‘We’re done talking, govern better’ — Cardinal Onaiyekan tells Presidency

The Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has told the President Bola Tinubu presidency to govern better, stating that the Catholic Bishops were done talking.  

Cardinal Onaiyekan said this during an interview on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu in Ogun State, declining to respond to criticisms by the Presidency.  

His remark stems from an exchange between the Presidency and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), after the clerics had an audience with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, to present their assessment of the country’s economy and security.  

According to Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria had no intention of engaging in a public exchange with government spokespersons following its recent meeting with President Tinubu.  

The Christian cleric rejected suggestions that the bishops were speaking only for Catholics, stressing that their intervention was based on a moral responsibility to all Nigerians.  

He said;

“We are done talking. You can govern better. We didn’t go there just as Catholic bishops pushing the Catholic agenda. No. We went there as people who are with the spiritual mandate to speak to anybody in the name of God.  

“That some of the supporters of government and the state and spokesperson may have their own idea about what they think they should be saying on behalf of their principal, is their business, not mine.  

“As for response to the things we are hearing, I don’t even have to say anything because the social media is full of response from Nigerian people and that for me is more than enough,” he said.