Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has insisted that the Catholic Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah withdraws from the National Peace Committee led by former Head of State, General Abdulsalam Abubakar.
BMO said in a statement by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke in Abuja that this is as a result of his open display of support for the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar, despite his claims that it was not a political gathering he intended.
It noted that the Abdulsalam Abubakar-led committee is one that should be seen to be non-partisan because of the role it was meant to play in the run up to the 2015 election.
The group said: “We are surprised, like many Nigerians, to see Bishop Kukah in the company of the opposition candidate at a reconciliation meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later on claiming to be the strategic mind behind the reconciliation which we believe was targeted towards bringing the two parties together to fight the President Buhari administration.
Kukah with Buhari
L-R: Kukah, Obasanjo, Atiku and Gumi at the reconciliation parley
“This is not expected of a clergyman who is seen in some quarters as the alternate head of the National Peace Committee.
“He has shown his bias and as such cannot be trusted to be non-partisan.”
BMO dismissed claims by the Catholic Bishop that he was not aware of the political nature of the gathering as tales that no one will believe.
“The clergy man was the key figure behind the reconciliation and did this knowing that Atiku was a PDP Presidential aspirant.”
‘And if it is true that Bishop Kukah is insisting that he was only exercising his right to free movement, we are also demanding that having shown his hand, he has no reason to sit on a panel that is meant to be non-partisan.”
The Buhari Media Organisation added that it fully supports President Muhammadu Buhari’s admonition that religious leaders abstain from partisan politics.