By Cyril Oleh, KSM, PhD.
The leadership of the Order of Knights of St Mulumba Nigeria (KSM), has thrown its weight behind the recent visit of a delegation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN to Presidency Tinubu and commended the frank talks that emanated from the bishops. In a Statement signed by the Supreme Knight of the Order, Sir Steve Adehi, SAN, CKSM, KCSS, and its Supreme Secretary, Sir George Eze, CKSM, the Order said it was happy at the no-holds barred talks of the bishops to President Tinubu.
The Statement applauded the bishops for letting the president know how the citizens feel on a number of issues that affect Nigerians such as hunger, poor economy, insecurity, banditry and emphasized that the bishops visited the president and in an unmistakable language, told him what ordinary Nigerians live every day: “the crushing weight of prices, the erosion of security, the fear that votes no longer count, and the quiet drift toward one-party rule that should alarm anyone who remembers why democracy matters, among other debilitating issues that have made Nigeria a laughing stock in the comity of nations.
The Statement by KSM gave kudos to the bishops for speaking truth to power. “To the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria, we say: thank You. Thank you for speaking as Pastors rather than courtiers. Thank you for reminding this nation that the church’s place is not at the right hand of power but at the side of the powerless,” the Statement declared.”
The Order pointed out its sacred place in Nigeria reminding that KSM is bound by three key objectives, namely, charity to the poor, defence of the faith and service to the common good. The Statement reiterated that KSM does not align with parties but engages in the business of the dignity of the human person by quiet witnessing. “When the moral fabrics of the nation is torn, we speak. Not as partisans but rather as citizens who have seen it all about governance and cannot afford to stay silent.”
In a veiled reference to the many victims of insecurity in Nigeria, the Order further reminded President Tinubu that the bishops are not his enemies “but church leaders who have buried more victims of this nation’s failures than you have met.”. It advised President Tinubu to accept the frank talks of the bishops by taking a second look at their submission. It condemned the attacks by the president’s courtiers on the bishops saying, the exchange between the presidency and the bishops represents a missed opportunity for the president to acknowledged the gaps and failure of governance pointed out by the CBCN with a view to closing the identified gaps.
In an unflattering endorsement, the leadership of the Knights of St Mulumba Nigeria stated that “it stands with the bishops, not as Catholics only, but as citizens who believe that the integrity of the public square depends on the integrity of public speech”. The Order pointed out the irony in the unwarranted attacks on the bishops by the president’s men akin to killing a messenger and his message.
The bishops offered the president a mirror. And then, his aides chose to blame the mirror for the reflection”, the Statement added. The Order opines that the president’s renewed hope agenda and his claim to run a citizen-centered government would not yield fruits if the government rejects honest feed-backs from the citizens for whom the agenda is meant for.
Recall that a delegation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), led by its President, Archbishop Matthew Ndagoso and other senior prelates including Emeritus Catholic Bishop of Abuja Archdiocese, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, visited President Tinubu in Aso Rock villa on 28th July, 2026 during which they talked to him on the many issues that Nigerians are concerned about.
The delegation reminded President Tinubu of his antecedents as a social crusader which once led to his exile during the military regime because he made similar demands as the bishops now make. On 31st July, John Cardinal Onaiyekan granted an interview to Arise Television in which he discussed the visit of the bishops with the president, largely stating that the president refused to come down from his high horse to accept the realities facing the citizens as presented to him by the bishops.
On August 1st, one of the president’s aides, Daniel Bwala, launched a scathing attack on the Cardinal arguing that the Cardinal was not speaking for Nigerians but only for Catholics. Bwala also added that the Cardinal’s discussion on Arise Television was “more political than spiritual.”
The statement by the Order of the Knights of St Mulumba Nigeria thanked the bishops for offering what no group or presidential media team can offer and concluded by assuring the bishops that posterity will remember them. “You have done your duty. History will remember,’’ the Statement concluded.
