Pundits allege he is threatened by Tinubu’s relationship with President Buhari
His seeming desperation to replace Ayo Oritsejafor in Aso Rock
You could be forgiven for thinking Pastor Tunde Bakare was called to the pulpit to afflict Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly has developed a knack for attacking the All Progressives Congress (APC) leader and two-time governor of Lagos, like a cantankerous vagrant perpetually seeking the wrath of his host. Whenever the discussion meanders to Tinubu, Bakare attains a feverishness and illogicality of sort in logic and speech. Just recently, he stated in an interview that Tinubu would never attain the accomplishments of late politician and sage, Obafemi Awolowo. It is interesting to note how that has become an issue for a so-called man of God. Ever since he lost his bid to become vice president of the country as the running mate of Buhari during the initial failed merger of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
Bakare had allegedly developed an unfavourable opinion of Tinubu. And the Latter Rain Assembly pastor has not relented in his onslaught against the APC leader. His latest attack of the APC leader however, raises questions about the pastor’s perception of his calling and respect for the pulpit. Contrary to the saw urging humankind to separate Church from politics, Bakare is fully immersed in the cutthroat world of politics; so taken is he by the lure and glamour of high-wired politics that he never shies from an opportunity to make the headlines – be it for the right reasons or otherwise.
Pastor Bakare is simply unable to draw the line between his limit as a pastor and his lust for publicity at all cost. His closeness to President Buhari is not helping his case in any way. Having influenced the appointments of certain individuals, some of them of shady character and antecedents, into crucial public offices, Pastor Bakare has virtually lost control, attaching too much importance to his relationship with Buhari. Hence his over-reliance and abuse of his affiliation with the incumbent president. Pundits allege that the Latter Rain Assembly pastor is desperately positioning himself to assume the role which Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor played in the ill-fated regime of former President Jonathan. More interestingly, speculations abound that the pastor is dissatisfied over the chummy relationship shared by President Buhari and Tinubu; he allegedly believes Tinubu’s closeness to the president would undermine his worth before the latter. That perhaps is part of the reason he persistently seeks the hide of the former Lagos governor.
Notwithstanding his fiery outbursts and often inflammatory and controversial pronouncements, Pastor Bakare remains many things to many Nigerians. He is a shepherd to his flock at the Latter Rain Assembly. He is a radical cleric and activist to his more liberal fans across religious denominations. To his critics, Pastor Bakare is simply another loud mouth or ‘basket mouth’ whose lust for publicity overwhelms his predilection for tact. Hence since his discreditable and misleading prophecies alleging the imminent death of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Pastor Bakare has gradually attained the reputation of a jester or slapstick-comedian of sort, in the estimation of his critics.
Perhaps the Latter Rain Assembly pastor truly knows what he is doing. Contrary to what his critics think, he may have discovered in politics another means of perpetuating the gospel by unusual means. And if that means attacking the hell out of Tinubu, so be it.
