Bakare: A clergy that will not wait to hear from God

Not minding the fact that men have openly attempted to take over the position of selecting political leaders from God, the point still remains that power belongs to Him. God gives and takes away political power from whoever He wishes and at any time He so desire. This is responsible for the many unpredictable developments in the polity of nations all over the world. Even at this, many have failed to see the hand of God in the selection of political leaders. The fact that many political leaders have failed to live up to expectations does not in any way cancel God’s role.

It was the above reason that many were shocked when Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly took a plunge into mainstream politics. While this writer is of the opinion that clergies are not forbidden from politics, events have shown that the fiery preacher did not hear from God before accepting the offer of a vice presidential slot from Gen Mohammadu Buhari. The result of the April 16th presidential polls has confirmed this.

To a very large extent, many have been tempted to rush to conclude that Pastor Bakare was deceived by the wide support he enjoyed from his Save Nigeria Group (SNG) campaign. As good as the intentions of the SNG were, many had expected him to stay on the touchline like coaches normally do during football matches. Perhaps, he was discouraged by Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration that he has “no enemies to fight.” There was therefore no reason for him to contemplate being on the sideline to coach the president. No doubt, Bakare has lost many of his admirers. He might lose some of his followers in the weeks, months, and years to come.
Even as a spirit, God is not secretive. We must appreciate the important fact that God does not do anything without first revealing same to those concerned through one or more of His messengers. I cannot recall any of God’s envoys talking about a clergy sitting on the Nigerian presidency in 2011.

More than that, the fact was quite obvious that Gen. Buhari and Pastor Bakare were millions of miles apart in ideology. It would then be easy for one to argue that their union was built purely on the faulty foundation of desperation. The duo was out to use any means possible to dislodge the PDP- not Jonathan from the presidency. As painted by the result of the presidential election, very many people in the opposition gladly isolated Jonathan from the ruling PDP. In politics, this is unexplainable and seems to have some divine attachment. On the other hand; even if the CPC had won the April 16th presidential polls, the presidency wouldn’t have lasted the first 12 months. Buhari and Bakare would have easily rubbished the Obasanjo-Atiku record of presidential acrimony.

For a nation with very deep religious sentiments, Nigeria needs only leaders with moderate spiritual convictions. This was a big minus for the CPC. Assuming that the CPC won the presidential election; there is this fertile fact that many of Bakare’s followers would have rebelled against him the moment he buries his fire-brand religious beliefs in the grave of politics. In the case of Buhari, countless citizens believe that a leopard cannot change its spots. Many Nigerian families, communities, and businesses have not recovered from the hurt that was caused then by the Buhari-led military regime in the early 80s.

Furthermore, the greatest charge against both Buhari and Bakare are their inability to appreciate the honour that is attached to the presidency. This was several displayed by their arrogance and high temperament. Gen. Buhari was alleged to have urged his supporters to lynch whoever that was believed to have rigged the election. The same thing goes for Pastor Bakare that fueled the theory of Wild-Wild-North. What do they make of the judiciary?

Good leaders are supposed to be humble and economical with hate-words and insults. Buhari and Bakare quickly forgot that a greater percentage of the Nigerian population have come of age. As insignificant as it had appeared; while Jonathan and Sambo were busy boasting about their antecedence with humility, the duet of Buhari and Bakare spent a greater amount of their campaign time pouring venom not just on PDP but on the person of Jonathan and Obasanjo. At the end, the CPC only succeeded in telling Nigerians that it will fight corruption, introduce effective security network, improve on power supply, raise the standard of education, provide improved health care services, and guarantee a robust road infrastructure. There was nothing different from what the PDP has been saying.

To many Nigerian voters, what actually separated PDP from the CPC was the composure- maturity of Goodluck Jonathan and Namadi Sambo. There was never a time they rubbished other political parties or abused the personalities of their political opponents even at the height of provocation. Take the case of Rev. Chris Okotie, founder of Household of God Church and presidential candidate on the platform of FRESH Democratic Party who posited that as a zoologist, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan was not grounded for political leadership. In rejecting the results of the presidential polls, Okotie even went on to call for the setting up of an interim government. This was clearly trillion of miles away from the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria. What manner of leaders does Nigerians really deserve? Use your tongue to count your teeth.