Cardinal John Onaiyekan has attributed the widespread attention generated by his recent comments on President Bola Tinubu’s administration to reactions from individuals he described as the government’s “attack dogs,” saying their interventions provoked Nigerians and intensified public debate around his remarks.
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Speaking on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, Onaiyekan revisited an earlier interview with Arise Television in which he discussed the state of the country and expressed concerns about the political direction of the All Progressives Congress government ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The cardinal said the remarks he made during the television interview were largely an explanation of concerns previously raised by Catholic bishops during a meeting with President Tinubu.
“Everything that happened at that interview was not coming from me. I was invited to expatiate on the position that my brother bishops took when we went to visit the president of the country,” he said.
According to Onaiyekan, the controversy that followed was driven less by what he said than by the responses of people associated with the government.
“I think the main reason was because I don’t know what pushed them some of what they call the attack dogs of the government went out of their ways to make certain statements that were not helpful even for government,” he said.
He argued that those reactions provoked Nigerians and generated even more discussion around the original interview, while he deliberately decided not to continue responding to the controversy.
Onaiyekan also recalled telling Arise Television presenter Charles Aniagolu that President Tinubu appeared unhappy with the message delivered by the bishops during their meeting with him.
The cardinal said the bishops had never expected the President to be pleased with everything they had to say because their purpose was not to praise or flatter the administration, but to convey what they considered the concerns of Nigerians.
“We were not expecting Mr President to be happy with us. We knew he was not going to be happy with what we were saying, but we felt that we don’t have to be going there to make him happy when Nigerians, in the vast majority, are not happy,” he said.
Onaiyekan maintained that political leaders could not reasonably claim ignorance of the difficulties being experienced by citizens, arguing that reports about the country’s economic and social conditions were widely available.
“There is no governor, unless we have a president who is deaf, dumb, and blind, who can tell us that he’s not hearing the truth about what is happening in Nigeria,” he said.
He also questioned how the success of government policies should be assessed, insisting that official claims about reforms should ultimately be measured against their impact on the everyday lives of ordinary Nigerians.
According to him, the clearest test of any policy is whether it improves the living conditions of citizens, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable.
“The proof of its validity must be seen in the life, daily life of the people, and especially of the poorest,” Onaiyekan said.
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