By Tony Adibe
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Mathew Hassan Kukah, has called on leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to reduce the current pump price of fuel, stating that Nigerians are suffering from hunger. He made this statement on Friday in Abuja during the official unveiling of The Progressive Institute (TPI).
Kukah’s position now has, however, sharply contradicted his strong backing of President Bola Tinubu’s ambition to govern Nigeria. It is noteworthy that the pump price of petrol in the country was increased on Tuesday to N855, N918, or higher, depending on the location.
NewsBits recalls that Kukah was among those who strongly supported Tinubu’s ambition to be President of Nigeria during the 2023 elections. Kukah had insisted that of all the Presidential aspirants or candidates at the time, Tinubu was the only one duly prepared for the presidency. Kukah had some time in March 2023, given reason for backing Tinubu as Nigeria’s president.
The cleric had expressed happiness that for the first time, Nigeria was going to have a president in the shape of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was prepared for the job. Kukah, who spoke on a Channels Television’s programme, Sunday Politics, said President Muhammadu Buhari and the duo of former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, among others became Nigerian leaders unprepared.
The bishop stressed that he opted for the former Lagos State governor because of the conviction he was prepared for the country’s highest political office. He had said: “No President or Head of State in the history of Nigeria ever came prepared for the job of the number one citizen of the country except the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has been nursing and preparing for the task decades ago.
“You can go all the way down in Nigeria, you’re not going to find one single person who has been President or Head of State in Nigeria that came prepared for the job.” He added that Tinubu was ready because he has been preparing himself for the top job since the 1990s.
“Atiku and Obi weren’t prepared for this job and that’s why I said we should not make the same mistakes in rushing to just get someone anyhow who is not prepared to be the president of Nigeria again. That’s why I opted for Asiwaju Tinubu that’s prepared for the task of the job of president of Nigeria.”
But as if showing regrets and disappointments over the current socio-political and security situation of Nigeria under President Tinubu, the outspoken cleric is now singing a different tune. In Kukah’s goodwill message at the APC event on Friday in Abuja, Kukah said: “We Nigerians are hungry. You must find a way to reduce the price of fuel.
“Unless democracy is built on a solid foundation, we will be constructing on sand. I am deeply concerned about the quality of democracy in Nigeria. We need to address the issues affecting democracy here.”
Among the APC leaders present at the ongoing event at the Abuja Continental Hotel were APC national chairman Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje; Senate President Godswill Akpabio, represented by Deputy Senate President Senator Barau I. Jibrin; and Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator George Akume.
Other attendees included the Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma; Ondo State Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa; various ministers; APC state chairmen; and many others.
