Wike insists Onaiyekan was partisan in 2023 election

By Omeiza Ajayi

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Nyesom Wike, has said the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, was not neutral during the 2023 general election, dismissing suggestions that the cleric’s recent criticisms of the Presidency were impartial.

Wike spoke on Tuesday at his monthly media parley monitored in Abuja, while reacting to the storm that followed Onaiyekan’s remarks after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).

The Cardinal had said in an interview that those around Tinubu were painting a “rosy picture” of the country for him, and that the President appeared focused on winning a second term in 2027. The Presidency had faulted him for making details of the closed-door meeting public, calling it an abuse of privilege.

Wike argued that religious leaders needed to show more balance in their public commentary, stating that one-sided criticism of government, without any acknowledgement of its achievements, would inevitably be read as political.