The bushwa and balderdash in the bunkum of Bakare- Bala Ibrahim

I read with the feel of discomfort, the transcript of the sermon given by the serving overseer, Citadel Global Community Church, (formerly called The Latter Rain Assembly), Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, wherein he lampooned an unnamed official of the Buhari administration, with a threat that a change of baton is imminent.

I was quick to visit the dictionary, for an overview of the meaning of the phrase, change of baton. The dictionary says, “If someone passes the baton to another person, they pass responsibility for something to that person. If someone picks up the baton, they take over responsibility for something”.

This definition got me more frightened than the actual pronouncement by the pastor because it threw my mind to a compelling question, viz: Does it mean that the baton of leadership of Nigeria is going to be passed to another person soon? This is nothing but a bushwa.

We’ve had pastor’s dreams several times, but when a prediction is made with such authority and warning by a pastor/politician, with the implosion that is implying the sudden failure or collapse of the leadership of the country, only a buffoon would take such a warning with a grain of salt. More so when one chooses to check Nigeria’s books of history.

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Nigeria has had several cases of sudden, violent, and illegal seizure of power by cowboys, who always arrive unceremoniously to take over the government and justify their coming with the balderdash that they were prompted or invited by the politicians.

Memories are still fresh about the Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), which was formed after the Ibrahim Babangida regime abolished all political parties and created the two national parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991.

The primary objective of the ABN, under the leadership of Chief Arthur Nzeribe, was to frustrate the transmission of power to a democratically elected government, by keeping Ibrahim Babangida in power.

ABN started by sponsoring some prophets of doom to be making terrible predictions in their sermons from the pulpit, which culminated in them putting up billboards in Abuja, with the message, “Four More Years,” which means the military government should stay in power for another four years.

In the end, ABN went to court, seeking an injunction restraining the National Electoral Commission (NEC) from conducting the poll. And that was the beginning of the end of the June 12 presidential election, which was adjudged to be the freest and fairest presidential election ever conducted in Nigeria.

Several clauses in pastor Bakare’s threat came with poignant and panic alarms, especially where he made the mouth, presumably against the President, viz: “I dare you to come after me since that is the usual style now. You might have done it to others; you are about to learn a lesson if you touch me. If you know what I have done in secret, bring it to the open. I dare you to come after me if you can. I worked with you; I worked for you; I supported you to get there (where you are). I’m not interested in meeting you any longer; no more visits. Now, it is war, because Nigeria must be set free”.

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Pastor Bakare was the running mate to Buhari when the President contested the presidential election on the platform of the now-defunct Congress for Progressive Change, CPC in 2011. But they lost the election and Buhari had to make a new alignment that got him to victory in 2015.

The Pastor’s linkage of his anger with Buhari to the recent arrests of separatists Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho, lend credence to the speculations that the activities of the rebels are sponsored by some antagonistic politicians, particularly when he said, “How can you be expending so much energy on Igboho and Kanu? Igboho and Kanu are not Nigeria’s problems”.

Reports have it that the government is in possession of incontrovertible evidence linking the separatists and some high profile Nigerians, which may be the reason why some people are trying to play the pre-emptive.

Pastor Bakare may not understand the level or magnitude of the polarization brought about by his bunkum and the open support for secession, especially when viewed from the point of the religious divide.

Already, because the support for the Oduduwa Republic and the attack on the President were delivered in the church, the Yoruba community is beginning to be divided into two sharply contrasting camps on the basis of faith, with the Muslim community saying there is no justification whatsoever, to preach secession and succession on the basis of ethnic agitation.

In his article, OODUA REPUBLIC: WHY YORUBA MUSLIMS ARE OUT OF THE AGITATION, Barr. KOLA R. IBRAHIM said, “We are watching and waiting for their pronouncement or release on the matter. We are Yorubas, and bonafide, law-abiding and tax-paying citizens of this country, Nigeria. We say no to Violence and we believe in dialogue. We are not against referendum, renegotiation or restructuring of the country on the basis of justice, fairness and understanding. The position of Islam is very clear on the matter. MURIC has succinctly stated it, Shaykh Ajala and Shaykh Shafii, the TMC and other Islamic Organizations have dissociated themselves from the Oodua Republic.

Whatever may be responsible for pastor Bakare to go into such unnecessary outbursts, I think like Father Kukah, he had acted beyond the emotion that is expected from a clergyman, whose duties should tally with the making of peace and teaching the doctrines and proper practices of their religion.

The issuance of threats from the pulpit is not amongst the duties of the clergy, even if he doubles as a pastor/politician, I think.

Ibrahim, a media advisor writes from Abuja