The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Tuesday, likened President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to a six-year-old child moving on its buttocks, not running and not working.
He also lamented what he described as ‘gross failure’ in the current administration, saying that he is terribly shocked by what is happening in Nigeria.
Bakare stated this during an interview on Channels Television, lamenting that Nigeria is currently in a very perplexing situation as a nation.
Bakare is an ally of Buhari and was his vice-presidential candidate in 2011 when they contested on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressives Change and lost.
During the interview, the cleric said, “This is not the Nigeria we envisioned not only as young people but in the recent past. It is as if we are again at the precipice but Nigeria has a way of bouncing back; we are full of hope that God Almighty will help us. We are in a very perplexing situation as a nation. Many things that we didn’t see before are happening now. Even the president himself said so that nothing worries or bothers him like what is happening in the north-east, especially the banditry and kidnapping.”
On whether he is surprised at what is happening in Nigeria under the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government, he said: “Surprise will be a good thing for me. I’m not surprised. I’m terribly shocked about the things that are happening. I never envisaged them.”
On what he can say about the administration in the last six years Bakare likened the government to a “six-year-old child that is still crawling”.
He said, “You want to examine or call the doctors to come in or a paediatrician, you say that this child was given birth to six years ago but it is crawling, just moving on its buttocks, not running, not walking, something is wrong. If we are going to assess, we need serious political medicare. There is no problem that is devoid of solutions.”
In his response on whether Buhari’s government is a failure, Bakare said:
“I like to use my own words. Failure will look like, ‘like try again’, you can still do something with it. I once failed an examination in mathematics. In 1973, I sat for an exam and I got what we called inverted six, which is nine in mathematics but I met a friend of mine, who is late now, Ahmed Abebefe, who was a genius in mathematics in secondary school but his English was terrible. I was very good at English… Yes, there is a gross failure, it is apparent to everyone but you can fail forward.”
On whether he still trusts Buhari, he responded, “The bible says we should not trust anybody because the arm of flesh will fail. The only person you can trust is God almighty. If I were in his shoes, I will try other things if all he had tried do not work. We have been going roundabout this mountain for eight years. Something needs to be done if he’s mindful of his legacy. That has been my cry that all. If there’s going to be an outstanding, enduring legacy, something needs to be done, something that cannot be easily erased or rubbished. Something needs to be done very soon.”
Speaking on if he is going to contest for president in 2023, he said: “I am a free citizen, I can run for anything. When that time comes, the whole world would know. There’s nothing that says you cannot run. And I respect other people’s right also to rise and run.
“Right now, that is not my immediate focus because if there is no nation to preside over, what are you running except you want to run out of the country. But guess what: Either as President Tunde Bakare or Pastor Tunde Bakare, the initials will remain the same PTB.”