Nigeria being turned into a mafia state —Bakare

•Mr President, stop playing God, he says

PASTOR Tunde Bakare has described recent developments in the nation’s political space as an indication that the country is being turned into a mafia state by its “so-called leaders.”

This was just as he advised President Bola Tinubu to stop playing God and adopt a more humble approach to governance.

Speaking in Lagos on Sunday on the theme ‘Let the People Know the Truth and the Country is Safe’, the presiding overseer of the Global Community Citadel Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, argued that the state of emergency, eventual suspension of the executive government in Rivers State, and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan by the Senate are clear evidences that the country is gradually descending into a mafia state.

He attributed the ugly development to the executives and the legislative, whom he described as “institutional immorality olympics.”

Bakare said: “While it is not in dispute that our institutions and constitution are inadequate, it has become obvious that our biggest problems are the occupiers of these institutions and executors of the constitution.

“The quality of leadership in Nigeria has become so repugnant that citizens must declare a state of emergency on governance, demanding that every aspiring public office holder undergoes rigorous psychiatric evaluation before seeking election.

“I urge you, Mr. President, to think deeply and reflect on these words: ‘No man is wise enough nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.” Please, stop playing God!

“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under whose brand of politics the institution of legislative oversight is collapsing and our democracy is faced with an existential threat, I say: Mr. President, Nigeria is too delicate for this kind of politics. If this state capture was what you meant by emi lo kan, it is an anti-climax that can only be counterproductive in the end.”

Bakare said the long period of military regime had made the two arms of government a victim of the worst forms of ‘arrested development’, since they were the direct victims of the military era.

He noted, however, that after 26 years of uninterrupted democracy, the institutions should have finally matured.

On the state of the economy, the cleric called on the Federal Government to use unconventional economic strategies to proactively buffer the economy, considering the intricate interconnectedness of the global economy.

According to him, with oil exports accounting for 90 percent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange, and with the 2025 budget relying on a staggering $13 trillion worth of borrowing, the country needs unconventional economic strategies to ensure that citizens are not subjected to further hardships and to also to set the country on the path of speedy recovery and growth.

“With the global ripple effects of the US President Donald Trump’s presidency in view, economic experts from the Wall Street Journal to Goldman Sachs are warning about the rising chances of a recession.

“Considering the intricate interconnectedness of the global economy, this places a challenge on forward-looking governments to proactively buffer their economies,” he added.

Bakare also called on the government to confront the escalating insecurity across the country, citing reports of killings in several parts of the country, including Edo, Benue, Plateau, Zamfara and Borno States over the past few weeks.

“In a recent reaction to these developments, former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, faulted the security architecture of President Bola Tinubu.

“However, our national security problems point to fundamental structural defects designed into the Nigerian constitution since the return to democracy in 1999; defects that have been sustained by leaders who have, over the years, failed to demonstrate the political will needed for bold and innovative reforms,” he said.

Bakare, therefore, called for the activation of constitutional procedures for multilevel policing, including local, state and zonal policing systems.

“We must redesign our security architecture by facilitating the formation of zonal security councils chaired by a governor from the respective zone on a rotating basis.

“Such zonal security councils, which will be formed by state and local policing systems within respective zones, must be managed by nonpartisan security experts while the chairperson at each point in time will represent the zone at the National Security Council,” he said.

While recalling his 2019 address, when he recommended that the Nigeria Police Force be reformed into a National Bureau of Investigation with emphasis on investigation and intelligence gathering within inter-zonal and national jurisdictions as the main law enforcement agency of the federal government, he recommended the creation of a Directorate of National Intelligence to be headed by a Director of National Intelligence who will report directly to the president and the National Security Council.

“That way, intelligence can be disseminated to other relevant stakeholders, including the proposed zonal security councils, and through them to the state governments.”

Under this reformed structure, he said the National Security Adviser, as a political appointee, would facilitate the president’s decision-making based on the intelligence supplied by the Director of National Intelligence.

“These steps would be further boosted by adequately retooling our security infrastructure to meet the complex demands and by remodelling our security infrastructure to end interagency rivalry.

“We must also recreate our national security culture by mandating the kind of organisational culture change within the entire gamut of our law enforcement agencies that can win back the trust of the people,” he added.

Bola Badmus and Segun Kasali