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| Cardinal Onaiyekan |
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, has defended his decision to publicly describe a recent meeting between Catholic bishops and President Bola Tinubu, saying he went on television to speak the truth, not to appease the government.
In a video posted by Symfoni TV on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, the 82-year-old cleric responded to the Presidency’s criticism of his account of the bishops’ engagement with the president.
“I didn’t go to Arise to please government, or to just please people, but to tell the truth. That’s all I stand for,” he said.
Rejecting suggestions that the Presidency’s reaction could embarrass or intimidate him, Onaiyekan said his age and standing place him beyond such threats.
“I cannot be embarrassed. I’m 82 years old; nobody can embarrass me. And I’m not afraid of anybody. Nobody, at this stage now… are they going to arrest me, carry me to where?” he asked rhetorically.
Onaiyekan also warned against taking Nigeria’s freedom to criticize public officials for granted, noting that religious leaders in several African countries lack similar liberties.
“We are still lucky in this Nigeria that we can still talk. We shouldn’t take that for granted. There are many countries in Africa where no bishop dares to talk like we do here,” he said.
He added that his remarks did not represent only his personal view but conveyed the collective position of the Catholic bishops who attended the meeting.
“No, mind you, I didn’t talk on my own now. I spoke on behalf of my fellow bishops. We drafted a statement which contained all that I said in the interview. So, all the bishops of Nigeria spoke that way. It was their voice I was echoing,” he said.
He said the bishops remained free to express similar concerns in their respective dioceses, adding that other religious leaders had also voiced concerns about the state of the country.
“I cannot speak on behalf of other religious leaders. Everybody has their own job to do, but many of the other religious leaders have supported us,” he said.
“When it comes to what is happening to Nigeria, the poverty, the suffering, we are all in the same boat now, abi?”
A delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria met with President Tinubu on July 28 at the State House in Abuja.
The delegation was led by the CBCN President, Archbishop Matthew Man-Oso Ndagoso of Kaduna, and included Onaiyekan, Cardinal Peter Okpaleke, Bishop Matthew Kukah of Sokoto and other senior Catholic clerics.
During the meeting, the bishops raised concerns about economic hardship, insecurity, democracy and the 2027 elections. They also discussed religious freedom and the return of mission schools.
Three days after the meeting, Onaiyekan appeared on Arise News, where he gave his account of the engagement and said the bishops had spoken frankly to Tinubu about the condition of Nigerians.
His comments subsequently drew a response from the Presidency, with the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, describing the public disclosure of details from what he regarded as a private engagement as inappropriate.
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