PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari’s fiery critic and Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese Rev Father Matthew Kukah has revealed the president always picked his calls.
Kukah said even if Buhari missed his calls, he would call back.
The Kaduna-born cleric told reporters at St Bakhita Catholic Secretariat in Sokoto on Friday that his relationship with Buhari was cordial.
He attributed his criticisms of the president to worsening insecurity and Buhari’s posture to offer juicy offices to his relatives.
“If I pick up my phone and call Mr President now, he will pick it up. The other time he missed my calls, he called me back, and we greeted each other.
“But you know some people cry more than the bereaved. You will be celebrated when you speak the truth in a developed country. Look at how people are celebrating the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but here people tag you as an enemy of the government.”
Kukah blamed his perceived hatred for Buhari on the president’s aides.
He said politicians failed to realise that those who criticize them love them most.
According to him, he has been a critic of the government before the Buhari administration.
He challenged people who don’t reason with his positions on issues in the country to come up with superior arguments.
In April this year, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu said the cleric did not speak like a man of God after Kukah criticized the president over increasing insecurity and plummeting economy in the nation.
Similarly, in November, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina knocked the cleric and others he claimed were feeding foreign nations with lies about the situation in Nigeria.
The ICIR had earlier reported how the cleric backed Buhari in declining assent to the Electoral Act amendment.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2022. Contact him via email @ [email protected].