I’M NOT A RELIGIOUS BIGOT – TINUBU

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I”M NOT A RELIGIOUS BIGOT – TINUBU TO CATHOLIC BISHOPS

President Bola Tinubu yesterday insisted that he has no religious bias neither is he a bigot.

Tinubu told a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria who visited him that for Nigeria itself to develop, it must be above religious bigotry.

He spoke on a day his government rebutted allegations by the United States of America of targeted killings of Christians in Nigeria.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the report misinformation and misleading.

The President, during his meeting with the Catholic Bishops said he was fully aware of the hardship Nigerians were facing but declared that ongoing economic reforms were necessary to build a stronger nation.

“Yes, removing the fuel subsidy was hard, tough for me, but it’s a hard choice that Nigeria must face. We are not going to bankrupt our country,” he said.

He added:“We were spending the investment of the future of our children yet unborn; We were spending their rights, and poverty has no religious basis. There’s no religious colouration, no identity. It affects all, and we must fight it together.”

On security, the President noted that his government was making progress in tackling insecurity, which according to him affects Christians and Muslims alike.

“This insecurity, everyone is affected, Christians, Muslims alike. I have no religious bias; I won’t be a bigot. My wife is a pastor of Redeemed Christian Church. But we have to think of our country; this country must develop and must stand beyond religious bigotry. And I’m here open to you, ready to listen.

“We’ve been together for some time. We have an open-door policy. I will not shut my door.”

Responding to the bishops’ request for the return of mission schools taken over by government, Tinubu explained that such decisions were under the jurisdiction of state governments.

He said he had returned mission schools when he was governor of Lagos State.

Leader of delegation, Dr. Lucius Ugorji congratulated Tinubu on his election and acknowledged the challenges posed by his economic policies.

He called for more efforts to restore public confidence, improve security, and ensure religious harmony.

“Your government’s policy mantra is anchored on the principles of Renewed Hope. In this regard, we are pleased to inform you that the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has declared this year as the year of hope, the Jubilee Year of Hope, a theme we adopted for our conference. We came with the final fruits of our deliberations and will share them with you,” Ugorji, who doubles as CBCN President and Archbishop of Owerri,said.

They also urged the government to stop funding religious pilgrimages, arguing that public funds should be redirected to pressing national needs.

“The government should allow religious groups to take full responsibility for organising pilgrimages. In their current structure, the national and state pilgrims’ boards serve neither their adherents nor the broader interest of the nation. You’re undoubtedly aware of the instances of corruption that have led to the removal of some board executives to ensure greater efficiency and accountability,” Ugorji stated.

  • Dons Eze

    DONS EZE, PhD, Political Philosopher and Journalist of over four decades standing, worked in several newspaper houses across the country, and rose to the positions of Editor and General Manager. A UNESCO Fellow in Journalism, Dr. Dons Eze, a prolific writer and author of many books, attended several courses on Journalism and Communication in both Nigeria and overseas, including a Postgraduate Course on Journalism at Warsaw, Poland; Strategic Communication and Practical Communication Approach at RIPA International, London, the United Kingdom, among others.

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    YOUR POLICIES WORSENED THE SITUATION, AFENIFERE TELLS TINUBU The Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical organisation, Afenifere, has reacted to the statement credited to President Bola Tinubu that Nigeria would have been bankrupt if he had not embarked on some economic reforms. The President while receiving a delegation of former National Assembly colleagues from the aborted Third Republic, during which he served as a Senator representing Lagos West, said, “For 50 years, Nigeria was spending money of generations yet unborn and servicing the West coast of our subregion with fuel. It was getting difficult to plan for our children’s future.” “We faced serious headwinds when I took over, very challenging times. Nigeria would have been bankrupt if we had not taken the actions that we took, and we had to prevent the economy’s collapse.” But Afenifere in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, insisted the economic problems were self-induced because the Tinubu’s administration made fatal mistakes of removing subsidies before letting the Dangote Refinery come into operation as promised in his own manifesto. The faction of Afenifere loyal to HRH Oba Oladipo Olaitan who took over as leader after the demise of Pa Ayo Adebanjo had always criticised the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of naira by Tinubu. The twin-policies were said to be responsible for the inflationary spike experienced in recent years. Afenifere advised that this is not about playing politics but saving the nation from “stifling poverty that is wrecking the nation at its seams with increased kidnappings, robberies and other economic crimes.” “The political class must realize that we are sitting on a gunpowder keg that will explode when the poor can’t take it any longer. A stitch in time saves nine,” the group said. Faloye in a statement stated that Tinubu should “never have floated the Naira when we were still importing fuel that made up one third of our import bill.” “[b]These two ill-timed policies have cost millions their lives and livelihoods, so inflation rates, and not food prices decreasing, is medicine after death caused by criminal negligence of the governmen[/b]t,” he said. According to Afenifere, the Tinubu administration’s reference to 50 years of economic decline “can be traced to when subsidy removal started in the Seventies, which have regressively pushed us into poverty, the worst of which has been witnessed under his administration.” “The problem has been anti-people economic policies. We are nowhere near El Dorado than we were in 1978 when education subsidies were removed and he has placed our education on student loans. “Fuel prices and other import costs could fall further if the amount saved from fuel subsidies is pumped into the forex market as done since January with $8b although the ill-timed subsidy cut appears to have killed the golden goose and we can never fully regain the true value of our currency due to economic mismanagement. “Moreover, we should concentrate on creating true wealth and value instead of focusing on indices. Unfortunately, the administration is still in the dark on how to improve the living standards of Nigerians. Ideologically clueless on how to stimulate our consumer nor producer markets to create wealth. “For example, houses are the root of the consumer markets, the ultimate good for the consumer. Unfortunately Nigeria has twenty million homeless people, the most in the world, yet only 20,000 houses were budgeted for in the 2025 budget, at which rate it will take 1,000 years to resolve our homelessness problem, assuming there is no increase in population. The government needs to budget for 20,000 a day like China and India, or at least 10,000 homes, to make any difference,” the statement said.

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