The Bishop Emeritus, Catholic Archdioceses of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan has taken a swipe on the recent list of Ministerial nominees sent to the National Assembly by President Bola Tinubu.
The Former President of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) while saying that he does not reserve the right to say that the Ministerial nominees were not good, said it is expected that the National Assembly exercise their right by interrogating all the nominees.
Onaiyekan stated this while interacting with journalists during an Evening of a Special Service of Tribute and Songs organised by CAN in honour of late former CAN President, Prelate Sunday Mbang.
While praying that the National Assembly performs its duty diligently, the clergyman said all he will do is to wait and see how they (ministerial nominees) perform when they start working.
“That is why they have to undergo screening by the National Assembly, if the National Assembly screens them and tells them to take a bow and move on, and agree that they are excellent, who am I to say that they are not good, all I have to do is that I wait and see how they perform when they start working, it is not for me to say they shouldn’t do it, the National Assembly has the responsibility to represent us well, we pray that they did, and like the scripture says, by their fruits we shall know them”, he said.
Speaking further, the vocal Catholic Bishop said the problem Nigeria has is identifying its problems and failing to admit them.
“We all know what our problems are, we even know what to do but we don’t want to do it, we are very often, we don’t want to admit our problems, and that is the biggest problem, if we don’t admit our problems, if we go around pretending that everything is fine when things are not find, then we will not even start trying to resolve them.
“Let’s admit that things are not so fine, let’s admit that we have problems, let’s admit that we have internal issues that we need to resolve so that we can find a way of putting our heads together and resolve it, we cannot all believe in the same way, we cannot all have the same ideas, even about how to resolve the problem of the nation, but we must at least have a common mind in our readiness and willingness to make the nation great”, he noted.
He charged the Presidential Election Tribunal to complete its assignment as soon as possible so that the nation can start to regain its unity and common action.
“We need indeed to work hard for unity in our nation. The election tribunals should complete their assignments as soon as possible so that the nation can start to regain its unity and common action, without which our grievous challenges cannot be properly addressed.
“That is why it is our duty as Christian Church to work and pray all the time for peace and unity of our nation, irrespective of political divisions, ethnic identities or social dislocations”, Onaiyekan added.
