‘I’m 82, not afraid of anybody’ – Onaiyekan responds to Presidency
Catholic Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has defended his decision to publicly discuss a meeting between Catholic bishops and President Bola Tinubu, saying he appeared on television to tell the truth and not to please the government.
The 82-year-old cleric stated this in a video shared by Symfoni TV on Wednesday while responding to the Presidency’s criticism of his account of the bishops’ meeting with Tinubu.
“I didn’t go to Arise (Television) to please government, or to just please people, but to tell the truth. That’s all I stand for,” Onaiyekan said.
He dismissed suggestions that the reaction from the Presidency could embarrass or intimidate him, stressing that he was not afraid of anyone.
“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 said.
Onaiyekan also urged Nigerians not to take for granted the freedom to criticise those in government, noting that religious leaders in some African countries do not enjoy the same liberty.
“And 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.
The cleric further clarified that his comments about the meeting with Tinubu were not his personal position but reflected the collective views of the Catholic bishops who participated in the engagement.
“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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