The Presidency has criticised Cardinal John Onaiyekan over his comments following a private meeting between President Bola Tinubu and members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, describing his television interview as “an abuse of clerical privilege.”
In a statement titled Cardinal Onaiyekan’s Abuse of Clerical Privilege, Presidential Adviser Temitope Ajayi said it was inappropriate for the Catholic cleric to publicly give his account of the closed-door meeting with the President.
“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,” Ajayi said.
According to the statement, the bishops had requested the audience with the President and presented concerns about Nigeria’s economic, social and security challenges. Ajayi said President Tinubu listened patiently before responding to each issue raised.
The Presidency said the President challenged the bishops’ assessment of the country’s situation, arguing that it did not fully reflect progress made by his administration.
“He acknowledged that significant economic and security challenges remain. His point was that the country has emerged from ‘a dark tunnel’, that his administration has laid the foundations for recovery and that the next phase is to ensure the greatest number of Nigerians feels the gains,” the statement said.
On the bishops’ call for the return of mission schools, the Presidency said Tinubu reminded them the matter falls under the jurisdiction of state governments and noted that he returned mission schools while serving as Governor of Lagos State.
Ajayi also defended the administration’s economic record, saying the government had restored fiscal stability and improved salary and pension payments across many states.
“So when President Tinubu reminded the bishops of these facts during the meeting, he was not, as Cardinal Onaiyekan later suggested, being aloof or dismissive. He was presenting evidence to support his argument that the country is not standing still. A disagreement over facts should not be interpreted as arrogance,” he said.
On security, the Presidency rejected the bishops’ assessment that Nigeria is bleeding, saying the President acknowledged existing challenges while relying on intelligence and operational reports available to him as Commander-in-Chief.
“As Commander-in-Chief, he receives operational briefings, intelligence assessments, and battlefield reports unavailable to the general public,” the statement said.
Ajayi also dismissed suggestions that President Tinubu depends on external critics to understand the country’s realities, saying the President receives daily intelligence reports, reads newspapers, watches television discussions and maintains wide-ranging contacts across Nigeria.
The Presidency maintained that while the bishops were entitled to present their concerns, the confidentiality of the meeting should have been respected.
“Reciprocity should have dictated that the confidentiality and dignity of that engagement be preserved. As such, it was inappropriate for one of the participants to emerge almost immediately on national television to provide his own version of what was essentially a private conversation with the president,” the statement said.
The statement added: “Public influence should be exercised with discretion, not by converting privileged access into a platform for post-meeting commentary.”
