Tunde Bakare, the senior pastor of Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos, has said the former governor of Lagos Bola Tinubu, has fought and won many battles on behalf of the Yoruba people.
In a sermon titled ‘An Idle Man’s Brain Is The Devil’s Workshop,’ he described Tinubu as Jephthah in the Bible, saying despite the circumstances of his birth, he rose to power and delivered Lagos and almost all the Southwest states from the “onslaught of PDP.”
Bakare said God does not need anyone’s permission to put Tinubu in a hall of fame as he has fought and won battles.
Bakare
“Like Jephthah the Gileadite, he has fought many battles on behalf of the Yoruba people and won despite his rough beginning and God does not need anybody’s permission to put such in his hall of fame despite their past deeds and ancestry.
“Despite his growing up challenges, the dents and the detours of his life, he like Jephthah delivered Lagos State and nearly all the southwest states from the onslaught of the PDP from 1999 to 2007.
“Truth be told, without his cooperation and political dexterity, the APC victory at the polls in 2015 and 2019 would have been impossible,” he said.
Bakare was Mr Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Then, Tinubu’s party, Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), fielded a former anti-corruption chief, Nuhu Ribadu. Both candidates lost to Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.
The ACN and the CPC later merged in the build up to the 2015 elections to form the APC which led to Buhari’s victory on the platform of APC.
Bakare said those who have problems with Tinubu’s ancestry should “carry their stone.”
He added: “I have a word for some Yoruba people whose stock in trade is nothing but a rancorous noise characterised by bitterness and resentment about the ancestry of the former two-term governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“Carry your stone. I have a word for those Yoruba rancorous elements, noisemakers who have not achieved much as Asiwaju Tinubu has achieved, but are always querying and worrying themselves about his ancestry.”
He said those who are envious of Tinubu and those who desire to take his power slot should “stop their useless talk about him, and busy themselves with what can add value to society.
However, Bakare did not say whether his statement was a tacit endorsement of Tinubu’s rumoured ambition to contest for Presidency in 2023. Although he has not said so but some of his acolytes have started moving around the country testing the waters.
