Tunde Bakare, serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church,
says anybody that wants to lead Nigeria must negotiate with the northern region
of the country.
Speaking in an interview
with ThisDay,
Bakare said he doubts if the north would willingly give up power.
He said no section of the country
“can win an election by itself” and as such, collaboration is pertinent to
electoral victory.
“The way our country is constituted right now, no matter who wants to lead this country. Anyone that wants to lead this country right now will have to negotiate with the north and the north has a way of giving you the crown and holding the sceptre and if that’s going to change, our glorified death certificate called the Nigerian constitution must have to go through a rejig,” he said.
“I honestly will say, almost all the things
that were going for the north in the days of Ahmadu Bello are no longer there.
The textile industries where they dominated are not there anymore. The
groundnut pyramids, etc. And what they have is what they hold. They have power.
“Nigeria is structured in such a
way that no section can win an election by itself. The southerner cannot win an
election without reaching out to the north and the northerner cannot win the
election without reaching out to the south.”
On his assessment of how the
current administration has fared in the last six years, Bakare said a lot of
things have gone worse even though the government is “trying their hardest”.
“Our expectations were very high. Sometimes, I
have sat down to think that, ah, as president, has Buhari not demystified
himself, because the expectations of Nigerians were very high when he was
coming to power,” Bakare was quoted as saying.
“To start with, the kind of ill
health he had, he had never had such a thing and that affected grossly the
first term. That ill health was a major thing. That he is still alive today is
a miracle. If you put all the six years he has spent, other than infrastructure
development, the promise he made to the public concerning Boko Haram or
security, we know it has gone worse, as far as I am concerned.
“They say it’s not as bad as we
think. But I need to be convinced. The rail track, a few days ago to Kaduna,
they bombed it. When my brother, Nasir el-Rufai said I should take the train to
Kaduna, I said I will wait. They are trying their hardest, but no matter from
which angle you’re looking at it, whether it is economic, whether it is
politics, whether it is security, you will have something negative to say. But
it is easier to be critical than correct. I will not beat my chest until I sit
on that seat and do better.”
Bakare added that he would “never
sacrifice truth on the altar of friendship”.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com