John Onaiyekan, a cardinal and former Catholic archbishop of
Abuja, says President Bola Tinubu’s re-election prospects in a free and fair
election would be jeopardised if he continues with his current policies.
Onaiyekan spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during an interview
with journalists after participating in the communication week public lecture
organised by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN).
The cardinal pointed out the disconnect between the
government and the people, stressing the need for the president to understand
the everyday struggles of the ordinary Nigerians.
“My advice for Mr. President is to find ways and means of
finding out what Nigeria is actually going through,” Onaiyekan 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.
“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.
“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.
“And I think it is a good time. Two years is halfway through
for him to at least try and do that.
“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 said the president should govern the country well and
make it liveable for the ordinary Nigerian.
“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,” Onaiyekan said.
“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.
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