President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday continued his engagements with relevant state and non- state actors in Lagos, when he received Tunde Bakare, the Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church.
The visit, BusinessDay gathered, focused on the current economic challenges facing the country as well as the insecurity in the middles belt and other parts of the country,
It was gathered that the meeting which took place privately, was also used to discuss critical national issues and the state of the nation
Recall that Bakker had in his address to the nation in in April, this year, at his Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos, called on President Bola Tinubu to implement immediate and strategic interventions to steer Nigeria out of its mounting crises.
Bakare had also highlighted the apparent erosion of democracy, particularly criticising the collapse of the legislature, which he called a “bastion of democracy” that is now failing under the President’s leadership.
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The maverick preacher berated the Tinubu administration for imposing a state of emergency in Rivers State by President Tinubu, which he declared as a “clear example of “theatre of the absurd.”
He slammed both the President’s actions and the National Assembly, which he accused of endorsing the measure. According to Bakare, the National Assembly has become the “most spineless” in Nigeria’s history, allowing for the President’s actions to go unchecked.
Bakare had also stressed the need for a “coordinated programme” to restore stability, warning that the current trajectory of insecurity and economic hardship could push the nation into deeper chaos.
While lamenting the continued rise in killings and kidnappings across Nigeria — with states like Plateau and Benue particularly affected — Bakare decried the reliance on prayer alone, describing it as increasingly ritualistic in the absence of decisive leadership.
“People of faith have prayed to the point of weariness, and any call for prayer now appears to be a mere religious ritual,” he said, noting that many Nigerians now believe prayer alone is no longer sufficient.
“Some have concluded that we have prayed long enough and that unless certain pragmatic steps are taken with immediate effect, the rage of the poor may engineer social, economic, and political worst-case scenarios,”
The outcome of the meeting was still being expected as at the time of filing in this report.
