‘Churches don’t collect taxes’ – Ladipo Johnson slams Tinubu over hunger comment

A former National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigerian Peoples Party, NNPP, now a chieftain of the Nigerian Democratic Congress, NDC, Ladipo Johnson, has slammed President Bola Tinubu over a recent statement credited to the President during his meeting with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria.

Ladipo Johnson described the statement as shocking low point in the history of presidential communication in Nigeria.

Johnson wonders how a President could tell citizens facing unprecedented food insecurity that “hunger existed before I was born” and that they should look to their churches for sustenance is a profound abdication of the primary purpose of governance.

“Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria explicitly states that ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government’.” Johnson said in a statement on Saturday.

“By shifting the fundamental burden of social welfare from the state to religious bodies, the President is declaring his own policies bankrupt! Faith-based organizations provide charity; they do not collect taxes, manage national resources, or dictate macroeconomic policy.”

He noted that the tone of the President’s response reveals a worrying disdain for public accountability and the concerns of voters and reflects the posture of an administration that believes it is unaccountable to the people who hold the power of the ballot.

He added, “Dismissing severe systemic hardship as a mere historical inheritance or an unmanageable consequence of population growth shows a complete lack of empathy and statesmanship.

“Leaders are elected to solve complex, inherited problems, not to lament their existence. Claiming an inability to steer Nigeria’s economic and population trajectories is a public confession of administrative failure. It proves that this administration lacks the analytical capacity, data-driven approach, and strategic vision necessary to stabilize food inflation and secure the lives of everyday Nigerians.

“Nigeria requires executive leadership that embraces the buck stopping at the President’s desk. We call on the administration to pivot away from dismissive rhetoric and immediately present actionable, structural solutions to the acute food crisis ravaging our communities. Government must feed its policies with competence, rather than asking starving citizens to rely purely on hope.”