John Onaiyekan, a cardinal and former Catholic archbishop of Abuja, says President Bola Tinubu’s re-election prospects in a free and fair election would be jeopardised if he continues with his current policies.

Onaiyekan spoke in Abuja on Wednesday during an interview with journalists after participating in the communication week public lecture organised by the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN).

The cardinal pointed out the disconnect between the government and the people, stressing the need for the president to understand the everyday struggles of the ordinary Nigerians.

“My advice for Mr. President is to find ways and means of finding out what Nigeria is actually going through,” Onaiyekan said.

“Not those around him who are always praising him to the skies. They should find out. It is the job of every leader now.

“I’m not telling him to go and live in Mpape for two days, which would not be a bad idea. But he should be able to know how the people in Mpape are surviving. He should also know how families are managing with N30,000 salary a day.

“Since it is the people that he should serve, he should do more to raise the level of well-being of Nigerians.

“I don’t think we are unfair to the government if we say that in the last two years, our level of well-being has crashed considerably. The government may say it’s not their fault.

“They may say they have done their best. But the government is there to make sure that that does not happen. The government is there to make sure that at least the level of well-being of Nigerians is maintained and, if possible, improved.

“And I think it is a good time. Two years is halfway through for him to at least try and do that.

“If he changes gear in that regard and takes policies that really target the poor people of Nigeria, they will remember him forever.

“But if he continues like this for the rest of his term, if we have a free and fair election, he will not win. Because how can the country bring him back if we are not feeling good?

“Obviously, if they are not waiting for us to vote and they already made up their mind, if we win, okay, we praise the nation; we will continue. Going down, going down.”

He said the president should govern the country well and make it liveable for the ordinary Nigerian.

“We are still 250 million of us here in this country. We are struggling, and we shall win, we shall win. So, I’m hoping that the people around Mr. President will give him that advice,” Onaiyekan said.

“The elections were over two years ago. He doesn’t have to worry again whether he won the election or not. The Supreme Court said he won, so we have agreed now.

“We have agreed that he won. This is what the Supreme Court said, we have nowhere else to go. Now he should just govern, make life as liveable as possible for Nigerians, deal with security everywhere, improve the economic level of our people, and fight corruption.