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The Presidency has criticised Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, over his public comments on the recent closed-door meeting between President Bola Tinubu and members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), describing his account as inappropriate and a breach of the confidence expected from such engagements.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, said Onaiyekan’s decision to discuss the private meeting during an interview on ARISE NEWS amounted to an abuse of clerical privilege.
“There is something fundamentally inappropriate about Cardinal John Onaiyekan granting a television interview to offer his own account and interpretation of what transpired during the private meeting between the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria and President Bola Tinubu. It is, in my view, an abuse of clerical privilege.”
The reaction followed Onaiyekan’s interview in which he claimed that people around President Tinubu were giving him a “rosy picture” of the country and that the bishops felt obliged to present the President with the realities facing Nigerians.
Ajayi said the bishops were freely allowed to present their concerns on security, the economy, education, democracy and other national issues, adding that President Tinubu listened patiently before responding to every issue raised.
According to him, disagreement with the bishops’ assessment did not amount to dismissing their concerns.
“The bishops were notably acerbic in their submission, but the President listened to them patiently and responded.”
The presidential spokesman said Tinubu challenged what he considered an incomplete assessment of the country’s situation, arguing that while Nigeria still faces significant economic and security challenges, measurable progress has been made.
“The President argued that the bishops’ characterisation of the country’s current condition was incomplete and, in several respects, inaccurate. He pointed to measurable progress on the economic, social, and security fronts.”
Ajayi said the President acknowledged that many Nigerians were still experiencing hardship but insisted that his administration had pulled the country away from a fiscal crisis and laid the foundation for recovery.
The statement also highlighted improvements in state finances, including more regular payment of salaries and pensions, as evidence that government reforms were yielding results.
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“While this does not erase the discomfort many Nigerians still face, it is wrong to casually dismiss or ignore those improvements.”
On the issue of security, the Presidency rejected the suggestion that Tinubu was detached from the realities on the ground, saying the President has access to intelligence unavailable to the general public.
“As Commander-in-Chief, he receives operational briefings, intelligence assessments, and battlefield reports unavailable to the general public.”
Ajayi also dismissed Onaiyekan’s suggestion that those around the President were shielding him from the truth, insisting Tinubu has multiple independent channels through which he receives information about the country.
“What truth does anyone really need to tell President Tinubu that he does not already know? As President, he has multiple channels for feeling the pulse of the country.”
According to the statement, the President reads newspapers daily, monitors television discussions, receives security and economic briefings, and maintains contacts across different sectors of society, making it inaccurate to suggest that only the Catholic bishops could acquaint him with the country’s realities.
While acknowledging the bishops’ right to express their views during the meeting, the Presidency maintained that the confidentiality of the engagement should have been respected.
“The Catholic Bishops discharged what they considered their moral obligation by presenting their concerns to the President. President Tinubu, for his part, accorded them respect by granting them an audience and responding to every issue they raised.”
The statement concluded by stressing that participants in such high-level engagements should exercise restraint in discussing private conversations publicly.
“It was inappropriate for one of the participants to appear on national television almost immediately to offer his own version of what was essentially a private conversation with the President.”
