On the line

So we saw the Catholic bishops visit the president, right? And I mean, it's no, it's no news that a lot of, you know, clerics or a lot of, um, groups pay a visit to our president.

And this visit was because they wanted to inform the president about the state of the nation.

But after this, we saw kind of a clap back from the Nigerian presidency, kind of rejecting the conclusions of the Catholic bishops on the state of the economy.

Um, for a long time, we've seen citizens, you know, call out to say religious leaders need to also add their voice to the struggles of the country, you know, to what is happening, to speak up as well.

So it was interesting to see, um, the Catholic bishops do this.

But what are your thoughts on this? Do you think, um, that it was constructive criticism? Do you think this was needed at the time, um, especially for religious leaders to help strengthen governance? And do you think it was unnecessary to politicize national issues? Just give us what are your thoughts on it.

If you would like to give our audience a background to the issues as well, it would also be great.

So, um, it was, it was quite-- So what I, what I could perceive from the whole conversation on how everything has gone is the fact that the presidency was not expecting that kind of, uh, they were not expecting that kind of visit, in a sense.

So this presidency is one that has received visitors who have it's-- They've-- I don't think they've received any such visit from anybody over the past three years plus they've been in office, that who has come and spoken to their face that, okay, expressly saying, "What you're doing is not good." I don't think there's been any such visit.

So it was quite a surprise in the sense that, okay, these people have been trying to meet with the presidency because according to the cardinal, they've been trying to meet with the presidency for months, and they just got a-- Their visit was just accepted that day, and they sat down with the president for-- The whole visit was just around 10 minutes.

So they didn't come with glowing reviews for his administration, which is something he's quite used to.

And man was not, was not keen to such kind of, uh, was not keen to such kind of visits.

But the reality is that I wish they would understand the importance of visits like this because when you, when you have a, when you are, when you're used to sycophancy, it becomes very hard to be able to see that, okay.

It's almost like when you say Nero was fiddling while Rome was burning, you know? It's, it's something similar because in the story, Nero was actually fiddling.

He was having the time of his life.

He was in his courtyard.

There was entertainment.

Stuff was going on.

They were having the time of their life, basically, and Rome was literally burning.

So it became an expression that we began to tell when you say people are in the presidency or they're in the position of power just enjoying their cocoon.

Meanwhile, the society is on a different trajectory from them, and they are on a different plane.

So, um, [clears throat] this is not the first time.

Iyabo Aji probably has apologized over the statement, but he made a statement too on a podcast where he said after visiting the president and interacting with him for a short while, he be- he understood that the president- is limited to what he hears in his presidential seat.

So for someone who has not really received anybody who has come to tell him that, "Okay, there's stuff is happening, you need to pay attention to this." Like, the country is not on a good path.

Like, okay, the economy, people are, people are going through all of this and that.