Cardinal John Onaiyekan, former Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, has issued a strong warning to President Bola Tinubu, urging him to urgently change his policy direction or risk losing re-election—if the next general election is free and fair.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday in Abuja after a public lecture hosted by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) as part of its Communication Week activities, Onaiyekan expressed deep concern over the suffering of Nigerians under Tinubu’s administration.
“My advice for Mr. President is to find ways and means of finding out what Nigeria is actually going through,” he said.
“Not those around him who are always praising him to the skies. They should find out. It is the job of every leader now.”
Highlighting the disconnect between the leadership and the reality of citizens’ lives, Onaiyekan stressed the importance of empathy and policy shifts that genuinely uplift the poor.
“I’m not telling him to go and live in Mpape for two days, which would not be a bad idea. But he should be able to know how the people in Mpape are surviving. He should also know how families are managing with N30,000 salary a day.”
Onaiyekan acknowledged the challenges faced by the government but insisted that the buck stops with those in power.
“Since it is the people that he should serve, he should do more to raise the level of well-being of Nigerians.”
“I don’t think we are unfair to the government if we say that in the last two years, our level of well-being has crashed considerably. The government may say it’s not their fault.
“They may say they have done their best. But the government is there to make sure that that does not happen. The government is there to make sure that at least the level of well-being of Nigerians is maintained and, if possible, improved.”
With the halfway mark of Tinubu’s tenure approaching, Onaiyekan said now is the time to “change gear” and implement pro-poor policies that could salvage his legacy.
“If he changes gear in that regard and takes policies that really target the poor people of Nigeria, they will remember him forever.”
“But if he continues like this for the rest of his term, if we have a free and fair election, he will not win. Because how can the country bring him back if we are not feeling good?
“Obviously, if they are not waiting for us to vote and they already made up their mind, if we win, okay, we praise the nation; we will continue. Going down, going down.”
He concluded by calling on Tinubu to focus on governance rather than political validation.
“We are still 250 million of us here in this country. We are struggling, and we shall win, we shall win. So, I’m hoping that the people around Mr. President will give him that advice.”
“The elections were over two years ago. He doesn’t have to worry again whether he won the election or not. The Supreme Court said he won, so we have agreed now.”
“We have agreed that he won. This is what the Supreme Court said, we have nowhere else to go. Now he should just govern, make life as liveable as possible for Nigerians, deal with security everywhere, improve the economic level of our people, and fight corruption.”
