The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, has narrated how President Muhammadu Buhari honored Rev Yakubu Pam, an ex-Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in Plateau State, whom former President Olusegun Obasanjo called a ‘total idiot’.
Adesina said the President recently appointed Rev Pam as the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, the regulatory body for Christian pilgrimage in the country.
He made this known in a piece on Friday titled, ‘The Priest and the President’ where he compared the treatment between the former president and Buhari.
The presidential aide said, “A tale of the priest and two Presidents. Publicly flagellated by one, a Matthew, and now, honored by the other, a Muhammadu. What Rev Pam didn’t get from a Christian, he got from a Fulani man from Daura, a Muslim. Is there any lesson we can learn from this? Think about it.”
Adesina recounted how in May 2004, during an ethnoreligious crisis that led to the bloodbath in Plateau state made Obasanjo visit Yelwa-Shendam to meet with various stakeholders and during a dialogue session, there was an altercation between the former president and the former CAN chairman.
He quoted Obasanjo to have said, “During the dialogue session, the then Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria in Plateau State asked a question the President found offensive. And the Owu man, a retired Army General, flew off the handle. He let out this fusillade.
“What role have you played to bring about peace as CAN Chairman in Plateau State? CAN, my foot! What kind of CAN Chairman are you? Did your own Christianity teach you about revenge? You are an idiot. A total idiot. And I have no apologies for that.”
He described the comments and reactions of the former president to be sacrilegious, saying it was wrong for an ex-President whose middle name is Matthew to act in such manner.
Adesina said, “For a Matthew to call a preacher an idiot, “a total idiot?” It was sacrilege walking on two legs. And again, for a President, who laid claim to being a born again Christian, to denigrate the association of his own faith? It was the height of it.”