Popular cleric, Pastor Tunde Bakare says Nigeria’s socioeconomic and other challenges resulted from putting “mediocres” in charge of its affairs.
Bakare, who is the serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, stated this Thursday on The Platform, an annual conference organised by Lagos-based Covenant Christian Centre to deliberate on challenges confronting the nation and proffer solutions.
Using a Biblical analogy, the cleric compared Nigeria’s situation to a case of the “blind leads the seeing”.
He explained that Nigeria’s circumstances were not completely hopeless but the nation was not in its rightful place among the comity of nations.
Bakare said that the nation’s progress would be accelerated if the right people were elected and appointed into office.
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“If you compare our performance with the nations that began this journey with us — nations like Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea — they’ve left us behind. We are still in the woods and are yet to come out.
“We thank God we are still a nation and we trust God that as we dialogue this afternoon and others bring their ideas to the table, those that are leading us will begin to put the best of us in strategic positions to move our nation forward.
“No nation anywhere can survive or embark on predictable progress when mediocres are in charge.
“I’m not sure and I’m not limiting the Almighty and I hope this will not be seen as blasphemy; I’m not sure the Bible contemplates Nigerian leadership, because the Bible says when the blind leads the blind, they all end up in a ditch. But we’re in a nation where the blind leads the seeing.”
When asked what could be done to address the challenges bedevilling the country, he explained that there was a need for a change of orientation.
“I think we put the cart before the horse and whenever you put the cart before the horse, there is motion backwards. We need to put the horse before the cart. We need urgent national redemption and until that takes place, we are just wasting our time,” Bakare said.
He berated President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s for failing to live up to expectations.
According to him, the president promised to ensure security, diversify the economy and fight against corruption but the results after five years are not encouraging.
Bakare disclosed that he joined the Occupy Nigeria protests in 2012 to speak for the “voiceless” and not to protest fuel subsidy removal by Goodluck Jonathan administration.