Headlines
If You Say a Particular Section Cannot Be Trusted with Power, Then We Can’t Live Together – Bakare
The Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said “no ethnic group has the monopoly to rule Nigeria.”
Bakare, who has declared that he would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in office come 2023, said he detested it when people said those from a certain section of the country cannot be trusted with power.
He said though zoning was not in the constitution, it had proven useful for Nigeria’s quest for unity.
Bakare said these on Sunday in a chat with journalists shortly after making a national broadcast on the state of the nation during the Sunday service in his church in the Ogba area of Lagos.
Bakare said, “Time has come to sit on a table of brotherhood and that’s why I said a President like President Muhammadu Buhari must rise up above partisanship and above petty ethnic sentiments, like Abraham Lincoln, like George Washington, to say let’s sit down, Nigeria must move forward. It is bigger than any of us and it will be better for us to work together by getting the best of the North and the best of the South to think through the road path for the greatness of this nation.
“I detest the saying that a particular section of this country must not be trusted with power; no! Then, we cannot live together because nobody is going to be servant of anybody.”
Bakare said for Nigeria to move forward, the different ethnic groups must collaborate and do away with mutual suspicion.
He said, “This is not time for mutual suspicion; this is a season for collaboration. All the infighting must stop; it is like father and mother are fighting and the children are confused. The season cannot afford this; let’s mend the fences. Let’s come together and let us begin to pursue a strategic objective that will set Nigeria on the path of predictable progress.”
The cleric prayed that Buhari would not fail and that “his legacies will not be rubbished.”
When asked to mention a few of Buhari’s legacies that he would love to see preserved beyond 2023, Bakare pointed to Buhari’s fight against corruption and insecurity.
He said, “The reason he (Buhari) is tackling corruption left, right and centre and the reason he is ensuring there is security is so that there will be opportunity for our land to develop.
“If you spend eight years and there is nothing tangible recorded against your name, that is not right. Remember, for a considerable part of his first term, he was ill; thank God he made it back. It’s like he is doubling efforts now to ensure that a legacy that cannot be erased is left behind because four years will soon come and go.”
Bakare said he believed Buhari meant well for Nigeria and that he was not opposed to restructuring.
“I don’t think Buhari is against restructuring. If he is, then I wonder what legacy he wants to leave behind.
“He means well for Nigeria; he wants to leave a legacy and he is doing and trying his hardest within the available resources.
“We are trusting that he will be surrounded by capable men and there will not be mutual suspicion and mistrust among those who are closest to him so that he can focus and get the job done,” Bakare said.
The Punch
The National Working Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (NWC) has suspended the National Legal Adviser, Kamaldeen Ajibade; National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu; Deputy Legal Adviser, Okechukwu Osuoha; and National Organizing Secretary, Umaru Bature for one month.
The suspension comes on the heels of the judgement of the Federal High Court On Friday, which stopped the party’s planned national convention.
The National Publicity Secretary of the party, Debo Ologunagba, told journalists in Abuja on Saturday, that the decision followed an emergency meeting of the national working committee, which was held in Abuja.
President Donald Trump of the United States on Friday designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), in response to allegations of widespread persecution and genocide against Christians.
Writing on his Truth Social account, Trump stated that Christianity faces a serious threat in Nigeria.
The US leader also added Nigeria to a State Department watch list.
“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter,” Trump wrote.
According to the US president, he was placing Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer and most populous nation, on a “Countries of Particular Concern” list of nations the US deems to have engaged in religious freedom violations.
According to the State Department’s website, the list includes China, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia, and Pakistan, among others.
Trump said he had asked US Representatives Riley Moore and Tom Cole, as well as the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, to look into the matter and report back to him.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has removed Hon. Abubakar Gummi from the House of Representatives after he left the Peoples Democratic Party for the All Progressives Congress.
The lawmaker represented the Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency in Zamfara State.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu delivered the ruling, holding that Gummi’s defection breached the Constitution.
The court said the seat does not belong to any politician but to the political party that sponsored the election.
According to the judgment, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, is barred from recognising Gummi “as a member representing Gummi/Bukkuyum Federal Constituency.”
The judge also instructed the Independent National Electoral Commission to “conduct a fresh election” for the vacant seat within 30 days.
The case was instituted by the PDP and its Zamfara chairman, who insisted that Gummi’s move to the APC had no legal justification. They argued that there was no division in the PDP to support his defection, as required by Section 68(1)(g) of the Constitution.
Gummi, through his counsel, claimed he left the PDP due to internal crises which he said made it “impossible” to serve his constituents effectively. The judge, however, dismissed his arguments and granted all the reliefs requested by the plaintiffs.
Justice Egwuatu, in a firm comment, warned politicians against what he described as reckless party hopping.
“Political prostitution must not be rewarded,” he declared, adding that lawmakers must not transfer votes won on one party’s platform to another party.
The court also ordered Gummi to refund all salaries and allowances received from October 30, 2024, until the date of judgment. He is also barred from earning any further benefits as a member of the House.
Additionally, the judge imposed a N500,000 cost against the defendants in favour of the PDP.
