While Nigerians and indeed the political class are already
jostling ahead of the 2015 elections, the Vice-Presidential candidate of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 elections and
officiating pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare has
expressed doubts over the possibility of having the much anticipated
elections in 2015.
Bakare, the running mate to General
Muhammdu Buhari (rtd), who spoke with journalists after preaching a
sermon titled: 'Corruption and the Soul of Nigeria' at his church in
Lagos, said rather than 2015, the expected election in Nigeria will come
earlier, in 2014.
"I don’t
believe there will be an election in 2015. Instead, the election will
come up in 2014. There are issues that will come up that will make the
election happen in 2014," he said.
The cleric lamented the
deteriorating conditions in the country and blamed the backwardness,
especially the retrogressive indices common with Nigeria in
international ratings to the unabated corruption among political office
holders, stressing that: "Corruption is killing Nigeria." He advised
Nigerians to prayer fervently to
rescue the country.
"We must pray and blow the trumpets in the hope that our nation can be saved by God before it sinks," he said.
While
making reference to the $1.5 billion loan collected by the Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) without proper approval and
without precise action taken against the NNPC, he noted that "we have
two nations in Nigeria: the Federal Republic of NNPC and the democratic
Nigeria," and described the imbroglio between President Goodluck
Jonathan and former President Olusegun Obasanjo as part of the "ambush",
which he mentioned earlier in his sermon, which will lead to the
eventual emancipation of the country.
He lambasted Obasanjo for
portraying the Jonathan as not tackling corruption, noting that he
entrenched corruption in the country.
"Obasanjo goes about saying
that Nigeria will go up in flames because his successor was allowing
corruption to go on unchecked but he laid the foundation for
corruption," the cleric said.
While not sounding enthusiastic
about the political alignments and re-alignments currently going on
ahead of the 2015, when asked which party he now belongs to, Bakare
said: "I’d never have any political party in my life. I belong to God. I
sat down at home when the CPC called and I accepted because I believe
that there are still men who will rescue the country. Now I don’t have
any political ambition. I’m now doing what I love to do most. Politics
can only take away from me."
However, Bakare reiterated calls for a
national dialogue as a way forward and assured Nigerians that there was
still hope for Nigeria to attain its full potential in a near future,
with God’s intervention.
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