Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Public Communication, Sunday Dare, has defended the administration’s reform agenda, accusing Catholic bishops of unfairly portraying the President’s achievements as a failure despite the challenges he inherited on assuming office.
In a post on his X account, Dare said the bishops’ criticism failed to acknowledge the dire economic situation Tinubu met in May 2023, describing their assessment as “an act of intellectual dishonesty.”
According to him, the President inherited a “crumbling, bankrupt estate” and has demonstrated the political will to rebuild the country through wide-ranging reforms.
“The Bishops seek to reduce President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s monumental, multi-sectoral transformation agenda to a narrative of failure. This 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,” Dare wrote.
The presidential aide’s reaction followed comments by John Onaiyekan, Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, who revealed that President Tinubu disagreed with concerns raised by members of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria during their meeting at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
The bishops had met with the President on July 28, 2026, where they expressed concerns over the country’s economy, insecurity and political climate.
Speaking later on Arise Television’s Prime Time, Onaiyekan said Tinubu rejected the bishops’ assessment, insisting that his administration remained on the right course.
Dare, however, maintained that the administration’s performance should be judged against the economic realities it inherited, arguing that Nigeria was “hovering on the precipice of total economic collapse and structural paralysis” when Tinubu assumed office in May 2023.
