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…Says Tinubu’s actions, decisions impulsive
…He should kill corruption not Nigerians
By Zika Bobby and Chinelo Obogo
Senior Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, on Sunday, described the policies of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government as ‘anti people’ which has caused much economic hardship and that the February 25 elections showed that Nigerians are tired of the party.
Speaking on the theme: ‘Vice, virtue and time: The three things that shall never stand still’ at the church auditorium, in Lagos, Pastor Bakare said President Bola Tinubu’s actions since he took office have been impulsive, which he said has worsened the economy but lauded Nigerians for their doggedness amid the present difficulties.
He said: ” I salute the Nigerian citizen who has, for so long a time, borne the brunt of the capricious policies of political actors and the greed of a colluding elite. From a wrongly implemented naira redesign policy to an impulsive fuel subsidy removal announcement and from a drowning of purchasing power in an attempt to float the naira, to an unbearable increase in the cost of basic amenities, the past and recent months have been particularly excruciating for the Nigerian citizen.
“I am talking about employees who have been forced to trek owing to the unaffordable spike in transportation costs; parents struggling to bridge the gap between their life savings and the cost of living; graduates whose chances of getting a job have become slimmer due to the impact of the economy on the labour market. I am talking about that trader whose meagre daily income has further diminished in value due to the dwindling value of the naira; that farmer who looks on in agony as his produce rots on the farm due to transportation challenges, inflation and insecurity; those children who will invariably be sent home in September due to outstanding fees.I acknowledge you, fellow citizens of our nation, because you are the true heroes. You, the so-called ordinary Nigerians, are the true reformers because, somehow, hoping against hope, you show up every single day in what would appear to be a federal republic of diminishing returns.
” I must sound a warning to the APC. I was there when the APC was formed and the extent of my involvement is well-documented. As a stakeholder and more importantly, as a nation-builder, I am obligated to state without equivocation that this is not the APC we envisaged.
“The results of the last elections were a clear indication that Nigerians are fed up with what the APC has become. According to the results released by INEC, in the presidential elections, the APC had 15.4 million votes in 2015 and 15.2 million votes in
2019, but by the 2023 elections, the APC’s support base had declined significantly to 8.8 million, with a loss of almost half of the traditional support base. If it were not for the divisions within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the emergence
of the Obidient movement of the Labour Party(LP) that split the traditional support base of the PDP, the APC would have convincingly lost the 2023 elections.
“When I consider the vision and founding spirit that birthed the APC, I cannot but conclude that the APC is losing the plot. The APC was established as a progressive party with clear motivations to establish true nationhood, eliminate corruption, oversee governance structure reforms, eradicate poverty, and facilitate economic growth. However, like its predecessor, the PDP, the APC has now become a platform for politicians who have neither conviction nor ideology and who hop from party to party seeking power at all costs. The suffering meted out to the Nigerian people as a result of anti-people policies is not what the APC once stood for.
“This same impulsive leadership style was evident when the president recently led the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to violate an ancient principle of diplomacy that is recognised even in the Holy Book: offer peace before declaring war. By placing a military invasion on the table from the very start before subsequently exploring diplomatic options with the coup plotters in the Republic of Niger, President Tinubu put the cart before the horse, thus placing Nigeria and the subregion in a precarious situation. For any foreign invasion to succeed in the long term, the support of the locals is essential,” he said.
He said according to the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), about four million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country have shut down in the two months since the subsidy removal was announced and that jobs have been lost and households have been thrown into disarray due to a poorly managed policy.
Bakare also said what is further clear concerning Nigeria’s domestic challenges is that, by imposing hardship on Nigerians without going after 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.” The president further stated that the subsidy removal policy was to stop the squandering of monies on “smugglers and fraudsters.”
“This compels us to ask the following salient questions: Who are these select groups of individuals into whose deep pockets our national treasury has been funnelled? Who are these smugglers and fraudsters that have been defrauding our nation in the name of subsidy? Who are these nameless characters that have fed fat at the expense of the poor? Or are they all sacred cows?Mr President, if you are truly on the side of the poor, if you are serious about the welfare of the people, if you truly want the poor to breathe, as you once said, then kill corruption, not Nigerians'” he said.
