‘Many People Around Tinubu Are Giving Him A Rosy Picture About Nigeria’ – Cardinal Onaiyekan

Archbishop Emeritus, Catholic Diocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, has said many people around President Bola Tinubu are giving him the wrong impression about the economic situation in Nigeria.

Naijaonpoint reports that Onaiyekan made this known on Friday during an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Prime Time’ programme.

Recounting the meeting of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) with Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, Onaiyekan said the President rejected the bishops’ concerns about the reality in the country.

The cleric said the President’s response was not positive, stressing that he was not surprised by Tinubu’s disagreement.

According to him, many people around Tinubu are presenting rosy views of the country, adding that their duty is to present the truth to the President, despite the frosty reception.

He said, “The President rejected our concerns of the country. Nigeria is bleeding. I was not surprised that he was not looking very happy. Not even his colleagues who were there.

“We knew that this is different from the kind of statements that our President keeps receiving from all kinds of people, and that is one of the things that worries us.

“That there are so many people hanging around Mr President, giving him a rosy picture of what the country is, which it is not, and we felt that we have no duty to do that.

“Indeed, we have the obligation to help him to appreciate the reality of the situation in which we find ourselves, and that is the reality that we painted, which I know is not the kind of thing that he wanted to hear, and in reply he was very clear.”