Shun Ethno-Religious Politics, Pastor Bakare Urges Nigerians

A former presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Pastor Tunde Bakare has urged Nigerians not to play politics of ethnicity or religion in the coming 2023 general elections.

He also called on Christian leaders to learn from past mistakes of not participating in politics.

Bakare’s advice is coming on the heels of heated debate on the Muslim-Muslim ticket presentation by the presidential candidate of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Mr Tinubu, a Muslim picked former governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima Mustapha, also a Muslim, as his running mate in the election scheduled for February next year.

Bakare, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church bared his mind earlier today during Sunday service in his church at Oregun Ojota Lagos. He enjoined Nigerians to prioritise nation-building above any religious or ethnic sentiment.

According to him, national discourse has been in a tailspin with vehement opposition to the choice Of a Muslim as vice presidential candidate from members of the Christian community, which has been accompanied by rejections, resignations and resentment.

He said the aversion to what has been termed a Muslim-Muslim ticket is not unexpected, but charged Christian leaders to bring the candidates and their running mates to the negotiation table with an open mind.

According to him, “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 with an open mind and based on a clearly articulated Charter for nation-building and national development.”

He said, “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 the mistakes and imperfections as we build a more perfect union.”

The Citadel Church leader further said that such strategic engagement would be reminiscent of the interventions of the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) in 2010 when it engaged the presidential candidates based on the SNG Charter, A Contract to Save and Transform Nigeria.

He said that what the Nigerian Christian leaders should do is to interrogate the candidates for development and convene a strategic concourse to define the minimum standards across sectors of governance below which no Nigerian, Christian or Muslim, must be subjected.

He suggested guidelines for Christian leaders’ engagement with the political stakeholders on nation-building which must be done before September when the campaigns will officially commence.

While appreciating the position of Christians in Northern Nigeria who he said were right to have felt marginalised by the choice of a Northern Muslim as running mate, Pastor Bakare noted that the time has come to upgrade the conversation from politics to governance.

He asked that Christian leaders must provide answers to a cogent question on what kind of nation they want.

“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.

“It is time to interrogate the impact of politics on development. In this regard, key questions must be asked: What will the candidates do to change the social, economic and political landscapes in Northern Nigeria to ensure the emergence of an enlightened electorate that will make political decisions not based on religion or region but rational indices of character, competence, capacity and policy?”