By Christiana Ekpa
The presiding Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday in a veiled reference, condemned the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s politics of entitlement.
A state of the nation address issued by Bakare cautioned against instituting a government that will lack touch with the electorate, warning that such a government will have no empathy and connection with the poor masses.
Also lamenting the refusal of some presidential candidates to interact with Nigerians, Bakare also said good politicians do not ask others to answer questions directed at them.
Though he did not name Tinubu in his address, his description points at the APC candidate, who during his presentation at Chatham House, London, in 2022, delegated his aids to answer questions posed to him by interviewers.
While making reference to the slogan, ‘Emi lokan”, made popular by Tinubu, Bakare said “This ’emi lo kan’ politics that insists on one’s turn, even if circumstances do not align, is bad. Politics of entitlement also manifests as perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve, but to gratify long personal ambitions. It could also manifest as insistence on a given political office as a reward for what one considers a lifetime of sacrifice to the nation. Politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debates and do not consider it imperative to communicate with the electorate.”
“Entitlement politics will breed an imperial presidency that is distant from the people and has no sense of responsibility or accountability to the people. Such imperial governance will slide towards dictatorship and will be intolerant of dissent.
“Entitlement politicians set low performance benchmarks for themselves when they secure power and are content with projecting molehills as mountains of achievement. Good Politics, Good Governance, Fellow Nigerians, having completed our analysis of bad politics and the bad governance it outputs, let us now take a look at good politics and its output of good governance. Good politics is pragmatic politics in the interest of the people.
“Politicians who practice good politics talk to the people they intend to govern; by communicating, they allay fears, restore hope, and assure the citizenry. It is engaging and interactive p : The practitioners of good politics are open to interrogation and they do not avoid debates or evade difficult questions. It is inclusive : good politics gives a sense of belonging to historically excluded or vulnerable groups, including women, young people, the elderly, and persons living with disabilities,” he said.
