Former Minister of Transportation and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) vice-presidential candidate for the 2027 election, Rotimi Amaechi, has defended Catholic Cardinal John Onaiyekan against allegations that his criticism of President Tinubu’s administration was politically motivated.
In an interview with Channels TV on Tuesday night, August 4, Amaechi said if it were the Sultan of Sokoto who made the same remarks that Onaiyekan made about the state of the nation, the Presidency wouldn’t have responded.
‘’They wouldn’t have insulted the him(The Sultan). Today, in the mosque, people are preaching about what is happening in the government. Are they being insulted? We are being insulted because we are Christians.”
Amaechi said the former Archbishop of Abuja was not backing any political party or candidate but was speaking out over the hardship, poverty and corruption confronting Nigerians.
“He supports nobody. I see Cardinal Onaiyekan regularly. I worship in his private chapel. Cardinal Onaiyekan himself supports nobody. I have had several conversations with him. The only thing that pains him is the level of indiscretion and poverty in the country and corruption. He worries about that,” Amaechi said.
Rejecting claims that the Cardinal’s comments were politically motivated, Amaechi argued that Onaiyekan merely expressed genuine concerns about the state of the nation.
“I just think that they tried to intimidate him, because election is very far away, so they are trying to intimidate him the way they are trying to intimidate the population” he said
Amaechi maintained that the cleric had done nothing wrong by speaking publicly and insisted that religious leaders have a duty to hold governments accountable whenever they believe the citizens are suffering.
Watch a clip of Amaechi speaking below
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