You Can’t Be Feeding Fat And Ask Citizens To Tighten Their Belts” – Tunde Bakare

The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Wednesday, 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.

The cleric and politician said this at 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 & Badejo Foundation, was to honour the memories of former General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Wilson Badejo, and his wife, Yinka.

Bakare delivered the keynote address with the theme: “Cultivating a Culture of Dialogue: Nurturing Understanding in a Culturally and Socially Diverse Nation.”

He stressed the need for dialogue rather than confrontation to resolve the challenges facing the country.

Bakare 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)?”

According to the cleric, who also spoke on the heels of the #Endbadgovernance protests in Nigeria, hunger knows no religion, tribe or political party.

He noted that at the root of even a religious crisis was a struggle for economic resources that manifested itself in politics.

“And you say, why? Because politics is the authoritative allocation of value.”

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 cited the fact that the Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, had been a member of the APC before joining the PDP.

Bakare said, “Obaseki contested on the platform of the APC for his first term and he won, and he contested on the platform of the PDP for his second term and he won. What’s the difference between the APC and the PDP? Two sides of the same coin.”

Bakare, who contested the 2022 presidential primary of the APC but lost, has been known to be outspoken and critical of the ruling class, especially the APC government.

Last August, the cleric said the results of the 2023 elections revealed that Nigerians were tired of the ruling APC.

During his speech with the theme, ‘Vice, Virtue & Time: Three Things That Never Stand Still,’ the cleric said the APC he joined to form had deviated from the principles it was founded on.

At the Wednesday event, the opening speaker, Debola Deji-Kurunmi, who is an author and Public Policy Advisor, stressed the need to foster unity in diversity.

She said, “Imagine we were more interested to see what the other tribes bring to us even when they don’t speak our language or look like us. Imagine we esteem our collective heritage higher and greater than our differences. What manner of nation could we build? And the question begins with us again, what will I do from where I stand within my sphere of influence to make a difference without thinking that my difference is too little to resonate in the country?”

DDK, as she is popularly called, noted that the foundation since its inception had rehabilitated several youths and offered hundreds of scholarships to indigent students.

Part of the highlights of the event was the presentation of the Stewardship Excellence Award to The Managing Partner, PAC Solicitors, Rev. Peter Ameadaji.

At the event, 52 students from various universities bagged scholarship awards.

The event was graced 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.