The serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has responded to his critics in the presidential campaign council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who opposed his state-of-the-nation address last Sunday.
Bakare had, in the address, advised Nigerians to shun those promoting ‘emilokan’, a term associated with the presidential candidate of the APC, Mr. Bola Tinubu and which means “my turn” in Yoruba.
He added that no good politician seeking the votes of the people would evade public debates and also task his team members with the task of answering questions specifically directed at him.
The campaign council responded through its assistant director of publicity, Mr. Biodun Ajiboye, saying: “A man who got zero votes at his party primaries simply means he has zero personality, zero popularity and zero leadership. He should simply go and rest and allow politicians to be on the field.”
Similarly, special adviser, media, communications and public affairs at the PCC, Mr. Dele Alake, described Bakare as a man without political relevance and a political neophyte.
“This is a man who did a video in his church asking his members to vote for Tinubu, then the next day, he does the opposite. For us, that is not a serious issue. With due respect to him, he is a political paperweight, a political neophyte,” he said.
Recall that Bakare who has been the critic-in-chief of the party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Bola Tinubu, contested in the APC primary but made no impact.
Responding, Bakare in video recording that has gone viral wondered why his traducers were disturbing themselves with the things he said if he is politically weightless.
He said he scored zero in the APC primary with true identity, original credentials.
“Why are they then giving any thought to what I said? May be their alleged ‘paper weight’ is too heavy for them to carry.
“Can someone tell these people that scoring zero in a primary election with one’s true identity and integrity intact as well as having original credentials from well-known schools – primary, secondary, colleges and universities – within and outside of this nation are a veritable badge of honour, absolutely legit and unquestionable.
“Please tell them that in the words of Michel De Montaigne, ‘There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.’
“One of the special advisers that I thought had some semblance of nobility had to utter outright lies and falsehoods to satisfy his paymaster. He said I did a video asking members of our church to vote for their candidate and then turn around to ask them not to vote for him.
“Unfortunately, there is no such video containing such falsehood. The abridged video these people are sending around is from a message preached here (Citadel Global Community Church) in 2020 with the title: ‘An idle man’s brain is the devil’s workshop.’ I made it clear in the video that I did not endorse their candidate’s lifestyle, business or type of politics.
“In the said video, I never asked our members to vote or not vote for their candidate or any other candidate. By the way, our members are not zombies. They, by the grace of God, have their minds and will decide who to vote for on Election Day.
“As for those whose stock in trade is lying against others and fabricating stories that are not true about them, our strong consolation is that their DNA and the final destination are spelt out in the Bible. See Psalm 58:3-8. ‘The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
“Rest assured I will take the vicious attacks of these political merchants in my stride, because I know that according to Voltaire: ‘Many are destined to reason wrongly, others not to reason at all and some to persecute those who do reason.”
