Bwala claims Cardinal Onaiyekan spoke for Catholics, not all Christians in his rebuke of Tinubu
By Ishaya Ibrahim
Presidential spokesman, Daniel Bwala, has said that Cardinal John Onaiyekan was speaking from a Catholic perspective and not on behalf of all Christians in Nigeria.
The comment came days after Onaiyekan and other Catholic bishops met with President Tinubu to present their assessment of the nation’s condition. In a subsequent interview on Arise News, the Cardinal said the president is surrounded by people who rarely tell him the truth.
In a statement posted on X on Saturday, Bwala argued that the Cardinal’s comments were political rather than spiritual. He linked the position to “the very institutions rooting for Peter Obi,” noting that it is “likely the institution where Peter Obi also said in 2022 ‘take back your country’.”
Bwala stressed that “not all Catholic members are supporting Peter Obi.” He added that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu @officialABAT “was well within his right to disagree with their assertion as regards Nigeria’s economy based purely on facts, statistics and numbers put into context.”
The presidential spokesman also accused some clergy of double standards. “Ironically, the same priest would rebuke their members if the members said ‘we are suffering or we are poor’. They would tell them to rather say ‘we are doing great’ even when they are suffering or poor,” he said.
Bwala further stated that there is an umbrella body comprising all Christians, including Catholics and the Catholic Bishops Conference, and that “that body’s position is neutral and should be so, otherwise it is political.”
