CARDINAL ONAIYEKAN TO BUHARI: Your best not good enough, Nigeria is in a state of despair

Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has told the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government that their best is not enough and that Nigerians deserve better governance, social justice and peace.

According to him, the country is currently in a state of “political emergency and on the verge of despair,” having seen their hope of better Nigeria being dashed by both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

He sated this on Sunday in a homily at the opening Mass of the first 2018 plenary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) in Abuja.

He said, “Yes, our nation is in a state of uncertainty and confusion; A few things are going well in the society and the economy for which we thank God and congratulate our leaders.

“They tell us that they are doing their best, but a lot still needs to be done and too many problems have been left to fester. Our nation surely deserves far better than it is now getting in terms of good governance, social justice and peace and minimum of well being for our people.”

Regretting that Buhari’s government spent so much time and energy demonising its predecessor instead of focusing on its promise of a better life for Nigerians, the Archbishop said that the current administration has “unfortunately allowed the initial massive goodwill it enjoyed to be depleted, almost to non-existence.”

He added, “It is no wonder that many Nigerians are looking for a new political organisation that can truly bring about genuine change for the better. Having tried our two major political parties and found none of them up to our expectation, the nation is on the verge of despair.”

Onaiyekan however called on Nigerians not to allow the current situation of things in the country despair and frustrate them and said that the problems are well within the ability of the citizens to confront and resolve.

In his speech, the president of the CBCN, Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama, said the sermon was not borne out of ill-will, “but because the Church wants things to be good for the nation and that when the Church preaches, the Church is telling the government to go and re-strategise.”

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President Muhammadu Buhari, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, told the CBCN in his response that the group was the only Christian platform that gave him a listening ear before the 2015 presidential elections.

He said for that reason he has remained eternally grateful to CBCN.

“And I remember at that engagement, they asked very pertinent questions — direct bullets to the face. And he provided answers. And because of that reason, he believes that the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria is a strategic partner in the enterprise of growing the Nigeria nation and he believes that they have a lot to offer,” Mustapha said.

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