Pastor Tunde Bakare (file photo)
Kill corruption, not Nigerians, Bakare tells Tinubu
.Doubts president’s ability to fight corruption
‘What is further clear concerning our domestic challenges is that, by imposing hardship on Nigerians without going after those corrupt individuals, corporations and government officials who have plundered Nigeria over the years in the name of subsidy, the president has picked the wrong fight’
By Valentine Amanze
Pastor Tunde Bakare of Citadel Global Community Church has hit hard on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his inability to rescue the nation’s economy from the highly corrupt individuals, who are still in his government.
He warned the president to kill corruption, not Nigerians after reviewing economic policies simce the inception of his administration in May 29, 2023.
Also read: Tinubu’s outburst on Niger Republic
Bakare in his State-of-the Nation broadcast on Sunday, August 13, 2023, made available to Nigeria News Flight, also condemned the manner and method in which Tinubu withdrew the fuel subsidy.
In a broadcast titled, “Virtue And Time: The Three Things That Never Stand Still,” Bakare however commended the Nigerian citizens, whom, he said, had borne the burden of an ill-planned and vaguely-led reform agenda of the federal government.
The cleric also wondered whether Tinubu was capable of streeing the ship of the country.
He said, “Amid the turbulent start to the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I have held my peace, hoping that wisdom would prevail even while the government was in its so-called honeymoon phase.
“When, in his inauguration address on May 29, 2023, President Tinubu announced that ‘fuel subsidy is gone’. Despite the cautious exclusion of that contentious subject from the inauguration speech by his advisers, it was clear that our nation had been unwittingly plunged into chaos by a very poor change management process.
“Whatever the president’s true motivations were, it is clear that he put the cart before the horse. What is also clear is that the president was economical with the truth by giving Nigerians the impression that he was taking a courageous move to remove the fuel subsidy when the previous government had already taken that step.”
Bakare however called on Tinubu to expose all individuals and companies involved in the fuel subsidy scam and force them to refund the money to reduce the suffering of Nigerians.
He carpeted the president’s palliative measure, stressing that the subsidy money should have been channeled to education, provision of good road networks, hospitals, producting and farming instead of sharing rice and money to few individuals.
The cleric also did not like Nigeria’s involvement in Niger’s political crisis, stressing that Tinubu was equally guilty of the same offence the junta committed in Niger, as the will of Nigerians was trunketed in the last election.
His words: “While we condemn the spate of coup d’états in West Africa, we recognise that the situation calls for deep introspection on the part of African leaders and makes even more urgent the case for good governance.
“The call upon Nigeria at this time is not so much to compel submission in the subregion through the force of might, but to command alignment through exemplary governance.
“The real question is whether President Tinubu is capable of providing such moral leadership even in the domestic context. Mr President, kill corruption, not Nigerians.
“What is further clear concerning our domestic challenges is that, by imposing hardship on Nigerians without going after those corrupt individuals, corporations and government officials who have plundered Nigeria over the years in the name of subsidy, the president has picked the wrong fight.
“In his Monday, July 31, 2023 address to the nation, the president stated that the vast sum of money which ‘would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security…was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.”
valoa2000@yahoo.com
