By Alfaki Musa
The new scribe of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ajibola Basiru, has lambasted the revered Serving Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, saying the fact that he is full of ideas on how things should run does not confer on him, the competence to speak on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration, especially the fuel subsidy removal which had caused untold hardship on Nigerians.
Recall ThEANLYSTNG had earlier reported how Pastor Tunde Bakare in his State of the Nation Broadcast on Sunday criticized President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, stating that his very poor change management process on fuel subsidy removal plunged Nigeria into chaos.
“Amid the turbulent start to the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I have held my peace, hoping that wisdom would prevail even while the government was in its so-called honeymoon phase.
When, in his inauguration address on May 29, 2023, President Tinubu announced that “fuel subsidy is gone” despite the cautious exclusion of that contentious subject from the inauguration speech by his advisers, it was clear that our nation had been unwittingly plunged into chaos by a very poor change management process.
“Whatever the president’s true motivations were, it is clear that he put the cart before the horse. What is also clear is that the president was economical with the truth by giving Nigerians the impression that he was taking a courageous move to remove the fuel subsidy when the previous government had already taken that step,” the cleric was quoted.
However, reacting to that scathed criticism of the President, Basiru who was featured on Channels Television’s Political Program stated that he doesn’t see the respected cleric as a Politician and that he had no moral ground to speak on issues he knew nothing about.
“I must quickly comment on what Pastor Bakare said.
Although I don’t see him as a politician and with respect to him, I don’t see him as being competent to say what he has said.
“The fact that we are talking of palliatives does not mean we are not talking about the dysfunctions, imbalances in the economy and addressing the fundamental problems. We are not limiting our problems to the issue of palliatives.”
When the anchor probed him further on what he meant by ‘Bakare not having the competence’ to speak on the country’s challenges, Basiru reiterated that the fact that the pastor is a Nigerian does not mean he can run commentary on any debate.
“I said competence on what he is talking about. The fact that you have ideas doesn’t mean you are competent in what you are saying. But he is entitled as a citizen.
“For instance, I am not an engineer and don’t have the competence to make valid propositions in the engineering field, even though I am a citizen of Nigeria. The fact that he (Bakare) is a Nigerian does not give him the right to make the criticism that he is making,” Basiru quipped.
