Onaiyekan to Presidency: We have no intention of trading words

The Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has said that the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has no intention of trading words with the Presidency after its meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the interview he granted thereafter, and the criticisms that followed.

He spoke in an exclusive interview on: “Frontline,” a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu in Ogun State on Monday.

Onaiyekan said the Bishops have already delivered their message to Tinubu at their meeting with him at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on July 28, 2026.

He said: “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.”

On the reaction of the Presidency, Onaiyekan said: “I would not even answer that question. 

“We have no response for them. 

“We have spoken and the only response we are waiting for is whether it is affecting the way they are governing. 

“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 responses from Nigerian people and that for me is more than enough.”

Archbishop Onaiyekan said it took months to get approval to see President Tinubu and that their speech lasted only 10 minutes.

He said: “The Bishops visited President Tinubu last week.

“We requested an audience. 

“It took some months before we were granted the audience and we prepared to see him.

“And the main reason we wanted to see him was not to go on an evangelical mission.

“We didn’t go there to preach to him and try to see whether we could convert him to our Catholic Church, but we went there to share our views and thoughts about the government, which he heads, hoping that our ideas will be taken into consideration.

“So that is what took us to the State House.

“We are hoping that our meeting with the President or our dialogue with the government of Nigeria did not end with that visit.

“We are hoping that somehow, he will invite us, not necessarily to meet him, I mean President Tinubu, but at least to open up fairness for us to give more information, more concerns that we have, than we could give in the 10 minutes talk that we gave to him.”

Onaiyekan said the bishops had no partisan political ambitions, challenging the government to focus on the substance of their message rather than the personalities behind it.

He added: “I have told you already that I am not even prepared to start engaging anybody. 

“Don’t forget that I was not defending my thesis. 

“The document was prepared by the bishops of Nigeria, and we are a big number, and it was passed unanimously. 

“We don’t have any political ambitions for anything. 

𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖/𝕨𝕒𝕥𝕔𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕧𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕠 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖