Catholic Bishops’ demands on mission schools , INEC during meeting with President Tinubu, untenable- TDF
By Wuddeama Manga/ABUJA// The Democratic Front (TDF) has expressed disappointment that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) demanded the return of mission schools to the original owners during its recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu.
In a statement by its Chairman Danjuma Muhammad and Secretary Wale Adedayo, TDF noted that the demand was as embarrassing as the subtle call on the President to influence the operations of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group said: “It is not complimentary for a reputed religious and intellectual body as the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) at a meeting with President Bola Tinubu to make demands that are clearly beyond his constitutional purview.
“We note that the Independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a neutral electoral umpire is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended. It will therefore amount to a breach of the same constitution for the President to undermine it by interfering with its internal activities. So it is within the rights of President Tinubu to insist that the commision is neutral.
“It is expected that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is informed enough to know that political parties including the ruling party have had to disagree with INEC on electoral matters as it affected their status and candidates. And all sides have always had cause to approach the courts to resolve their conflicting differences. There has not been a case where INEC has failed to heed court rulings. We can easily cite examples relating to issues surrounding the registration and deregistration of some parties recently.
“It is therefore a regrettable overreach for a supposedly apolitical group of Bishops to present a case of intimidation of opposition parties against the electoral body before the President who has no supervisory or disciplinary powers over INEC, and more so that the constitutional rights of political parties to seek legal redress against INEC is not prejudiced in any way.
“The devastating political implication of the unholy request of the clerics, is that their action has wrongly and unwittingly portrayed them as the mouthpiece of some opposition parties in Nigeria.
“Similarly, the request by the Bishops for the return of mission schools to their original proprietors, is another misdirected demand done either out of ignorance or mischief, or both.
“For us, it is a major gaffe for the Catholic Bishops to have channeled their request for the return of mission schools to the President, who clearly has no constitutional mandate on such matters, instead of routing their request to the state Governors, who are the constitutional custodians of those institutions of learning. Do they want the President to issue marching order to state governors on the matter or what is the essence of tabling the issue during a Presidential visit?
“It is unfortunate that the Bishops failed to avail themselves of the opportunity to congratulate the President for being the first governor to return missions schools to their original owners in 2001 when he was at the helm o affairs in Lagos state and then use it to urge the present crop of governors to take a cue .”
The group also wondered why the Bishops would insist that Nigeria was bleeding against the backdrop of the removal of fuel subsidy without considering how the reforms had saved the country’s finances.
“Furthermore, we align with the position of President Tinubu in outrightly rejecting the baseless claim by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria that the country is bleeding. Such a mischievous assertion is not befitting of such a respected religious organization. It is a disappointing indication that the Bishops are ignorant of the remarkable socio-economic milestones that have been achieved under Tinubu’s economic reforms in the last three years.
“For the avoidance of doubt, hunger and poverty have both been major social setbacks for many Nigerian families long before the commencement of Tinubu’s economic reforms in May 2023. And while fuel subsidy has for several years been used by successive administrations as an economic intervention, it failed to rescue Nigerians from the pangs of poverty and hunger.
“Rather, the subsidy regime bred the corruption that denied the nation of meaningful structural and Infrastructural development, while hunger and poverty remained an insurmountable social concern among the teeming populace.
“In our view, the eminent Bishops of the Catholic Church should have been more interested in discussing the measures President Tinubu is putting in place to tackle poverty in the country, as a public feedback on the President’s efforts, instead of presenting a jaundiced opinion that the country was bleeding.
“We find it obligatory to advice the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) to be more circumspect in subsequent approach to politically related issues, so as not to be seen as meddling in partisan politics.
“Finally, it is important to emphatically state that the Constitution, the Electoral Act 2026, and the extant laws as contained in INEC’s electoral time table, are the legitimate organs that regulate elections and election-related matters in Nigeria, not the President. We truly hope that the Catholic Bishops’ conference would be guided accordingly,” it added.
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