained six years ago.
He recalled that “Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s decision to speak truth to power was applauded during the Goodwick Jonathan era but is now being mischievously misinterpreted as a call for insurrection.”
According to him,”Bishop Kukah spoke against currently prevalent nepotism as well as the fearsome indicators of a failed state when he raised issues of ‘endless bloodletting, a collapsing economy, social anomie, domestic and community violence, kidnappings, armed robberies…
“Just this Monday, we read news report about four different attacks carried out by bandits in Safana and Sabuwa local government areas of of Mr. President’s Katsina State whereby a newly-wedded couple and more than eight persons were abducted with several villagers nursing gunshot wounds.”
Yusuf added that those who prefer fawning sycophants to the hard truths from Bishop Kukah are very poor students of history, who are indirectly sabotaging President Buhari and Nigeria’s democracy.