Former Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Abuja, Cardinal John Onaiyekan , has said President Muhammadu Buhari ‘ s admittance that Nigerians don ‘t trust his government is a positive step .

The clergyman stated this while reacting to Buhari ‘ s Christmas message when he featured on a Channels Television programme .

Onaiyekan attributed the rising public distrust in Buhari ‘ s administration to widespread deceit being peddled on numerous occasions .

” It is positive that President Buhari recognises that his government has a heavy liability of trust deficits and it is not good for a nation that the citizens cannot trust their government so that even when the government is trying to do the right thing , there is always the feeling , ‘let us wait and see, maybe it’s one of those things again ‘ which means to speak truth to power, our government must take a look at its modus operandi, its way of operation , ” he said.

” Up till now, they ought to be able to know why is it that they have a trust deficit , why is it that people don ’ t seem to want to trust them . If you ask me basically , you trust someone who is truthful but if you have too many cases of government saying one thing and doing perhaps another , the recipe for a trust deficit . ”

Buttressing his point, the Catholic cleric cited the current administration ‘ s claim that Boko Haram has been defeated even when the deadly sect continues to kill Nigerians .
He continued : ” We’ ve heard a lot said about fake news , about massive deceit , this is not correct and if for example , we were told that the Boko Haram has been defeated and they are still on, people will ask , what do you mean , are you serious so that any time again there is announcement on Boko Haram , people will say, well we wait and see until we are really sure which means we have a task before us and government ought to take that seriously and all those who speak on behalf of government should believe in the sacredness of the truth .

“Nigerians are ready to listen to the truth but when they are consistently deceived , it is neither good for the government nor good for the governed. Here , everyone has to do an examination of conscience. I throw the ball therefore back at not only President Buhari himself but all those who are with him running the affairs of this nation . We will be really happy to have a government to trust . ”

Onaiyekan said meaningful development has been elusive in the country because the leaders have refused to demonstrate the needed political will to engineer change .
He called on Buhari to address the widespread insecurity in the country , adding that people can only trust their leaders when they are matching words with actions .