The Presidency on Monday knocked the Bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, and other Nigerians “going to America,
going to feed them with incorrect positions about what is happening in the
country.”
Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, made this known on
Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme.
Adesina made the comment when he hailed the United States
for removing Nigeria from its 2021 list of religious violators.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a statement last
Wednesday, had blacklisted Russia, China and eight other countries as religious
violators, leaving out Nigeria which was placed on the same list of ‘Countries
of Particular Concern’ on the issue of freedom of religion in 2020.
Blinken, who was later in Abuja last Thursday and Friday,
reportedly told the Nigerian President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.),
that the delisting of Nigeria from the list of religious violators was based on
facts.
Many Nigerians and groups including the Christian
Association of Nigeria, have since faulted the removal of Nigeria from the
list, insisting that Christians are still being persecuted in the country amid
an alleged plot to Islamise Nigeria.
However, speaking on the television programme on Monday,
Adesina said Nigeria has no business being on the list in the first instance
but blamed some individuals for running to the US to state “incorrect
positions”.
The presidential aide, who did not mention the names of
Nigerians “feeding” the US with “incorrect positions”, made a veiled reference
to Kukah, and other critics of his principal who have cried out to the US for
help in recent times.
Kukah, a fiery critic of the Buhari regime, had in a virtual
appearance before the US Congress in July 2021, accused Buhari of nepotism and
of making key appointments that favoured individuals of his faith (Islam), an
allegation the Presidency had denied.
Speaking on the removal of Nigeria from the watchlist,
Adesina said, “Nigeria being taken off the watchlist of countries that repress
religion. Very good, the Secretary (Blinken) spoke about it: he said America
did it when they found out that putting Nigeria on the watchlist was not based
on facts and we know the things that happened; Nigerians themselves going to
America, going to feed them with incorrect positions about what is happening in
the country. That was why Nigeria was put on that watchlist but when America
discovered that it was not based on facts, Nigeria was removed from the
watchlist. It is a very good development for us.”
When contacted for comments, Rev. Fr Christopher Omotosho,
the Director, Social Communications of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto said on
Monday that the Adesina does not deserve a response.
Omotosho also told our correspondent that at the appropriate
time, Kukah would speak on the removal of Nigeria from the list of religious
violators.
The respected Christian cleric and unsparing critic of the
Buhari regime has been having a running battle with the current government
which came into power in 2015.
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