The Serving Overseer of The Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has declared that Nigeria’s democracy is in a decent into tyranny under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Bakare also said that political leaders are determined “to turn Nigeria into a mafia state.”
Bakare stated these in his state of the nation broadcast titled “Let the People Know the Truth and the Country is Safe,” which he delivered yesterday.
Bakare said : “Dear Nigerians, the past few months have shown that those responsible for steering the course of our nation lack the humility and character this moment demands of leaders.
“Instead, what we have seen since the beginning of the year is a descent into tyranny and the brazen abuse of power.
“Those entrusted with power appear determined to destabilise what is left of our political institutions and have committed themselves to obliterating the guardrails of constitutional governance.”
He interpreted Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi’s statement to Dr. Oby Ezekwesili that “people like you cannot be here” to mean that the Senate is not a place for the best, brightest, fittest, and most competent in our country.
He opined that at the centre of the prevailing political banditry in the country is the motor park brand of politics nurtured by the old brigade politicians and, in recent times, by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He said: “Mr. President, it is through your influence that the Nigerian National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality.
“Mr. President, it is under your watch that the National Assembly has become an extension of the executive, grossly violating the principles of separation of powers, and rubber-stamping the whims and caprices of your office, all while singing the international anthem of sycophants: “On your mandate we shall stand.”
“Mr. President, thanks to your political machinations, Nigeria is now bedevilled by a captured National Assembly, the most ineffective in its checks-and-balances role since the start of the Fourth Republic.
“This National Assembly, the 10th, has by its unconstitutional endorsement of the president’s abuse of powers proven to be the most spineless in our recent history.
“Through its actions and inactions, the National Assembly has, in effect, become the 48th member of the president’s cabinet, while a cabinet minister has, more or less, become a third-term state governor in Rivers State, pampered by the indulgences of the president.
“Recent events have made it clear to Nigerians that had this Assembly been in place in 2006 when the Third Term Agenda was proposed, our democracy would have since morphed into one of Africa’s lamentable tales of sit-tight dictatorship.
“I say: Mr. President, Nigeria is too delicate for this kind of politics. If this state capture was what you meant by ‘emi lo kan,’ it is an anti-climax that can only be counterproductive in the end.
“I urge you, Mr. President, to think deeply and reflect on these words: ‘No man is wise enough nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.’ Please, stop playing God!’ Bakare lamented.
