Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Tinubu on Media and Publicity, Temitope Ajayi, has said his recent response to Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, was not intended to disrespect the Catholic cleric or the church.
Ajayi made the clarification during an interview on Arise TV on Thursday, days after he criticised Onaiyekan for publicly discussing the details of a closed-door meeting between Tinubu and the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN).
Onaiyekan had spoken about the meeting during an interview with Arise TV, recounting the exchanges between the president and the bishops over the state of the Nigerian economy and other concerns raised by the delegation.
The bishops, led by CBCN President Matthew Ndagoso, had met with Tinubu to discuss issues including insecurity, tertiary education, the state of democracy, credible elections and poverty.
During his earlier response, Ajayi had described Onaiyekan’s decision to publicly give his account of the private meeting as “an abuse of clerical privilege.”
However, speaking again on Thursday, the presidential aide said the matter had been resolved and there was no intention to disparage the respected cleric.
“Well, I think that episode has been closed. Cardinal Onaiyekan is a respected clergy and a statement in his own right,” Ajayi said.
He said his response was aimed at offering a different interpretation of the account given by the cardinal rather than questioning his standing in the church or society.
“My response to him did not in any way disrespect him or disrespect his standing in the society and the church. He’s one of the leaders of the faith,” Ajayi said.
The presidential aide explained that he only sought to provide another perspective on the account of the meeting between the bishops and the president.
“I only tried to provide a different perspective from his own account of the bishop’s encounter with the president, and I think that point has been made,” he said.
Ajayi added that he did not intend to prolong the disagreement, saying the matter should no longer dominate public discourse.
“And I think it’s not not something we really want to dwell further on,” he said.
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