•Onaiyekan and Tinubu
The insinuation that Cardinal Onaiyekan is criticising Tinubu because he is supporting Obi is as lame as the P in Psychology. The only evidence those throwing this false claim have is a group photo of Onaiyekan and other bishops with Peter Obi at Archbishop Alaba Job’s triple anniversaries in Ibadan last month. Nowhere has Onaiyekan promised Obi that he’d fight for him; neither has the CBCN ever said that Obi is the ‘Catholic Church’s candidate’ for the presidency. I think the peddlers of this falsehood can do better!
For the records, Cardinal Onaiyekan has earned a solid reputation for prophetic advocacy on behalf of the Nigerian people for nearly 40 years.
He has been forthright with every government from IBB and Abacha down to Tinubu’s. In 1994 when he was promoted from Bishop to Archbishop of Abuja, in his homily at his cathedral he fired a salvo at Abacha for creating unnecessary tension in the nation in the aftermath of the June 1993 crisis.
Abacha was just next door to him. Even though Abacha considered Onaiyekan quite unsparing in criticising his regime, when Onaiyekan’s father Pa. Bartholomew died in 1995, Abacha sent a handwritten condolence with a despatch of a major general of the regime to attend the funeral in Kabba.
On December 18, 2005, at the National Christmas Carols at the Ecumenical Center in Abuja, Onaiyekan told President Obasanjo straight to his face to resist the temptation of seeking a third term. Obasanjo was sitting right there in the front row.
When El Rufai was going about his demolition spree in Abuja in the 2000s, Onaiyekan stood up to the FCT Minister for treating the poor people in Abuja shabbily and destroying their houses and their means of livelihoods without providing an alternative.
Onaiyekan didn’t spare Jonathan for the bogus corruption in his government. Neither did he spare Buhari for the gross ineptitude of his administration. His voice has been consistent right from his days as Bishop of Ilorin in the mid-1980s till date. As President of CBCN for 6 years, he articulated the challenges of the nation with clarity and honesty.
It’s lame to think that he is critical of Tinubu’s regime because of Obi. If Obi were to become president of Nigeria today, what will he give to Onaiyekan? Will he make Onaiyekan vice-president of Nigeria or give him a contract? Onaiyekan does not give a hoot about who becomes president. Neither he nor the other Catholic bishops are eyeing the president’s seat. What they care about is that the country is governed well and that the government serves the common good of all Nigerians.
When the Catholic bishops speak about the state of the nation, they are not speaking as partisan chieftains or political lords; they are speaking as prophets and shepherds who are articulating the sufferings of the people. As shepherds at the grassroots, Bishops feel the pulse of what is happening in the most interior villages, slums, and local communities across the country. They have regular pastoral visits to risky and dangerous places that the average Nigerian politician does not dare to go. They experience firsthand the sufferings and miseries of the poor and they consider it their prophetic social responsibility to amplify these concerns to those in power.
Cardinal Onaiyekan is already 82 years old and God has immensely blessed him. His parents each died at 92, ten years apart from each other. Longevity flows in the Onaiyekan family. But even if Onaiyekan were to die today, he has lived a most accomplished life. He graduated from secondary school in Aliade in 1962 with the best result in the whole of northern Nigeria and turned down a scholarship to study anywhere in the world from the Sardauna and Premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello. He went to seminary and became a priest at 25, finished his doctorate in Rome with first class honors at 32, became the youngest ever rector of a Catholic major seminary in Nigeria at 34, was appointed to two Vatican International Commissions at 36, became a bishop at 38, an archbishop at 50, and a cardinal at 68.
He has been auxiliary bishop of Ilorin, bishop of Ilorin, apostolic administrator of Ilorin, co-adjutor bishop of Abuja, bishop of Abuja, and Archbishop of Abuja for a combined period of 36 years. He has been a bishop for 43 years now. Tomorrow (today), August 3, 2026 he will mark his 57th year as a Catholic priest.
Onaiyekan has been CAN Chairman of Kwara State. He has been President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) for two terms. He has been President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). He has been Co-President of the Nigeria Interreligious Council (NIREC). He has been President of the Catholic Bishops Conferences of West Africa (RECOWA) for two terms. He has been President of the Symposium of Catholic Bishops Conferences in the continent of Africa (SECAM). He has been President of the African Council for Religious Leaders (ACRL). He has been Co-President of the World Council of Religions for Peace (WCRL-RfP). He is an Honorary Life President of WRCL-RfP. He has been a Member of the General Council of the Synod of Bishops at the Vatican for several years. He has been a Member of the Global Agenda Council on Religions at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Onaiyekan has been president of every possible national and continental Christian body you can dream of. So why would anyone think he has something to gain for speaking truth to power other than the good interest of the Nigerian people?
As he is today, Cardinal Onaiyekan can travel on a Vatican diplomatic passport, if he wants to. He has food to eat; he has clothes to wear; he has a roof over his head; he has access to the best healthcare facilities, if need be. He has a means of mobility.
He has been using the only two cars he has for 12 and 13 years respectively and has refused to change them. If he wanted new vehicles today, at the snap of a finger tens of persons will make new ones available. But he has chosen to live a life of simplicity, modesty, and frugality. He spends the gifts he receives doing charity, even to people he doesn’t know and has never met because they are in need of help.
He has supported the education of countless numbers of indigent children; given hope and support to families without means of livelihood. When he speaks, he is not speaking for himself.
He is speaking for the poor, the suffering, the hungry, the sick, all those whose lives have been put on hold due to the dire economic situation in the country. This is what Jesus would do!
*Reverend Father Emmanuel Omokugbo Ojeifo is a Nigerian Catholic priest, theologian, and researcher.
