Onaiyekan: Catholic bishops assaulting Tinubu by reducing transformation agenda to failure – Presidency

President Bola Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, has said Catholic bishops can’t seek to reduce the president’s transformational agenda to a narrative of failure.

Dare said reducing Tinubu’s transformational agenda is a scathingly assault on Tinubu.

Posting on X, he insisted that the president inherited a crumbling, bankrupt nation but is determined to rebuild the nation from its foundation.

His comment followed remarks by the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Onaiyekan after the visit of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria to President Tinubu at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

Speaking after the visit, Onaiyekan had disclosed that Tinubu disagreed with the assessment of the economy and security concerns raised by members.

On July 28, 2026, Tinubu met with the bishops where they expressed concerns over the country’s economy, insecurity and political climate.

But, appearing on Arise Television’s Prime Time, Onaiyekan said Tinubu rejected the bishops’ assessment, insisting that his administration was on the right track.

However, Dare posted on X: “Still on the state of the Nation.

“For the Bishops to seek to reduce President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s monumental, multi-sectoral transformation agenda to a narrative of failure is not merely an act of intellectual dishonesty; it is a scathingly uncharitable assault on a patriotic leader who inherited a crumbling, bankrupt estate in May 2023 and possessed the rare political courage to rebuild it from the foundation up.

“The Tipping Point: The Inherited Bankruptcy of May 2023.

“To understand the weight of President Tinubu’s achievements, one must first measure the abyss Nigeria faced on the eve of his inauguration.

“In May 2023, the Nigerian nation was hovering on the precipice of total economic collapse and structural paralysis.”