Onaiyekan: I’m Not Afraid of Anybody, Presidency

Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has said he is neither afraid of the Federal Government nor embarrassed by the criticism that followed his public comments on a meeting between Catholic bishops and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Onaiyekan made the clarification in a video shared by SYMFONI TV on Wednesday, while reacting to the Presidency’s response to his account of the meeting.

The 82-year-old cleric said he appeared on ARISE News after the engagement to communicate the concerns raised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, rather than to please the government or any individual. “I didn’t go to Arise to please government, or to just please people, but to tell the truth. That’s all I stand for,” he said.

He added, “I cannot be embarrassed. I’m 82 years old; nobody can embarrass me. And I’m not afraid of anybody.” Onaiyekan also said Nigerians should not take the freedom to criticise those in government for granted, noting that religious leaders in some African countries could not speak as openly. “And we are still lucky in this Nigeria that we can still talk.

We shouldn’t take that for granted. There re many countries in Africa where no bishop dares to talk like we do here,” he said.

The cleric explained that his comments reflected the collective position of the bishops who attended the meeting with Tinubu, rather than his personal opinion.

“No, mind you, I didn’t talk on my own now. I spoke on behalf of my fellow bishops. We drafted a statement which contained all that I said in the interview. So, all the bishops of Nigeria spoke that way. It was their voice I was echoing,” he said.

Onaiyekan said the bishops remained free to express the same concerns in their respective dioceses, adding that other religious leaders had also spoken about the condition of the country. “When it comes to what is happening to Nigeria, the poverty, the suffering, we are all in the same boat now, abi?” he said.

The comments followed the July 28 meeting between Tinubu and a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria at the State House, Abuja, where the bishops raised concerns over economic hardship, insecurity, democracy, the 2027 elections, religious freedom and the return of mission schools.

The delegation was led by the CBCN President, Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna, and included Onaiyekan, Cardinal Peter Okpaleke, Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto and other senior Catholic clerics.

Three days after the meeting, Onaiyekan appeared on ARISE News and publicly discussed the concerns presented to the President.

The Presidency subsequently criticised his disclosure, with the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, describing the public account as inappropriate and arguing that the engagement was private.

However, Onaiyekan has maintained that the bishops were motivated by their concern for Nigerians and had a responsibility to speak about the challenges confronting the country.

His latest comments have further intensified the debate over the balance between confidentiality in high-level engagements and the responsibility of religious leaders to speak publicly on issues affecting citizens.