Kukah:Why I rejected Obasanjo’s Big Job Offer |The Source

By Adesina Soyooye

For those who think the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, His Lordship, Mathew Kukah, is desirous for a Government/Political appointment, he has a story to tell.

Kukah, cerebral, and unarguably, the conscience of the Nation, has come under attack from both the Federal Government and the Muslim Community, over  his Christmas message of December 25, 2020.

In the message which received critical acclaim, Bishop Kukah had accused President Muhammadu Buhari of nepotism, and  added that if another person, not a Muslim from the North, had done a fraction of what Buhari has done, he would have been overthrown in a coup.

A couple of Government officials had descended on Kukah, calling him a politician in a Casock, and giving the impression that he was angling for a government job.

Some Muslim associations also hold the same opinion, insisting that Kukah’s message was a direct attack  on the Islamic religion.

Kukah had since dismissed such positions as mischief.

But saying the Homily at the wake keep service in honour of Archbishop  Peter Jatau, the late Catholic Archbishop of Kaduna Archdiocese, Kukah revealed that he turned down a big political appointment offered to him by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, during Obasanjo’s Presidency. Archbishop Jatau, he said, was aware of it, and encouraged Kukah to take-up the job so as to influence policies from inside. But the Bishop turned  it down.

Kukah: “After I finished serving in Oputa Panel, President Obasajo offered me an appointment that was quite powerful. I told the President that first, as a Priest, I had no need to serve in Government directly  under any President.

“When I tabled this before my Archbishop, he told me that on the contrary, I should go ahead and take the job. He argued that it could make me influence policy directly.

“He asked me to think it over, but I told him my mind was already made up.

“I called to tell the President that I was not available for the job. When I gave my Archbishop my reasons, he accepted, and the matter died there.”

Kukah did not, however, reveal what job/position it was that Obasanjo offered him.