Still on Onaiyekan’s Partisan Commentaries, By Barr. Adekunle Adenekan

Basically and as a fundamental principle in Law, the ascription of Probative value to the evidence of anyone who has an interest to serve in a contested suit is always treated- and for good measure- with a high degree of circumspection, care and caution.
The Catholic church leadership in Nigeria as a body at the 2023 Presidential vote putatively endorsed a candidate who regrettably went on to lose the vote. The church roundly and expectedly condemned the outcome of the Vote as a charade.

The ruckus generated by the recent Catholic churches’ leadership visit to the President represents, more than anything else, the laying of the groundwork for the direction the Church would most likely travel in forthcoming polls. This predictive inclination has been oxygenated by the visibility and villification given vent not by the Catholic church as an organic unit but by the former Archbishop of the Abuja diocese personally.

I am almost certain that if President Tinubu had elected to change the Presidental ticket to a Muslim/ Christian duo rather than the sustenance of the status quo same faith ticket, the tonality, context and content of the visit to the Villa by the Catholic Clergies would have assumed a totally different consideration with a probable salutory tone in tow.

If the more measured and nuanced Archbishop Mathew Kukah had been allowed to speak on the outcome of the Villa visit for instance, the astute, prolific and highly celebral Clergy would equally have taken a totally different route from the one travelled by Bishop Onayeikan.

Without a doubt, the Catholic church like other faith-based institutions has the responsibility and I daresay, the obligation to speak truth to power without holding back.

But there was obviously nothing they said at the Villa that has not been spoken about by Nigerians of all hues and colours.

Lamentations about the condition of the country had gained such currency that it had become an everyday staple.

Correspondingly also, the Church equally has an obligation to point out the areas where this administration has performed well particularly in the areas of :-

1 . Verifiable Massive road construction projects across the country the likes of which no Government has accomplished in this Political dispensation.

2 .Majorly as a result of sustained surveillance and security of our Pipelines, Nigeria’s oil production rose exponentially to a 6 year high of 1.56 mbpd in June rising further to an unprecedented high of 1.89mbpd if we factor in condensate representing a huge incremental over and above the OPEC benchmark of 1.5mbpd.
Non-oil exports has also witnessed a never before seen surge as a result of exchange rate differentials.

3 .The ugly spectre of unpaid arrears of salaries of Civil servants is now almost consigned to historical archival object as a resultant effect of enhanced revenue into the Federation account propelled largely by subsidy removal.

4 . This administration has embarked on a very ambitious and commendable large scale fiscal and political restructuring of the country the likes of which were strongly advocated by the Late Chief Abraham Adesanya and others of his ilk.

5 . The NELFUND Scheme for the payment of tuitions to disadvantaged students.

6 . The successful prosecution of the case instituted at the Supreme Court for the grant of autonomy to Local Governments.

7 . The shake-up in the security architecture of the country with the introduction of State Police and the expansion in the Divisions of the Nigerian Army leading to the proposed employment of 28,000 recruitments into the Nigerian military.

8 . The explosion in the Foreign exchange reserves to unprecedented levels never before witnessed in Nigeria and the Tax reform initiative.

9 . Exchange rate parity and relative stability in the Foreign exchange market and generally taking proactive action to bring Nigeria back from the brink as masterfully articulated in a recent interview by no less an acerbic and highly critical economist than the Emir of Kano.

10 . The bold and assertive action in removing the fraud-laden fuel subsidy which has impacted negatively on the quality and standard of living of Nigerians but which in the long was nonetheless a necessity as attested to by both Mr Peter Obi and former Vice President Atiku.

It is not yet uhuru and we are obviously not there yet but there are no doubts in the minds of well-meaning people that the endgame for these structural economic and political rejigging of Nigeria cannot but bode well for the future of the country.

This writer has been unsparingly critical of the actions and certain policy outlines of this administration but this takes nothing away from some of the sterling achievements of the Tinubu Presidency.

We are seeing a well worn pattern playing out again along sectarian fault lines and fissures capable of accentuating our division. We should not allow this to happen.

We can disagree on policy options without being vociferously disagreeable.

The Pope, an American national from his public persona and gravitas has never been a fan of the Trump way of conducting affairs but the Pope has seldom, if ever, mentioned Trump by name in his public utterances. The Head of the Catholic church has been measured, circumspect and reticent in jumping into Political frays excepting his appeals and gestures of orientation towards peace.

Finally, whilst it is conceded that Bishop Onayeikan has the unfettered right to express himself and he may surely mean well but he should nevertheless refrain from partisan Political commentaries with the potentials for and the prospect of being interpreted as deriving from a deep dissatisfaction with the complexion of the APC Presidential ticket and of course, the unending fallout from the 2023 vote.

Let Nigerians decide their fate at the Polls with the least interference from select interest groups.

I have spoken as led by the spirit.

– Kunle Adenekan is a Lagos-based lawyer and public affairs analyst.