The senior pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, has called on President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to murder corruption and not Nigerians.
Speaking on The Platform, a special programme to commemorate Nigeria’s Independence Day anniversary, the cleric asked the government to murder corruption instead of making life hard for citizens.
Bakare said, “Don’t kill Nigerians, kill corruption because we knew that the subsidy being paid is going into private pockets.”
The Lagos based cleric was among notable Nigerians who staged the historic protest against the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, when that administration increased the price of petrol.
Recalling that incident, Bakare said that the 2012 protest against Jonathan’s government was not against subsidy.
“I campaigned against the oppression of the poor,” he said, adding that the subsidy by the federal government was never used to better the cause of the poor Nigerians.
On the calls for Nigeria’s disintegration, Bakare said that Nigeria should be united, and lamented that no nation can make considerable progress when mediocre people are at the helm of its affairs.
According to him, we are in a nation where the blind leads the seeing, and there was a need to ensure that the right people are in positions of leadership in order to put the country on the right track.
He said: “If you compare our performance with the nations that began this journey with us — nations like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea — they’ve left us behind. We are still in the woods and are yet to come out.
“We thank God we are still a nation and we trust God that as we dialogue this afternoon and others bring their ideas to the table, those that are leading us will begin to put the best of us in strategic positions to move our nation forward.
“No nation anywhere can survive or embark on predictable progress when mediocres are in charge.
“I’m not sure and I’m not limiting the Almighty and I hope this will not be seen as blasphemy; I’m not sure the Bible contemplates Nigerian leadership, because the Bible says when the blind leads the blind, they all end up in a ditch. But we’re in a nation where the blind leads the seeing,” Bakare said.
When asked what could be done to address the challenges bedevilling the country, he explained that there was a need for a change of orientation.
“I think we put the cart before the horse and whenever you put the cart before the horse, there is motion backward. We need to put the horse before the cart. We need urgent national redemption and until that takes place, we are just wasting our time,” he concluded.
