2023: I never asked Buhari to handpick successor ― Pastor Bakare

Serving Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, said on Sunday that he never at any point insinuated that President Muhammadu Buhari should ‘pick’ or ‘choose’ his successor, come 2023.

He explained that what he urged the president doing “is to institutionalise systems of accurate succession that will build and sustain the Nigeria we desire” being a key responsibility that history has bestowed on him.

Bakare, whose church now bears a new name, The Citadel Global Community Church, said this in a statement titled: “Much Ado About Succession” in reaction to the state of the nation address he made last Sunday, of which he complained of misrepresentations.

The cleric, in the address he read in his church on Akilo Road in Ikeja area of Lagos, in response to what he termed “unrecognisable reconstruction” of his statement on succession as reported in the media during the past week, maintained that he did not insinuate at any point that Buhari should pick or choose his successor, contending that succession was about casting long term visions, building stable institutions as well as raising the next generation.

This was as he noted that it was difficult to achieve accurate succession without free, fair and credible elections in a democratic society.

“I did not insinuate at any point that Buhari should ‘pick’ or ‘choose’ his successor as some news outlets have conjured.

“Succession is about casting long term visions, building stable institutions and raising the next generation,” he said.

Bakare, while recalling that he had last week in his address set three key areas of focus for Buhari as his second tenure winds down, namely: “strong leadership, strong institutions, and strong succession”, stated that his exact words on strong succession, which he considered as third pivotal objective of governance was for the president to build a strong legacy that he would leave behind by institutionalising systems of accurate succession that will build and sustain the country that Nigerians all desired to have.

“It has been interpreted as me asking Buhari to foist his choice on the nation in flagrant disregard of democratic principles. I neither did this nor did I insinuate at any point that Buhari should ‘pick’ or ‘choose’ his successor as some news outlets have conjured.

“My exact words: ‘…the third pivotal objective of governance should be to build a strong post-Buhari legacy facilitated by accurate succession…Therefore, even as we build institutions of democratic governance, a key responsibility that history has bestowed on President Muhammadu Buhari at this turning point in our journey to nationhood is to institutionalise systems of accurate succession that will build and sustain the Nigeria we desire,” he clarified.

Making further clarification, the cleric stated: “Succession is about casting long term visions, building stable institutions and raising the next generation. Succession is an expansive term that does not focus on one position alone, mindful as I am that no one individual can singlehandedly solve Nigeria’s problems. Instead, it focuses on the institution of systems of predictable progress and the sustainable replacement of capable hands with capable hands across the entire system. In a democratic society, you cannot achieve accurate succession without free, fair and credible elections.”

Pastor Bakare, while quoting Peter Drucker, said “there is no success without a successor”, adding that success without succession was equally a failure.

ALSO READ: Insecurity: Plateau govt builds neighbourhood security watchtower

According to him, another author, John C. Maxwell once insisted that “a leader’s lasting value is measured by succession,” saying great leaders think of succession from their very first day in office as the thought of succession informed the quality of lieutenants an effective leader appointed to strategic offices.

Besides, the cleric argued that it (succession) compelled leaders to hire competent aides who could do the job as well, if not better than they themselves could.

“Succession, or legacy-mindfulness, if you prefer, keep a leader from the distractions of the side attractions of office, and keeps him or her focused on the deliverables, knowing that he or she has limited time.

“Succession is about casting long term visions, building stable institutions and raising the next generation. My copious references to young people in the January 5, 2020 address was deliberate. I was pointing to the future of our nation and the need for inclusive transgenerational governance. I was echoing James Freeman Clarke who once observed that: A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift.

“These are serious issues that cannot be muddled up by perverts pretending to be patriots or zeroes pretending to be heroes,” he said.

Speaking further, Pastor Bakare observed that over the years inaccurate succession had been the bane of institutional leadership in Nigeria, lamenting out that if the country had been excellent in whatever, it had been at creating a succession pipeline of the worst of the people ruling over the best of the country.

The cleric further observed that decades after the country’s founding fathers, including Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Sir Michael Okpara, who he described as selfless had gone, the citizenry had remained disillusioned with the self-aggrandisement of politicians who lacked the values of the founding fathers.

He said among the politicians that were now seen around affiliated themselves with the legacies of the founding fathers which they all lacked, pointing out that: “In the South, these politicians are quick to wear the cap and glasses of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, but lack the mental capacity and foresight of the late sage.

“In the North, these politicians affiliate themselves with the legacy of Sir Ahmadu Bello but lack the heart with which the Sardauna worked for the progress of his people.

“In the East, they associate themselves with the giant strides of Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara, but their governance accomplishments are dwarfed compared to those of these heroes. These are signs of leadership succession failure,” he declared.

Reflecting on his ideas on systems of succession, in countries outside Nigeria, such as China, Singapore, South Africa, among others, as were contained in last week’s speech, the cleric said his reference to China had nothing to do with the Chinese system of government but more to do with Deng Xiaoping’s deliberate move to discover, develop and strategically deploy young leadership talents over an extended period as that country began a path to modernisation.

“Similarly, my reference to Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew was to underscore the role of pioneer or pivotal leaders of nations in institutionalising or resuscitating foundational values.

“Furthermore, the example of Mandela’s Succession Plan in South Africa was done within the proper democratic framework of a free, fair and credible election,” he said.

Pastor Bakare said his overriding concern in offering propositions was to forestall the emergence of what he termed “a new iteration of recycled enemies” who would once again seek to lock the country and the people into a cycle of doom and gloom at the turn of a new decade.

He, however, promised his unalloyed commitment to facilitating the emergence of the best, brightest, fittest and most competent Nigerians across every gamut of the country’s national life through God’s assistance.

“My overriding concern in offering propositions was to forestall the emergence of a new iteration of recycled enemies who will once again seek to lock us into a cycle of doom and gloom at the turn of a new decade.

“On my part, I remain committed to facilitating, however, God enables me, the emergence of the best, brightest, fittest and most competent Nigerians across every gamut of our national life,” he vowed.