Clergyman Pastor Tunde Bakare on Wednesday attended the Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024 held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The event, organised by the Wilson and Badejo Foundation, was to honour the memories of former general overseer of Foursquare Gospel Church Wilson Badejo and his wife Yinka.
Badejo died on August 7, 2021, while his wife died on November 13, 2021.
Bakare gave the keynote address on the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation.”
Bakare, the serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, said Nigerian politicians were not living lean or sacrificing like the rest of the citizens whom they asked to sacrifice for the country by enduring economic hardship.
He said, “All parties must approach the dialogue table with open minds, effective communication and empathy. Open and honest communication helps to establish transparency, making intentions and actions clear. When leaders communicate transparently, they demonstrate that they have nothing to hide, and that builds trust.
“Empathy is a bedrock of dialogue. It requires us to see beyond our own perspective and seek to comprehend the experiences of others. The ability to feel with others, to share in their joys and sorrows.
“It also means sitting where the people sit, as in the book of Ezekiel – feeling their pains and sharing their burdens. An empathetic leader does not feed fat while asking the people to tighten their belts. Nigerian political leaders have mostly not demonstrated empathy. Otherwise, how do you live so large while your people are ravished in (penury)?”
On the #Endbadgovernance protests in Nigeria, the cleric said hunger knows no religion, tribe or political party.
He stressed, “This is why it’s often said that hunger is a unifier. This is why citizens are responding or reacting to the hashtag #EndBadGovernance protests across the land, from the north to the south, to the east to the west. Hunger does not ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, male or female, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, APC, PDP, or Labour Party.”
Bakare also said he did not believe the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party had any ideology.
According to him, the two major political parties are the same.
“The process of disagreement of methodologies is the way political parties are formed around ideologies. I don’t think the PDP and the APC have any ideology,” he said.
The event was also attended by the general overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Rev Sam Aboyeji; chairman of the foundation, Rev. Akin Akeju; vice chairman of the foundation, Femi Badejo, among others.
