Bakare condemns Tinubu’s influence on NASS, urging him to “stop playing God.”
Tunde Bakare, a former All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, has criticised the way President Bola Tinubu connects the executive and legislative branches of government, urging the Nigerian leader to “stop playing God”.
Bakare, the Citadel Global Community Church’s (CGCC) Serving Overseer, gave the warning during his state of the country address on Sunday in his church’s Lagos auditorium.
He expressed concern about Nigeria’s current situation, asserting that the nation is moving in the wrong direction.
“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,” stated the minister.
“If this state capture was what you intended by emi lo kan, it is a letdown that can only be harmful in the long run. I implore you, Mr. President, to consider hard and dwell on these words: ‘No man is clever enough nor noble enough to be trusted with unfettered authority.’ Please stop playing God!”
“Mr President, it is through your influence that the Nigerian National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality,” Bakare complained. Bakare recalled the National Assembly’s recent activities, including the approval of a state of emergency in Rivers and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, and said the country’s legislative arm of government is now “an extension of the executive, grossly violating the principles of separation of powers, and rubber-stamping the whims and caprices of” President Tinubu’s office.
“This Tenth National Assembly has proven to be the most cowardly in our recent history, unconstitutionally approving the president’s misuse of authority.
“Through its actions and inactions, the National Assembly has, in effect, become the 48th member of the president’s cabinet, while a cabinet minister has, more or less, become a third-term state governor in Rivers State, pampered by the indulgences of the president,” according to his speech.