KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, said Catholic bishops did not visit President Bola Tinubu to preach or convert him to Catholicism.
- Onaiyekan said the bishops met Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on July 28, 2026 to raise concerns on Nigeria’s economy and security.
- He said the CBCN will not trade words with presidential spokespersons, and now wants another chance for deeper talks beyond their ten-minute presentation.
The Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has stated that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has no intention to respond to government spokespersons.
CityNews reports that the Cardinal was reacting to the criticism from presidential spokespersons following his submission on the country’s economy and security.
The bishops had met with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on July 28, 2026.
Speaking in an interview with Frontline, a current affairs programme on Eagle 102.5 FM, Ilese-Ijebu in Ogun State on Monday, Onaiyekan asserted that the Catholic Bishops have already delivered their message to the President and were only interested in whether it would influence governance.
He rejected suggestions that the bishops were speaking only for Catholics, saying their intervention was based on a moral responsibility to all Nigerians.
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 Presidency’s reaction, Onaiyekan refused to engage in the controversy, saying, “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 response from Nigerian people and that for me is more than enough.’’
The Cardinal explained that the audience with President Tinubu was initiated by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria after months of waiting for approval.
According to him, the meeting was neither intended as an evangelistic mission nor an attempt to advance the interests of the Catholic Church, but rather an opportunity to present the bishops’ concerns about governance and welfare of Nigerians as part of their pastoral responsibility.
“The Bishops visited President Tinubu last week and we requested for 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 statehouse,” he explained.
Expressing hope that the government would remain open to further engagement on issues affecting Nigerians, the Cardinal said: “We are hoping that our meeting with the President or our dialogue with the government of Nigeria did not end with that visit.”
He added that the bishops were still expecting the government to create another opportunity for a more detailed conversation.
“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 ten-minute talk that we gave to him,” he said.
