2023: “Pastor Tunde Bakare Speaks Against ‘Emi Lokan’ Politicians

Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Presiding Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly), has stated that competent politicians will never ask others to respond to questions that are addressed to them.

Bakare stated this during his Sunday state-of-the-nation speech.

Although he did not call names, he provided multiple examples that indicated he was talking to the incumbent party’s candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

During Bola Tinubu’s speech at Chatham House in London in 2022, some audience members questioned Tinubu about security, oil theft, education, and the economy, as well as how he intended to handle difficulties in those areas if he were elected president.

Tinubu responded to the moderator and audience’s questions by saying he would delegate some of his entourage to answer them.

Bakare also cautioned against the politics of entitlement in his speech, calling it unethical politics.

The preacher also mentioned the Yoruba phrase “Emi lokan,” which translates to “it’s my turn.” Emi lokan gained popularity after Tinubu used it to canvass support in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, in the run-up to the APC Presidential primary, which Bakare participated in but lost.

According to the pastor, politicians with a sense of entitlement avoid political discussion and do not speak to the Nigerians they are elected to represent.

He also urged Nigerians to reject vote-buyers in the elections of 2023 and called for the establishment of moral politics that prioritize development-related problems.

He 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 citizens. 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.”