The senior pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as the Latter Rain Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has declared that he was not against the removal of the fuel subsidy but the corruption in the system.
Pastor Bakare noted that fuel subsidy removal and its harsh economic impact was taking a toll on citizens of the country as he urged President Bola Tinubu to kill corruption and not Nigerians.
The televangelist also advised the president to “mount a genuine fight against corruption, rise above vendetta, foster reconciliation, and give every Nigerian a reason to believe in a united country.”
Pastor Bakare who delved into the state of the nation during a broadcast, theme ‘’Vice, virtue and time: The three things that shall never stand still’’, held at the church auditorium, located on Kuditat Abiola way, Ikeja, also faulted the proposed military intervention in the Niger Republic by President Tinubu-led ECOWAS.
Speaking on the harsh economy in the country, the pastor said: “What is further clear concerning our domestic challenges is that by imposing hardship on Nigerians without going after those corrupt individuals, corporations and government officials, who have plundered Nigeria over the years in the name of subsidy, the president has picked the wrong fight.”
Pastor Bakare also made reference to President Tinubu’s July 31, national broadcast, where he revealed that vast sum of subsidy money which would have been better spent to improve the nation have been plundered into the deep pockets of lavish bank accounts of a selected group of individuals.
“Who are these select groups of individuals into whose deep pockets our national treasury has been funnelled,” Bakare queried.
‘’Who are these smugglers and fraudsters that have been defrauding our nation in the name of subsidy?”
“Who are these nameless characters that have fed fat at the expense of the poor? Or are they all sacred cows?
‘’Mr President, if you are truly on the side of the poor, if you are serious about the welfare of the people, if you truly want the poor to breathe, as you once said, then kill corruption, not Nigerians.”
On the coup in Niger Republic, Bakare kicked against the proposal by ECOWAS for military intervention, describing it as counter-intuitive.
