Presiding pastor of Citadel Global Church formerly Latter Rain Assembly Tunde Bakare on Sunday gave his “state of the nation” address and touched on some key issues bedevilling the country.
The cleric titled the address ‘The Conspicuous Handwriting on the Wall’.
- Bakare said he was among those who prevailed on President Muhammadu Buhari not to quit his quest to become president after his attempt in 2011 failed, adding that God showed him in a vision that Buhari had a pivotal role to play in Nigeria’s future.
”I must admit that I played a critical role in that mission. God had shown me in a vision that GMB (General Muhammadu Buhari) still had a role to play in stabilising Nigeria,” he said.
- Bakare, however, said this was not the Nigeria he intended to create when he accepted to be Buhari’s running mate in 2011.
“I have laid a historical background as an introduction to this address because it is time to speak out. I am compelled to speak out because this is not the Nigeria General Muhammadu Buhari and I had dreams to create when he invited me to be his running mate in 2011,” he said.
- Bakare also knocked former President Olusegun Obasanjo, saying the ex-leader denied Nigeria the opportunity of stable and guaranteed reforms with his tenure elongation agenda.
“This might explain why the former president has become, according to some, ‘The Letter-Writer-General of the Federation,’ constantly interrupting his retirement to write thought-provoking open letters to successive presidents,” he said.
- The cleric also spoke on the trend in school attacks by gunmen, clashes between herders and farmers and Boko Haram attacks despite repeated claims that the deadly Islamist sect had been decimated.
“Not even the President’s controversial shoot-on-sight order for illegal bearers of AK-47 guns has proved sufficient to abate these attacks,” he said.
