Former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged religious leaders to openly criticise political leaders in Nigeria.

Amaechi said this amid a brouhaha between the President Bola Tinubu administration and Catholic bishops led by Archbishop Cardinal John Onaiyekan.

Onaiyekan had criticised the Tinubu administration on TV, saying Nigeria's economy and security are struggling under the President's watch.

This was dismissed by the Presidency, which gave reasons why the Catholic bishops' opinion lacked facts. The Presidency then urged religious leaders to stay away from partisanship.

However, giving reasons why religious leaders should have an opinion on state matters, Amaechi told Arise TV, “If they don’t, who else can? Didn’t he listen to the Pope? The Pope was against the war.”

“The Catholics in America said, ‘You can’t say that of our Pope.’… All I know is that the population of the Catholics is about 35 million, and you just can’t insult all of us like that. You can’t.”

The former Rivers governor said that when the Catholic Church criticised the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari over insecurity while he served as minister of transportation, the government listened.

“When the Catholic Church came after Buhari, I was in Buhari’s government. And I’m a Catholic. You know what we did? We all kept quiet and looked at what the issues they wanted us to address,” he said.

“And the issues that brought them out to the streets were insecurity. It’s worse now.”

Amaechi also spoke about his time as minister of transportation, saying railway services operated more efficiently then.

“By the time we left, there was a railway from Lagos to Ibadan. Four times a day. Today it’s only once,” he said.

“By the time we left, there was a railway from Kaduna to Abuja. Four to six times a day. Today it goes only once.”

ASA