The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Lagos State, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said that the composition of President Bola Tinubu’s recent ministerial lists as well as the emergence of former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje as APC chairman, indicate that the president rewards bad bahaviour.
Bakare, a former presidential aspirant of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), stated this during a ‘State of the Nation’ address on Sunday.
He alleged that Tinubu was not ready to fight corruption in view of certain members of his political appointees.
He added that the APC has become a platform for politicians who have neither conviction nor ideology and who hop from party to party seeking power at all costs.
The cleric added that the size of Tinubu’s ministerial list is proof that he is not ready to serve but to service his political allies.
He said a government that is asking the poor to tighten their belts cannot afford a bloated waistline.
” A reduction in the size of government will ultimately translate to a reduction in the cost of governance.
“By nominating 48 ministers, the president is about to set a record for the highest number of ministers since 1999.
“This is not the kind of record expected of a supposed reform minded government.
“In a world of cutting-edge nations, in
which governance is becoming lean and agile, what does the president need 48 ministers or a cabinet of close to 70
persons for other than the distribution of patronage?
” It is hypocritical for a government that has subjected Nigerians to untold hardship by adopting neoliberal policy prescriptions to then turn around and expand the size of government, thereby violating a core aspect of the same neoliberal principles.
” Truth be told, certain ministerial appointments, and that of the current APC Chairman by consensus, illustrate the error that proceeds from the ruler,” he said.
He added, “It does appear by these appointments that there is a reward for
bad behaviour and mediocrity in our polity.”
Also, he explained why President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared the winner of the 2023 Presidential election.
The cleric said the results of the last elections were a clear indication that
Nigerians were allegedly fed up with what the APC administration has become.
“According to the results released by INEC, in the presidential elections, the APC had 15.4 million votes in 2015 and 15.2 million votes in 2019, but by the 2023 elections, the APC’s support base had declined significantly to 8.8 million, with a loss of almost half of the traditional support base,” the cleric said.
Bakare explained that based on the decline in the votes cast for the APC over the years, Tinubu would have been defeated if the People’s Democratic party remained united.
He insisted that the divisions in the PDP on one hand and the Obidient movement embodied in the defection of Mr Peter Obi to the Labour party, on the other hand as the factors the APC leveraged on during the polls.
The cleric claimed the Obidient movement and the G-5 governors led by former Rivers state governor, Nyesom Wike negatively impacted on PDP’s traditional support base.
“If it were not for the divisions within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the emergence of the Obidient movement of the Labour Party(LP)that split the
traditional support base of the PDP, the APC would have convincingly lost the 2023 elections,” Bakare said, adding however, that APC’s victory as announced by the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) is being challenged in court.
