Catholic diocese denies endorsing Shettima, Muslim-Muslim ticket

The Catholic Diocese of Idah in Kogi State has denied endorsing a Muslim-Muslim ticket or the emergence of Kashim Shettima as the running mate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, Bola Tinubu.

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Idah, Most Rev. Fr., Anthony Adaji disclosed during a priestly ordination that viral reports that he endorsed the former Borno State Governor were false.

Director of Communication, Idah Diocese, Rev Fr. Anthony Okoliko explained that a trending picture of some catholic bishops of Nigeria including that of his Adaji and former Governor, Shettima “with the false caption: “National Church leaders on a solidarity visit to congratulate Sen. Kashim Shettima on his emergence as APC’s VP Candidate”, is false, misleading and mischievous.

He noted that while the information could be a trick to give credit to the much-criticized choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket, the purported picture (that includes the bishop of Idah Diocese) was taken in November 2017 during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the creation of Maiduguri Diocese.

“The bishop of Maiduguri informed the Governor of the presence of the bishops, and the bishops went in solidarity visit to him over the devastating effect of Boko Haram and to encourage him to keep fighting the plague of insecurity in the state. My bishop (precisely bishop of Idah) that appears there has never gone to Maiduguri since 2017 let alone endorsed Shettima for his emergence as Tinubu’s running mate, same with the other bishops.

“Public Mischievous and Calumnious information, demands a public disclaimer. On behalf of the Diocese, I hereby publicly disown and reject such an embarrassing statement.

“Nigeria is a secular state, and so, any attempt to take Nigeria into a one-state religion is unacceptable and is totally rejected.”

He noted that the people of Idah Diocese reject the calumnious, misleading, false, and injurious information, urging the church to reject any attempt to blackmail their faith and their bishop.