LAGOS Pastor Tunde Bakare, fiery cleric and former APC presidential aspirant, has issued a scathing indictment of President Bola Tinubu, accusing him of transforming Nigeria’s democracy into an authoritarian regime where the National Assembly has become a mere rubber stamp.
Speaking during his state of the nation address at the Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos, Bakare accused President Tinubu of orchestrating a dangerous centralization of power that undermines the rule of law and erodes the fundamental principles of separation of powers.
“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under whose brand of politics the institution of legislative oversight is collapsing, I say: Nigeria is too fragile for this brand of politics,” Bakare said. “Mr. President, please stop playing God.”
He described the current 10th National Assembly as the weakest in the history of Nigeria’s democracy “a spineless extension of the executive,” he called it whose only role appears to be the swift approval of the president’s directives, no matter how unconstitutional.
Bakare condemned the Assembly’s recent endorsement of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as blatant examples of “legislative rascality,” driven not by national interest, but executive pressure.
“This National Assembly has turned itself into the 48th member of the President’s cabinet, abandoning its sacred duty to serve as a check on executive power,” he said. “And while that is happening, a cabinet minister is effectively acting as a third-term governor in Rivers State with the full backing of the presidency.”
In a pointed reference to Tinubu’s infamous slogan “Emi lo kan” (It’s my turn), Bakare warned that if the current trajectory continues, the administration will end in chaos.
“If this state capture was what you meant by Emi lo kan, then it is a tragic anti-climax that will backfire. No man is wise enough or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power,” he warned.
The preacher accused the Tinubu-led administration of plunging Nigeria into deeper socio-political crisis, using democratic institutions to mask growing authoritarianism, and endangering the future of the republic.
“Nigeria is bleeding, not only economically, but constitutionally,” he declared. “This is not democracy; this is executive dictatorship masquerading in agbada.”
Bakare called on Nigerians to rise above political loyalty and speak out against what he described as the systematic dismantling of constitutional governance in the country.
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