HURIWA Knocks Presidency For Tackling Bishop Kukah

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on
Wednesday condemned the presidency for what it described as an
unwarranted joining of issues with Catholic Bishop of Sokoto
Diocese Rt Rev Matthew Kukah over his presentation to the American
Congress.

HURIWA said the statement of Kukah to the US Congress Committee
on Foreign Affairs needs not to have generated controversy if not
that Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari has: “degenerated to
the Banana Republic whereby the elected leaders of the country have
transposed themselves into tyrants who are scared of the truth and
who are doing everything under the Sun to crush independent
voices”.

The group recalled Kukah had alleged that President Muhammadu
Buhari was showing a preference for people of his religion and
ethnic group in matters of appointments for enforcement of the
relevant policies and legal framework against rising
insecurity.

The Bishop also said Christians were being targeted by
insurgents and bandits with the government unable to tackle the
security challenge.

The presidency reacted to the statement on Sunday, describing it
as false just as the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari Garba Shehu
dismissed Kukah’s approach as: “crude, primitive, puerile,
tendentious and absolutely disrespectful to the person of the
revered Roman Catholic prelate”.

The Presidency further lambasted Kukah over his comments about
the persecution of Christians in Nigeria by armed extremist groups
in the North, stating it was “troubling when a so-called man of the
Church copies the worst excesses of those seeking personal
advancement in public office.”

HURIWA, in a statement jointly signed by the National
Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs
Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, said the spokesman of the President has
only succeeded in celebrating his scanty understanding of the
Constitution by making the above unintelligent and insensitive
remarks.

HURIWA said: “We totally endorse the presentation made by His
Lordship the Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Sokoto for these are
facts that are empirical and we are witnesses to the ongoing
nepotistic appointments of President Muhammadu Buhari and the
consistent killings of Christian clerics by Islamists are facts
which President Muhammadu Buhari can’t hide from”.

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) on
Wednesday condemned the presidency for what it described as an
unwarranted joining of issues with Catholic Bishop of Sokoto
Diocese Rt Rev Matthew Kukah over his presentation to the American
Congress.

HURIWA said the statement of Kukah to the US Congress Committee
on Foreign Affairs needs not to have generated controversy if not
that Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari has: “degenerated to
the Banana Republic whereby the elected leaders of the country have
transposed themselves into tyrants who are scared of the truth and
who are doing everything under the Sun to crush independent
voices”.

The group recalled Kukah had alleged that President Muhammadu
Buhari was showing a preference for people of his religion and
ethnic group in matters of appointments for enforcement of the
relevant policies and legal framework against rising
insecurity.

The Bishop also said Christians were being targeted by
insurgents and bandits with the government unable to tackle the
security challenge.

The presidency reacted to the statement on Sunday, describing it
as false just as the Senior Special Assistant to Buhari Garba Shehu
dismissed Kukah’s approach as: “crude, primitive, puerile,
tendentious and absolutely disrespectful to the person of the
revered Roman Catholic prelate”.

The Presidency further lambasted Kukah over his comments about
the persecution of Christians in Nigeria by armed extremist groups
in the North, stating it was “troubling when a so-called man of the
Church copies the worst excesses of those seeking personal
advancement in public office.”

HURIWA, in a statement jointly signed by the National
Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and National Media Affairs
Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, said the spokesman of the President has
only succeeded in celebrating his scanty understanding of the
Constitution by making the above unintelligent and insensitive
remarks.

HURIWA said: “We totally endorse the presentation made by His
Lordship the Bishop of the Catholic diocese of Sokoto for these are
facts that are empirical and we are witnesses to the ongoing
nepotistic appointments of President Muhammadu Buhari and the
consistent killings of Christian clerics by Islamists are facts
which President Muhammadu Buhari can’t hide from”.