Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State appears to have annoyed some members of the Roman Catholic Church who on Thursday expressed concern over the reference by the governor while defending his acceptance to serve as the Director-General of All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council for the 2023 election.
Recall that the governor had backed the idea of the Muslim-Muslim ticket after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
He said as a Catholic with the highest Papal award of Knight of Saint Gregory, the Pope had not told him what he was doing is wrong.
However, the Catholic faithful blamed him for dragging the Holy Father into the murky politics of Nigeria and the 2023 election. They also called for his immediate suspension from the Church for alleged blasphemy.
The President of the Concerned Catholics in Nigeria, Dr. Ben Amodu, during a press conference in Abuja, insisted that Lalong must tender an apology for the global embarrassment his ‘unguarded’ remarks caused the Pope and the entire Church.
The group vowed that the Catholic community in Nigeria would ensure that the governor made atonement for his publicly “blasphemous statement” about the Pope and the Church.
Amodu said, “We are alarmed that Governor Simon Bako Lalong would elect to throw caution into the wind by dragging the revered Catholic Church into local politics in Nigeria for whatever it is worth.