Christian Ministers Movement (CIMWI) Condemns Onaiyekan’s Statement On Installation Of Tinubu As Nigeria’s President

Christian Ministers Movement has condemned, in strong terms, a statement credited to the Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Rev. Father John Onaiyekan to the effect that the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu should not be sworn-in until the tribunal has concluded election petitions.

The movement said in a statement signed by its President, Engineer Adebiyi, which was made available to journalists, that the comment by Onaiyekan was “the height of hypocrisy, dishonesty, double standards perpetrated by someone who is in the vineyard of the Lord and has divine obligation to lead his flock aright.”

They recalled that from 1994 to 2019, Rev. Onaiyekan was the Bishop of Abuja Diocese, and that he witnessed the swearing-in of General Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999 despite the petitions filed by other parties.

“He was still the Archbishop in 2003, when Obasanjo was re-elected in an election described by domestic and foreign observers has heavily rigged.

“He witnessed the swearing-in of Obasanjo for the second term, while the petitions of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP and other parties were before the elections tribunal.

“It is a notorious fact that right within his ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Abuja, president-elect Umar Musa Yar’adua was sworn-in in 2007 despite emerging from an election that was so fraudulent that he had to set up the Justice Uwais Commission to cleanse the dubious legacy of electoral fraud led by Obasanjo, Onaiyekan witnessed the swearing-in.”

They wondered if “His Eminence is suffering from any memory loss or what has happened to him to make him utter such lawless statements capable of misleading and inciting Catholics, a large section of the Christendom in Nigeria.”

The movement then called on the security agencies to “visit the Cardinal in deference to his age and status, to educate him on the criminal implications of his statement and warn him from repeating the offence.”

“We, the Christian Ministers Movement use this opportunity to call on legal departments of churches to advise church leaders on the legality of their activities during the Transition period.

“Onaiyekan’s vituperation are totally unnecessary as there has been no instance where the verdict of a tribunal following election petitions have been disobeyed.

“The fact of the matter is that Nigerians have voted for their new president on February 25, 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared,” the statement read.