My colleague, Ikechukwu Amaechi, in a piece on February 24, 2022, raised a vital question: “What, exactly, does Nigeria want from Ndigbo?” He proceeded with instances of sacrifice by the Igbo in keeping the wheels of the Nigerian nation running but have always, unfortunately, not been rewarded accordingly. Rather, they have been made victims whenever it suited other compatriots.
The poser by Amaechi becomes relevant with a critical analysis of a recent outing by Pastor Tunde Bakare, the general overseer (GO) of Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos.
In a video that went viral, the cleric, took up a quixotic posture, selling the impression of feeling for the Igbo but carefully giving them out as a people to be watched, closely. He alleged that part of the reasons why no Igbo would be President of Nigeria was because of a curse placed on them by the late Prime Minister, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, on the night he was killed by mutinous soldiers on January 15, 1966. The Igbo soldiers involved in the coup, he said, poured alcohol on Balewa and forced him to drink it before killing, an action that prompted his curse on them. Bakare said he was lifting the curse on the Igbo nation.
He said: “Why should anyone in this country say the Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria? Are they not Nigerians? I was at Imo and I told them the reason why the Igbo cannot rule Nigeria and I want to remove the curse today.
“Do you know what happened? The day they killed Tafawa Balewa, they removed his turban, poured wine on his head. Forced him to drink, and shot him and while he was being killed, he said, none of your tribe will ever rule Nigeria.
“God has instructed me to break the curse of Tafawa Balewa on the Igbos. I want to break the curse today because this generation of Igbo was not part of those people.
“You cannot overgeneralize. So, on the authority of God’s word. I reverse the curse of Tafawa Balewa over the Igbo generation. Henceforth, the Igbo will have access to the throne-like any other Nigerian.”
On the surface, the GO seemed sympathetic to the Igbo. But his assertions are absurd. In his biography on the Net, Bakare was born in 1954. He was thus, barely 12 years during the January 15, 1966, coup. He was not among the mutinous soldiers, nor part of the counter-offensives that quelled the coup. He equally did not disclose the source of his information. The assertion was not backed by any authority, making it a fraud.
The characters involved in the 1966 coup and their actions are already in the public domain. There is no need rehearsing the story.
But one thing that should not be glossed over is, perhaps, the intended consequence of Bakare’s absurd recollections. Coming close to an election year when many Nigerians of good conscience are agreed that it is the time for the Igbo to have a shot at the presidency, it makes the intervention curious. The timing of the outing by the Citadel cleric leaves room for interpretations. Pouring alcohol on a Muslim and forcing him to drink it is as loathsome as serving pork to a member of the faith. It is not an offence that is treated lightly.
What the pastor has done amounts to inciting the entire North and Muslim faithful across the land against the Igbo. It is akin to inviting them to keep an eye on those who “humiliated and killed” their brother.
Time and events in history have exposed men and women of influence who have misused their positions in society. At the height of the holocaust, some members of the clergy were known to have provided backing to Adolf Hitler and his Nazi henchmen. Some were in support of the apartheid regime in South Africa before the obnoxious regime was dismantled. Even with the global condemnation of racial discrimination, some priests loath administering Holy Communion to blacks in the United States.
Apart from being a clergyman, Bakare is also a politician. In 2011, he was the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari, on the platform of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He has not hidden his ambition for the presidency. Once, in his Sunday sermon, he claimed anointment from God for the office.
He said; “I will succeed Buhari as President of Nigeria, nothing can change it. I am number 16, Buhari is number 15. I am saying it now and nothing can change it. In the name of Jesus, he (Buhari) is number 15. I am number 16. To this end was I born and for this purpose came I into the world. I have prepared you for this for more than 30 years.”
He perhaps sees the Igbo as a likely obstacle to his dream or that of any of his candidates. There is nothing wrong in the pastor aspiring for the highest office in the land or supporting any person for that but he must come straight with his agenda.
There are reasons why there is need to keep an eye on his real intentions. In the 2015 elections, the Oba of Lagos had, in a bid to cow the Igbo, threatened that any attempt to vote any other party in the state other than the All Progressives Congress (APC) would see them drowned in the lagoon. Four years later, when some parts of the state were suspected to be voting a rival political party, hell was let loose against the Igbo in the affected areas.
With 2023 around the corner, Bakare has come with his revelations. These are not matters to be dismissed with a wave of the hand. The minister is clearly out on a hatchet job or mission for mischief. Hitler, in moving against the Jews, employed fear and intimidation against them before his final solution.
Nigeria is a system where words attract meanings. Newspaper commentaries and even cartoon works abroad perceived to have offended beliefs had caused crises leading to loss of lives and properties in the country. Celebrated essayist and author, Arthur Agwucha Nwankwo, had in his book, “Nigeria and her path to doom,” recalled that the violence and barbarity, which led to the massacre of the Igbo in the North in 1966, was a result of two provocative articles that appeared in the Drum Magazine of May 28, 1966.
Bakare is on that path in inciting other Nigerians against the Igbo while pretending to be feeling for them.