By By : Sola Omoniyi
Emi Lokan: Tunde Bakare tells Nigerians to reject Tinubu’s candidacy
Former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, Pastor Tunde Bakare has kicked against the candidacy of his party’s flagbearer, Bola Tinubu, asking Nigerians to reject the latter.
Bakare, who contested during the APC presidential primaries, is the serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church.
Speaking on the state of the nation at his church on Sunday, the clergyman stated that Tinubu simply intends to achieve lifetime ambition but not to serve the Nigerian people.
Bakare warned that politics of entitlement manifests among perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve, but to gratify long-term personal ambitions.
He said the Nigerian presidency is not a reward for anyone’s lifetime of sacrifice to the nation.
Bakare said, “Emi lokan type of politics insists on one’s turn even if circumstances do not align. Politics of entitlement also manifests as perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve, but to gratify long-term personal ambitions.
“It could also manifest as insistence on a given political office as a reward for what one considers a lifetime of sacrifice to the nation.
“Politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debates and do not consider it imperative to communicate with the electorate. Entitlement politics will breed an imperial presidency that is distant from the people and has no sense of responsibility or accountability to the people.’
He added, “Such imperial governance will slide towards dictatorship and will be intolerant of dissent. Entitlement politicians set low performance benchmarks for themselves when they secure power and are content with projecting molehills as mountains of achievement.”
The cleric also warned Nigerians to avoid politicians that practice politics of division, deception, manipulation, merchandise, exploitation, and politics of betrayal.
According to him, the politics of merchandise is practised by politicians who buy delegates and candidates during primaries, purchase endorsements from power blocs and influencers during campaigns, and buy voters during elections.
“When politicians get to power through vote buying, they do not think that they owe us, the citizens, any obligation. As a result, they have no business with us until the next elections. Fellow citizens, in 2023, we must reject political merchants and vote buyers,” he said.
