2023: Pastor Bakare in Surport of Muslim-Muslim Ticket, Says It Shouldn’t Be An Issue
Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church and former All
Progressives Congress Presidential aspirant, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on
Sunday, urged Nigerians to prioritise nation building ahead of ethic
or religion sentiment.
Bakare, however, charged fellow Christian leaders to approach the
issue in question and the broader context of the 2023 elections with
civility, clarity and with continued hope in the possibilities of a
united Nigeria.
Reacting to the decision of the APC to select Moslems as the president
and vice presidential candidate of the party, Bakare said that this is
the time to show maturity in decision-making and to give every
Nigerian a sense of belonging.
He said: “As standard-bearers of the message of the New Nigeria, we
dream of a nation in which every Nigerian will be judged, not by their
ethnicity, political leaning, regional affiliation or religious
persuasion, but by the content of their character, as Dr Martin Luther
King, Jr. once proclaimed in respect of his nation, the United States
of America.
“We dream of a Nigeria where there will no longer be indigene or
settler but only a Nigerian citizen. We dream of a Nigeria where state
of residence will replace state of origin in our official forms and
where zoning or Federal Character will become archival aspects of our
journey into political maturity.
“We dream of a Nigeria in which every woman as well as every man will
be able to aspire to any political office at any time without playing
the ethnic card and without recourse to its our turn or its their
turn.”
Bakare said that he has chosen to be a bridge between Nigeria’s past,
present and future, adding “We choose to do this because we believe
that building the New Nigeria is the calling upon every Nigerian
worthy of the name.”
Bakare said that the pillar of Northern Nigerian politics, the late
Premier of Northern Nigeria, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello,
recognised this moral obligation to ensure that due consideration is
given to diversity of persuasions in public policy. Hence, his
statement to the peoples of Northern Nigeria in a unifying message.
His words: “As a result, Northern Nigeria had its political foundation
built on the principles of inclusion and religious harmony. This value
system of religious neutrality and inclusion played out when military
forces from Northern Nigeria took over power in the 1966 counter coup.
The military had the confidence to leave the nation in the custody of
a Christian from a minority ethnic group in the North. General Yakubu
Gowon would go on to govern Nigeria for nine years keeping Nigeria one
amidst a Civil War.
“So this moment calls for every Nigerian, from the North, South, East
and West, to renew our commitment to nationhood, building upon what
worked in the time of our founding fathers, while learning from their
mistakes and imperfections as we build a more perfect union.
“What we need is a New Nigeria that works for every Nigerian,
Christian as well as Muslim. Nationhood, rather than divisiveness must
be the objective of every engagement.
“As Christian leaders, we must also realise that the church in Nigeria
is today paying for decades of erroneous teaching that posited that
Christians have no business in politics. What is happening today is
the price we have to pay for the years of failure of the church to
strategically participate in the political process.
“The antagonism that was meted to some of us who have ventured from
the pulpit to the podium, even from amongst our fellow Christian
leaders, was always a pointer that a day would come when the church
would face a rude awakening of the consequence of passivity, apathy,
non-participation and an anachronistic adherence to the Aaronic
priesthood, especially long after the author and finisher of our faith
had moved on to the Melchizedek priesthood. Failure to admit this
would amount to hypocrisy.
“Going forward, ahead of 2023, we must learn from our mistakes.
Christian leaders must, at this point, bring the candidates and their
running mates to the negotiation table doing so with an open mind and
based on a clearly articulated charter for nation-building and
national development.
“Christian leaders must, at this point, convene a strategic concourse
to define the minimum standards across sectors of governance below
which no Nigerian, Christian or Muslim, must be subjected. The SNG
Charter and the Nigerian Charter for National Reconciliation and
Reintegration which was unanimously adopted by the delegates to the
2014 National Conference, can be a springboard for such
sector-by-sector deliberations. This must be done between now and
September when the campaigns will officially commence. The Charter may
be launched in Abuja and may be termed The Abuja Declaration for
Nationhood.
“Thereafter, Christian leaders must then carefully engage each
presidential candidate and running mate based on that Charter and
provide a unified direction to the body of Christ in Nigeria having
assessed each presidential/vice-presidential ticket based on key
performance indicators around the Charter. This would be a more
mature, structured and strategic way to respond to the situation as
against the emotional reactions that have dominated the polity since
the choice of a running mate was made by the APC presidential
candidate.
“For the Christians in Northern Nigeria who feel marginalised by the
choice of a Northern Muslim as running mate, the time has come to
upgrade the conversation from politics to governance. The time has
come to interrogate the impact of politics on development.”
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