Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, responded to those who opposed his Sunday state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday, claiming that his true identity and authentic credentials resulted in a score of zero in the ruling All Progressives Congress, or APC, primary.
He stated: “Can someone tell these people that scoring zero in a primary election with one’s true identity and integrity intact as well having original credentials from well-known schools.
“Primary, Secondary, colleges and University within and outside of this nation is a veritable badge of honor, absolutely legit and unquestionable? Please tell them that in the words of Michel De Montaigne.”
Bakare has warned Nigerians to avoid people who promote ’emilokan,’ a term linked with Tinubu that means “my turn” in Yoruba.
READ ALSO: ‘Emi Lo kan’ Politics Breeds Intolerant Leaders, According To Tunde Bakare
He went on to say that no good politician seeking the people’s votes would avoid public discussions and also assign his team members the responsibility of answering questions particularly directed at him.
However, in a rapid response, the All Progressives Congress, APC’s Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, characterised Bakare as a political paperweight whose words should not be taken seriously.
According to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, Director of Special Media Projects/New Media of the PCC, “Bakare received zero votes at the convention.”
The PCC’s Special Adviser for Media, Communications, and Public Affairs, Mr. Dele Alake, also reacted, calling the clergyman a political novice.
Bakare reacted to criticism by asking, “Why are they then considering what I said? They could be unable to bear their purported “paper weight” because it is too hefty.
“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 that 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 own 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.”
