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The visit,July 31st, 2026 of Catholic Bishops to President Bola Tinubu at the presidential villa,Abuja and the undiluted truth about the state of the nation they told the President have remained the dominant political discourse in the country.
One of the visiting Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, a dedicated peacebuilder, an intellectual religious leader, and a strong champion for interfaith dialogue between Christians and Muslims, granted a TV interview shortly after the meeting and bared, without mincing words, the raw truth they told the President. In other words, the Bishops held a mirror of the country and of the Tinubu presidency and showed him the suffering- hunger, insecurity, hardship- Nigerians are experiencing under him. Truth, it’s said, is always self- evident but our dear President was in complete denial of what he saw in the mirror.Rather than accept the grim images the mirror showed, the President engaged on self-praise, self- score and self- assessment. Yes, he scored himself, assessed himself and awarded himself a pass mark. On the economy and hardship Nigerians are facing, when told by the Bishops that citizens faced severe economic pain, Tinubu insisted the macro-direction was sound and that reforms were laying a foundation for prosperity. On insecurity, he defended his security strategy, stating that the government was actively overhauling security architecture and that terrorism and banditry would be defeated. On politics and 2027 elections, he responded to concerns about a shrinking democratic space and the neutrality of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) by claiming that political actors had equal opportunity and that “all is fair in politics!
What played out between the president and the Catholic Bishops was revealed on Arise TV by Archbishop Onaiyekan. He and his- brother Bishops were not on the same page with the president on the issue they raised. The document they presented to the President, he revealed, reflected the collective position of the Catholic Bishop’s conference and was carefully prepared after rigorous deliberations. Archbishop Onaiyekan: “Let me say first and foremost that that statement read by our president was not just put together at random. It was carefully considered and with wide consultation. The Bishops’ Conference is bigger than the group of us that were there, but it is very representative of the Bishops’ Conference.
“So, it is the Catholic Bishops’ Conference that produced that document. It was written, rewritten and corrected. So it was not done at random, nor did we deliver it with levity”
He further added that the Bishops had no political ambitions or personal interests to protect but were compelled by their moral obligation to speak honestly about the suffering of Nigerians:
“I think I have an opportunity in this programme to remind Nigerians that, as Bishops, we have no ambitions to take Mr Tinubu’s job or anybody else’s job. We are not politicians running for office”
In fairness to the president, for a man who has been fenced off from reality- from the grim socio-economic and security upheaval facing the country by aides and the opulence and grandeur of presidential luxuries and fed daily with rosy pictures of sanity and tranquility by overzealous, unscrupulous and hypocritical advisers, it would be uncharitable of anyone to expect him to be on the same page with the Bishops.
Indeed, the mirror the Bishops held to Tinubu reflected the true situation of Nigeria: The suffering of the masses, insecurity, economic hardship, hunger etc. Archbishop Onayeikan: “We are, first and foremost, religious leaders who feel we have a duty—not just to preach our religious doctrines, but also to address the lives of our people, both those who are our members and those who are not. You can see that from the content and the tone of our statement..When the nation is bleeding, you cannot expect a polite meeting with the Head of State. We told him the economy is not helping our poor people; he told us the economy is doing fine”
Well, the President and his henchmen can continue to play the ostrich but truth remains: Heaven and Nigerians are aware that the Bishops delivered a message that touched raw nerves, a message that captured, wholesale, the plight of Nigerians and the true situation of the country.Whether the message is accepted or not is not the the issue, the joy is that men of goodwill who are fearless and not beholden to any political godfather or enticed with “Ghana- Must-Go” bags filled of filthy bribes, men of God who are not rented or pay- as- we gather “Bishops” made their voices heard and stood up to be counted when it mattered most, in the overall interest of their fellow countrymen and women.
The Catholic Bishops have done what is required of them as religious leaders and followers of Christ. They have delivered the message, they have delivered the truth and they are at peace with their conscience and with their God for according to Matthew 10:14: “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town”. This, they have done. Heaven and earth, and history will bear them witness that they didn’t keep quite or play the ostrich or play to the gallery at a time their nation was in dire need of their ecclesiastical advise and intervention.
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They deserve applause!
As Osun state goes to the polls, let peace, the people’s choice prevail
This Saturday, the 15th of August, 2026, the people of osun state will throng polling stations to cast their votes to elect the next governor. It is my prayer that political actors in the state prove pundits wrong by allowing the election to be free, fair and violent- free. It is my fervent prayer that a peaceful election takes and that the will of the people prevail.For an election to be peaceful, there are certain parameters to strictly follow: avoid rumours, do not instigate violence, do not sell your votes, do not be used as a political thug.
For a peaceful election in Osun, please, report any suspicious activities to any of the underlisted security agencies
POLICE: 07031179186
2. NDLEA: 080010203040
3. EFCC: 08093322644
4. Nigeria Customs Service:+234 703 789 1156
5-NAPTIP-08075638397
6.DSS-09153391309.
Let peace prevail in Osun, let the people’s will prevail, let the votes count!
