Ayo Fasoro

 

The privilege to visit the seat of power mostly consist of an opportunity to praise the President for the excellent work that he is doing. Excellent work that only the blind and the partisan fail to see.

You go in, praise the leader, take some pictures, and return home to tell everyone who cares to listen that the President said so and so to you. Good for the government, good for you.

Standard protocol, except if you are Catholic Bishops. Men who share daily interaction with everyday citizens and sometimes with the Supreme Pontiff. They are neither intimidated by tenants of temporary seat of power nor by the opportunity for personal advantage.

On Tuesday, 26 July 2026, a delegation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria CBCN visited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at State House, Aso Rock Villa in Abuja; it has now become the visit.

It was not the Bishops’ first visit to the seat of government. They went there when uniformed men with bloodshot eyes resided there; and when other men in flowing robes and telling caps lived and worked there too. Each time, they told the tenants of power the truth, no matter how uncomfortable.

This last visit was no different. The Bishops’ address centred on the state of the economy; the security situation; the independence of INEC and its readiness to deliver free, fair, and credible elections as well as the return of schools to their original owners. The President responded as he was expected to. He defended his government; and he defended himself as he is right to do.

President Tinubu did not question the right of the Bishops to raise those issues. Rather, he painted a picture of actions being taken and of results achieved. The Bishops spoke; he heard them; and he responded. The conversation was not meant to be a session where one party convinced the other. It was one where each spoke freely, candidly, and clearly. Nothing was lost; to the President or to the Bishops.

Shortly after, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja was a guest on a television interview programme, during which he fielded questions on the visit.

Since the visit, and the television interview, the media world has been flooded by comments, debates, accusations and defences. It has been a singular opportunity for the President’s men to demonstrate their loyalty. Their unrestrained eagerness and boundless vigour to defend the man on whose mandate they stand is deafening.

They brought out the wood, the nails, the crown of thorns; and then the hammer. To them, Cardinal Onaiyekan belongs on the cross; and they were prepared to nail him. Not just him, but all Catholic Bishops, as proof of loyalty.

They pretend not to know that the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria is the apex organ of the Catholic Church in Nigeria. It represents not just the eminent individuals in its membership, but the close to forty million Nigerian Catholics. Bishops are not just leaders, they are teachers. Above all, they are Shepherds guiding matters of faith and morals.

Bishops bear a moral mandate that is at once a cudgel and a burden. They owe it to the faithful, the nation, and the world to give voice to the fears, the needs, and the horrors of everyday life of the least of men. They are Shepherds who, by walking with their flock, do smell like their sheep. They live among the people, not behind garrisoned gates. They meet everyday-members of their flock, not through emissaries.

President Tinubu’s aides and his supporters said that the government is doing the best in the circumstances. On the other hand, Catholic Bishops said that much more needed to be done. The man in the street is the judge. However, the man in the street has no access to Aso Villa to tell the President how good his (the man…) life is.

Nevertheless, the people are not deceived. They know who speaks for them between the Bishops and the President’s cheerleaders. Without a doubt, the Bishops have it.

 

 

Ayo Fasoro

Non Sum Dignus