2023: Tunde Bakare Warns Nigerians Against Voting Tinubu

In what appears to be a jibe at the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Pastor Tunde Bakare has warned Nigerians against voting for ‘entitled’ politicians.

Bakare who also sought the APC’s presidential ticket made a vague reference to Tinubu as one whom Nigerians should not back during the 2023 election.

Although he did not mention the name of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), he gave several instances that showed he was referring to the ruling party’s candidate.

Bakare, also the Presiding Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), said politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debate and fail to address the Nigerians they seek to serve.

The preacher also made reference to the Yoruba word, ‘Emi lokan”, meaning it is my turn. Emi lokan became a popular term after Tinubu used it to canvass votes in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, in the buildup to the APC Presidential primary.

He also asked Nigerians to reject vote buyers in the 2023 election and called for the entrenchment of good politics that focuses on development issues.

“This ’emi lo kan’ politics that insists on one’s turn, even if circumstances do not align, is bad. Politics of entitlement also manifests as a perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve but to gratify long 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. 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. Good Politics, Good Governance, Fellow Nigerians, having completed our analysis of bad politics and the bad governance it outputs, let us now take a look at good politics and its output of good governance. Good politics is pragmatic politics in the interest of the people.

“Politicians who practice good politics talk to the people they intend to govern; by communicating, they allay fears, restore hope, and assure the citizens. It is engaging and interactive. The practitioners of good politics are open to interrogation and they do not avoid debates or evade difficult questions. It is inclusive : good politics gives a sense of belonging to historically excluded or vulnerable groups, including women, young people, the elderly, and persons living with disabilities,” he said.