TUNDE BAKARE AND HIS "NIGERIA FOR NIGERIA" MOVEMENT

By Akin Ojumu 

“…I loved you. I served you. I respected you. I did everything to make it work for you. But you turned against me. And God has turned against you. Get out of my way…”

That encapsulates the latest outburst by Tunde Bakare, pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, in this new 3-minute video on YouTube. 

With these people, it’s always, “I, I, I,” and “Me, Me, Me.” Nothing ever changes. The sense of entitlement is mind boggling. It’s always about them and the universe that revolves around them. They are the shining sun in their own solar system and every other surrounding planet derives life and sustenance from them.

What the latest bloviating is all about is the loss of influence at the table where important decisions are made. Since Tunde Bakare no longer enjoys the usual patronage he believes he is entitled to, and has lost the relevance he used to command, he is telling all Nigerians that God has suddenly turned against Buhari. Since the man in Aso Rock no longer seeks his counsel, Tunde Bakare wants to conscript hungry Nigerians into joining him at throwing rocks at Aso Rock and he wants to recruit angry Nigerians to be his rock throwing dispensable foot soldiers.

This his ranting is nothing more than a cry over loss of access to the seat of power. After working tooth and nail to get a senile ignoramus installed as Nigeria’s head of state, against all the warnings and despite all the telltale signs of the horror that would be unleashed if Buhari ever attained power, Tunde Bakare is now bitching about being shut out of having a say in the running of the country. What a cry baby!!!

Don’t be fooled by Tunde Bakare’s jeremiad. The man who prostituted himself to a Fulani hegemonist, has been dumped like a whore. Despite making mockery of his Christian faith by getting unequally yoked with an Islamic fundamentalist, the man of God has been ditched. All he got for rolling in the mire of pursuit of political power is to get the mud thrown in his face. And for that the anointed man of God is pretty mad. Tunde Bakare jettisoned his integrity and whatever reputation he had left, he now wants Nigerians to believe that God has suddenly turned against the very same man he told them, not too long ago, that God asked him to team up with in order to ascend to the pinnacle of political power in Nigeria.

Having been thrown out by Buhari like an ordinary household item that has lost its usefulness, Tunde Bakare is now invoking some supernatural immunity against getting arrested and thrown into the gulag for protesting. In his mind, he is certain he has some monopoly on God. He wholeheartedly believes that whatever he thinks, whatever he says, and whatever he does, is most assuredly of God and, without question, has the divine stamp of approval because he is a man of God who knows the mind of God. Tunde Bakare has got a handle on everything God and the Almighty is subject to the whims and caprices of the powerful man of God.

The man of God believes the only reason God turned against Buhari is because Buhari turned against Bakare. Never mind that just 3 months ago he announced to the whole world that God revealed to him that Buhari was going to stabilize Nigeria. In a few short weeks, the man of God changed his mind. And God, following suit, changed His mind also, since God is beholden to the man of God and must, of necessity, do whatever the man of God commands.

What this really is, though, is that Tunde Bakare has been chewed up and spat out by the very tiger he wanted to ride political power. As a scorned lover, he wants to use hapless Nigerians to get his revenge on his sugar daddy.

The same fella who, only a few months ago, told Nigerians that Bola Tinubu – the Whore-in-Chief – was the best thing since sliced bread to have ever happened to the Yoruba race and the Nigerian nation now claims he is a champion of a “Nigeria for Nigeria" Movement – whatever that even means. In what can only amount to a call to suspend disbelief, the same Tunde Bakare who wanted Nigerians to buy into the "Tinubu is the best president Nigeria never had" nonsense now wants Nigerians to believe he is, shall we say, “born again." This same man who sold out Nigeria for a pot of porridge, now parades himself as a committed missionary willing to die in the mission field of a “New Nigeria.” 

If this is not a grandiose delusion, I don’t know what is. It is quite an audacious, if not laughable, attempt at image laundering. Tunde Bakare must take Nigerians for fools for him to think that by mouthing off on a ragtag movement of toothless and meaningless nothing he can rid himself of the stench of his prostitution to Buhari.

Well, you know what, I take that back. A vast majority of Nigerians are, to put it mildly, indeed fools. Tunde Bakare knows it, so he exploits it. As a snake oil salesman that he is, the good evangelist knows fully well that lots and lots of Nigerians will buy the BS that he is evangelizing. And judging by the rousing “Amens” and the loud cabashing – (aka “speaking in tongues” for those who don’t speak Christianese) – that followed his empty declaration, he is right.

This is the sad saga of the Nigerian nation. It's the way of the Nigerian ruling class. It is cynicism that bothers on narcissism. And Nigerians fall for it all the time.