Nigeria Regressing Forcefully To Bottom On Tinubu’s Watch- Bakare

 Nigeria is fast regressing to the bottom of all indices of life under the current APC-led government according to Pastor Tunde Bakare.

 The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, said this yesterday in his State of the Nation broadcast, with the theme, “Vice, Virtue and Time: The Three Things That Never Stand Still.”

Bakare, who contested in the presidential primary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) but  lost to President Tinubu, said, “Fellow Nigerians, time is far spent on our journey to nationhood and it is abundantly clear that instead of advancing forcefully in the right direction, we are regressing forcefully in a frantic race to the bottom; there is simply no middle ground.”

He said that he was perturbed by the needless suffering of Nigerians that had been normalised and perpetuated by bad governance and irresponsible public policy.

Bakare, called the removal of fuel subsidy calling it ‘’thoughtless’’ and placing military option before diplomacy in managing the military’s takeover of the Niger Republic as cases of Tinubu’s leadership by impulse, which he argued had unwittingly plunged Nigeria into chaos.

“It is in the best interest of the nation for Mr President to consider intended and unintended consequences before committing to a course of action,” Bakare said

“What is further clear concerning our domestic challenges is that, by imposing hardship on Nigerians without going after those corrupt individuals, corporations and government officials who have plundered Nigeria over the years in the name of subsidy, the president has picked the wrong fight.”

“You can decide today to take the burden of reforms off the Nigerian people and go after the corporations and individuals who have plundered our nation. You can decide today to stand with the poor and take the fight to the plunderers,’’ Bakare added

 “Nigerians are asking why the poor have to suffer for the criminal activities of these individuals and companies.

“Even as the government attempts an economic reform agenda, we must realise that no economy can thrive on criminal impunity. There can be no successful economic reforms without economic justice.

“Economic justice includes placing the cost of reforms on those who caused the problems first, rather than on the people.

“Without economic justice, the attempts to sanitise the sector, including the Petroleum Industry Act, the abrupt subsidy removal, the exchange rate harmonisation policy, and the announcement of palliatives will all amount to papering over the cracks of a broken-down wall while the foundation is fast caving in.”

He accused Tinubu’s government of being, “A government that asked the poor to tighten their belts and could not afford a bloated waistline. 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. 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.”