By Our Corredpondent<\/p>\n
Disturbed by the criticisms that followed the visit of the Catholic Bishops to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the presidency,the Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has condemned attacks on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), urging President Bola Tinubu and his administration to embrace constructive criticism rather than vilify respected religious leaders over their assessment of the nation’s condition.<\/p>\n
In a statement entitled “When a Government Declares War on the Truth,” Obi said the country’s deepening economic hardship, rising inflation, worsening insecurity and growing unemployment demand sincere engagement with citizens’ concerns instead of attempts to silence dissenting voices.
\nHe described the CBCN as the nation’s moral conscience, insisting that the body has consistently spoken truth to power under both military and democratic governments without acting as an opposition platform.<\/p>\n
According to Obi, other major faith-based organisations\u2014including Jama’atu Nasril Islam (JNI), the Supreme Council for Shari’ah in Nigeria (SCSN), the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA)\u2014have equally expressed concern over the deteriorating socio-economic and security situation in the country.<\/p>\n
He argued that religious leaders are uniquely positioned to understand the plight of ordinary Nigerians because they interact daily with communities struggling under the weight of hunger, unemployment, soaring food prices, kidnappings and other security threats.<\/p>\n
Drawing from his tenure as Governor of Anambra State, Obi said his administration benefited immensely from the constructive advice and criticism of religious and traditional leaders, particularly in advancing reforms in education and healthcare.<\/p>\n
“As leaders, we should be gracious enough to listen to people and organisations that speak the truth to us and genuinely criticise us when things are not going in the right direction,” he said.<\/p>\n
Obi expressed concern over what he described as the unwarranted attacks on the CBCN and Cardinal John Onaiyekan following the bishops’ recent assessment of the country’s challenges. He recalled that when Pope John Paul II criticised the military government of the late General Sani Abacha during his 1998 visit to Nigeria over issues including the detention of Chief M.K.O. Abiola, the pontiff was not subjected to public vilification.<\/p>\n
The former governor also questioned what he described as the Federal Government’s inconsistent posture towards the Catholic Church, noting that President Tinubu accorded the Church great respect during the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV in Rome but appeared to change attitude after the Nigerian bishops criticised conditions in the country.<\/p>\n
He further accused some political actors of attempting to reduce the bishops’ intervention to a religious issue, insisting that the concerns they raised\u2014including insecurity, poverty, inflation, unemployment and widespread hardship\u2014cut across religious and ethnic divides.<\/p>\n
“The bishops merely gave voice to the daily realities confronting millions of Nigerians,” Obi said, maintaining that government should focus on solving the problems identified rather than attacking those who draw attention to them.
\nHe stressed that democracy thrives when governments listen to credible voices and embrace accountability, adding that enduring national progress can only be achieved by confronting uncomfortable truths rather than suppressing them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Corredpondent Disturbed by the criticisms that followed the visit of the Catholic Bishops to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the presidency,the Presidential Candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has condemned attacks on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), urging President Bola Tinubu and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16338,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16337\/revisions\/16338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}