The senior pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, CGCC, Pastor Tunde Bakare, during the church’s yearly nationwide broadcast, which culminated the 10 days solemn assembly held in the church from 1st of October to 10th of the same month, was unapologetic when he opined that, today’s state of the nation broadcast will be the last he will broadcast from the church’s pulpit. He said, the next will be to address the whole nation using the popular slogan ‘fellow Nigerians…’
While Nigerians are yet to know the cleric’s clear position in the 2023 presidential race, Bakare announced that, his movement, ‘Nigerians for Nigeria’ simply tagged N4N movement will be out for ‘campaign’ full fledge.
Bakare who believed that, “you (we) don’t have democracy in Nigeria, we have civilian rule”, also said, the handwriting of God is over Nigeria, and that, ‘Nigeria will be redeemed by judgment; adding that, there will be a change of guard, which will happened before December 31st, of year 2021.
He prayed that, “President Buhari will not die, the Vice President will not die, there will not be a military coup in Nigeria; but there will be a change of guard, he emphasized.
Tunde Bakare, a politician, who also is knowledgeable in the history in Nigeria’s politics, is however of the opinion that, no government has exceeded the works of our founding fathers. He said, while in the court room of God, what will Sir. Ahmadu Bello say about the northern Nigeria? Or the Sardauna, about young Nigerians enlisted into banditry… ‘their dreams for northern Nigeria has become a night mare’, he affirmed.
“What will Sir. Ahmadu Bello, who was a passionate educationist, an advocate of girl-child education, what will he say about northern Nigeria, were over a 1,000 boys and girls inclusive, have been kidnapped from their schools in 6 (six) northern states since December 2020. What will the Sardauna say to the report that young people in northern Nigeria are turning to armed banditry as a vocation, with around 30,000 armed bandits spread over 100 towns across the north, and raining down terror on fellow citizens.
He continued,
“What will the late premiere say to the fact that, nearly 350,000 people in the northeast, including 300,000 children, have been killed in 12 years in Boko Haram terrorist groups; while there are currently 1.9million people displaced from their homes of which 60% are children. What will his response be to the evidence that despite the effort of our gallant soldiers, and the news of insurgents surrendering to the Nigerian troops, the terrorists are winning hearts and minds, and are recruiting massively among despondent villagers, who have lost confidence in the Nigerian state…
To the cleric, it will not be contempt of court, if both late northern elites say before God, that their dreams of a northern Nigeria has become a nightmare.
About the south east, Bakare said, what will Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe say about the situations in the south east?
“Picture also the Owelle of Onitsha, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, in the witness box in this historical court pouring over recent course in Nigeria. What will the Zik of Africa say to the report that, every Monday in the south-east, including his beloved Onitsha, is shut down as people comply with the seat-at-home order of the indigenous people of Biafra, IPOB. what will these founding fathers say to the report that on independence day 2021, in compliance with threats from IPOB, the people of the southeast could not freely salute the Nigerian flag… what will the response of the great nationalist be to indications that almost 6 (six) decades after the Nigeria civil war, memories of the war continue to echo, not just only in people’s life experiences, but also in distressing utterances by political leaders; while genuine reconciliation remains a mirage. Will this national icon be in error, if he felt for a moment that his lifetime labour to build a Nigerian nation has been in vain?
Coming to the southwest and the other regions, Tunde Bakare said, what will Chief Obafemi Awolowo say about the happenings in the southwest?
He said,
“Think of Chief Obafemi Awolowo in the witness box … assessing the happenings in the states of the southwest. The legacy zone of the former western region. What will he say to the reports that the people of the southwest just like those in the middle belt, the south-south and the south-east have become vulnerable to criminals and marauding gunmen who kidnapped, kill, maim, rape and pillage communities? What will the late sage say to the reports that not only has the Nigerian state been unable to protect the vulnerable, but also that, its sub national governance structures, have largely being helpless, as non-state actors attempt to destabilize the region. What will he say to the report, that, frustrated at the state of the nation, some Nigerians of Yoruba descent have team up with other aggrieved Nigerians, to taking their grievances in protest before the comity of nations in the united nations general assembly that just concluded recently. Will the sagacity of the sage diminish his significance, if he broke down in lamentation over the region and nation that he labored tirelessly over in his lifetime?
Bakare lamented that, for over 60 years of oil discovery, Nigeria is still bickering over what paltry percentage to pay the host communities when nations of the world that discovered oil as Nigeria have moved on, embracing renewable energy. He asked, ‘what is Nigeria’s progress score card?
He opined that the problems of Nigeria is that, the country has failed to heed the political admonitions of her founding fathers. He believes the result of this failure is the governance structure that has kept the diverse citizens of Nigeria excessively dependent on the central government.
He said the founding fathers will agree together before God that “the succeeding generation of leaders of Nigeria have unwittingly removed and replaced the ancient landmark they unanimously set; thus, acting in gross violation the very basis of our union and worst still in flagrant disregard for the word of God.
Bakare again, opined that, the rain starting beating us in Nigeria when the military in 1999, imposed its constitution, (1999 constitution) on us relegating the 1960, and 1963 constitutions respectively to the background; adding that, “the 1999 constitution whether amended or to be is a glorified dead certificate.”
He called on President Buhari to, ‘tear down the inhibitive 1999 constitution’, which according to him, will add to the credentials of the President after leaving office.
Bakare said, no tangible progress can be made upon the 1999 constitution and that is why there must be a change of guard in 2021.
He however, affirmed that, the time has come for the Nigerian citizens to take informed decision about the politics of the country because, “the power of the people is greater than the people in power.”
Concerning the theme of the nationwide broadcast, ‘The Black Box of Nigeria’s Politics’ Bakare said, it connotes the imagination of the people in power to think that, “the inner workings of the government is opaque to its citizens”, not knowing that citizens can feel the impacts of government in every sphere of their everyday lives.
He condemned every level of political mishap that have enslaved the Nigerian citizens and enjoined citizens at every level to take charge of the happenings in government going forward.