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Northern Christians, Atiku, Shehu Sani Defend Catholic Bishops Against Presidency
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Elections & Politics

Northern Christians, Atiku, Shehu Sani Defend Catholic Bishops Against Presidency

From Vanguard · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Northern Christian Association, Atiku Abubakar, and Senator Shehu Sani defended the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria against presidential spokesperson Daniel Bwala.
  • Cardinal John Onaiyekan accused President Bola Tinubu's government of intolerance and warned about the 2027 election's credibility due to state resource access.
  • The Northern Christian Association rebuked Bwala for attempting to divide Christians and affirmed the bishops' statements were in the national interest.

A coalition of Northern Nigerian Christians, a presidential candidate, and a senator have publicly defended the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria following criticism from President Bola Tinubu's administration. The defense comes after Cardinal John Onaiyekan, a prominent Catholic figure, accused the Tinubu government of growing intolerance and warned about the potential for the 2027 general elections to be compromised by state resource allocation.

Onaiyekan, speaking in an interview, also stated that Nigerians are suffering severe economic hardships due to government policies. He further alleged that the president is not receiving accurate information about the country's realities and is determined to win the 2027 elections "by all means." These remarks drew a sharp response from presidential aide Daniel Bwala, who dismissed Onaiyekan's statements as politically motivated and suggested the cardinal was speaking only for Catholics, not all Christians.

We should tell Bwala to know that Catholics are Christians and Nigerians. Our members are Catholics, Baptists, ECWA, Methodists, Anglicans, Pentecostals and people of all denominations. We refuse to be divided by Bwala’s politics of division.

— Rev. Joseph HayabChairman of the Northern Christian Association, defending the Catholic bishops and rebuking presidential aide Daniel Bwala.

However, the Northern Christian Association (NCA) has strongly rebuked Bwala's comments, accusing him of trying to sow discord within the Christian community. In a statement, NCA Chairman Rev. Joseph Hayab emphasized that the Catholic bishops addressed issues concerning all Christians and Nigerians, not just the Catholic Church. He asserted that the NCA, comprising various Christian denominations from Northern Nigeria, would resist any attempts to divide them. "We refuse to be divided by Bwala’s politics of division," Hayab declared, underscoring that Catholics are also Christians and Nigerians.

Our Cardinal is our respected leader, and the bishops that visited the President went to speak to him about humanity, Christians and all of us, not only Catholics.

— Rev. Joseph HayabChairman of the Northern Christian Association, clarifying the scope of the Catholic bishops' concerns.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Vanguard in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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