"May neither of them win presidential elections if it'll cause Nigeria to split"

oge okonkwo

March 23, 2015 1:28 PM

The outspoken pastor also took a swipe at some delegates to the Constitutional Conference

Pastor Tunde Bakare is playing a serious role in politics with his regular political statements and declarations

Founding pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, was also among the pastors who led their congregation iin praying for the success of the March 28 elections.

Pastor Bakare who was a former vice presidential candidate of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) said, “May God Almighty ensure that Nigeria wins; may neither of the gladiators win, if the price we must pay for winning an election is losing the nation.”

The Nation reports that the outspoken pastor also took a swipe at some delegates to the Constitutional Conference for “flagrantly distorting the truth,” about the outcome of the conference.

Pastor Bakare, who was an Ogun State delegate to the confab, openly berated Afenifere leader Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who was part of the Lagos camp, for saying he would not forgive the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, for what he (Buhari) did in the past.

He said: “The Yoruba went to the National Conference as a group, but when the March 19 meeting took place, the Deputy Chairman was in Ibadan, while the Secretary, that led the group to the confab, was in Lagos.

“The meeting in Lagos had a stain of unforgiveness. When I heard such sentiments as ‘I will never forgive General Muhammadu Buhari for what he did as a former head of state’, my heart sank.”

The pastor criticised the Ibadan group for “double standard”, saying it erred when it stated that the Yoruba did not achieve their aims at the confab.

Clearing the air on his earlier call for election postponement, Bakare noted that it was not a call for Interim National Government.

The cleric said he had lifted the “embargo” he placed on the election, noting that the “issues have been ameliorated by the shift” of the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

oge okonkwo