Dare Accuses Catholic Bishops of Partisanship, Defends Tinubu’s Reform Agenda

Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communications, Sunday Dare, has accused leaders of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) of abandoning their moral neutrality for partisan politics, insisting that criticisms of the Tinubu administration ignored the realities of the country’s inherited economic challenges and ongoing reforms.

In a lengthy statement posted on his official X account on Sunday titled, “When the Cassock Abandons the Pulpit: The Bishops’ Partisan Mirage and Opposition Echoes,” Dare defended President Tinubu’s economic policies while taking direct aim at CBCN President, Most Rev. Matthew Ndagoso, and Archbishop Emeritus John Cardinal Onaiyekan over their comments after meeting the President at the State House on July 28.

He argued that while religious leaders have a right to contribute to national discourse, their moral authority depends on remaining independent of partisan politics.

“Every religious leader who chooses to intervene in political debate assumes a delicate responsibility. The moral influence of the clerical office depends upon being seen as independent of every political tendency. The moment public interventions begin to resemble partisan commentary, that moral advantage inevitably diminishes,” Dare wrote.

According to him, Nigerians had expected the bishops to provide “profound spiritual counsel, constructive statesmanship, and puritanical guidance” during their engagement with the President, but instead witnessed “a disappointing spectacle of partisan posturing.”

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“By abandoning the sacred detachment required of their revered offices to act as proxies for opposition political elements, the Prelates delivered a performance that was as superficial as it was banal,” he stated.

The presidential aide maintained that Cardinal Onaiyekan’s public comments after the meeting reflected political bias rather than the neutrality expected of a senior cleric.

“The cassock does not desert its wearer simply because he challenges the king. It begins to lose its unique moral force when conviction overtakes balance, when measured judgment yields to partisanship and when personal sentiment, longstanding disagreement or visible sympathy begins to cloud the discipline that the episcopal office requires,” Dare said.

Defending President Tinubu’s record, Dare argued that the administration inherited an economy on the brink of collapse in May 2023 and has since embarked on difficult but necessary reforms to stabilise the country.

He cited the removal of petrol subsidy, unification of the foreign exchange market, increased Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) allocations to states, reduction in the debt service-to-revenue ratio, the establishment of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), agricultural interventions and ongoing infrastructure projects as evidence of what he described as the administration’s achievements.

“To reduce President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s monumental, multi-sectoral transformation agenda to a narrative of failure is not merely an act of intellectual dishonesty; it is a scathingly uncharitable assault on a patriotic leader who inherited a crumbling, bankrupt estate in May 2023 and possessed the rare political courage to rebuild it from the foundation up,” he wrote.

Dare also faulted the bishops for criticising government policies without offering practical alternatives.

“For a religious body as venerable as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, pastoral duty requires more than compiling a list of national grievances,” he said.

“Where were the bishops’ concrete alternative economic models during their presentation? What alternative frameworks did they offer for securing vast forest terrains or raising national revenues without tax reform? To criticize without hazarding a single workable solution is the ultimate mark of armchair commentary.”

He equally rejected suggestions that the Tinubu administration could undermine the integrity of future elections, describing such allegations as baseless and unfair to democratic institutions.

“To suggest that the administration is bent on winning by all means is to spread unfounded anxiety that discredits the democratic institutions the bishops claim to protect,” Dare said.

He added that Tinubu’s role in Nigeria’s pro-democracy struggle demonstrated his commitment to democratic governance and dismissed claims of possible electoral manipulation as “a baseless smear designed to provide cover for an opposition that has failed to present a coherent alternative vision.”

Concluding the statement, Dare urged critics to acknowledge what he described as the progress recorded by the administration and support efforts to rebuild the country.

“Governance is not a Sunday sermon; it is the difficult, often painful art of making hard choices for long-term national survival,” he said.

“Nigeria is no longer at the tipping point. The dark tunnel of fiscal insolvency has been navigated, the foundation for stability has been laid, and prosperity is taking root. It is time for critics—clerical or political—to abandon the comfortable pulpits of cynicism, acknowledge the heavy lifting of national reconstruction, and join in the patriotic work of building a resilient, self-reliant Nigeria.”

In an earlier report by TVC News, the Presidency had responded to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar after he accused the Tinubu administration of intolerance over its reaction to comments made by Archbishop Emeritus John Cardinal Onaiyekan. Atiku had alleged that the Presidency resorted to political attacks instead of addressing the concerns raised by the Catholic cleric, a claim the Presidency rejected.