Again, Gov. Bello Apologises To Christian Leaders

Bello
Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello Photo: Kogireporters

Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has again apologised to Catholic Bishops and the entire Christian community over his comments during his visit to the Presidential Villa.

Bello had last week said those who had looted the country’s funds were angry because sources of their free money had been blocked by the current government.

This was seen as a response to Catholic Bishops who visited President Muhammadu Buhari and told him that Nigerians were angry about alleged bad governance and imbalance in the system.

Speaking on Tuesday at the maiden Kogi State Economic and Investment Summit, held in Lokoja, the governor asked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to convey his apology to Christian leaders nationwide.

Bello said: “Let me take a moment out of this event to address an issue which is dear to my heart.

“I have been mortified since last Friday when a comment I made during a chat with journalists at the State House, Abuja after Juma’at prayers caused an uproar, which is still raging in the press.

“In responding to a question related to the visit of Catholic Bishops to the President and some of their views on the state of the nation to him, it has been reported that I said things which are disrespectful.

“Not only to our revered spiritual fathers in that delegation, but also to Christians in general.

“My exact words were those that have looted the country dry and normally go to churches and mosques to pay tithes are no longer doing so. Of course, this is the category of people who are angry.”

Apologies

He also said that he was trying to generalise, and spoke to the two major religions, only to realise that the word, ‘tithe’, made it appear as if he specifically targeted Christians.

“I have spoken to My Lord, His Grace, Bishop Ignatius Kaigama, President of the Nigerian Bishops’ Conference and President of the Episcopal Conference of West African Catholic Bishops on this.

“To all of my Christian brethren, I apologise for anyway in which I have hurt your sensibilities.”

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