CONVENER
of Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has called on President
Goodluck Jonathan to heed the voice of wisdom and resign now, before the House
of Representatives carries out its threat to impeach him over alleged selective
implementation of the 2012 budget.
He predicted that there would be no general
election in 2015, adding that election would hold before then or sooner.
Bakare said this, yesterday in Lagos, in a state of the nation address, entitled: “How To Change Government Peacefully And Make Society Better,” at Latter Rain Assembly, Ogba, Ikeja.
Bakare said this, yesterday in Lagos, in a state of the nation address, entitled: “How To Change Government Peacefully And Make Society Better,” at Latter Rain Assembly, Ogba, Ikeja.
Bakare said: “If I were Mr. President,
unfortunately, I am not, and I do not envy his tottering position, but, if I
were him, I would give no thought to what the world might say of me, or
the drum the hangers-on and political jobbers benefitting from the present
chaotic disorder might be beating.
“I would not give a damn if I
could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man thrust into
the boxing ring to fight enemies I am ill- equipped to fight, and I would,
therefore, resign before I receive a death blow.”
Bakare, also the Serving Overseer of the
Latter Rain Assembly, noted that “even for a seasoned, well-cooked and well-
equipped UK prime minister like Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady, the moment
the people rose against her policy, she did the honourable and noble thing. She
resigned and returned to the parliament before retiring from politics.”
While enjoining the president to resign, he
stated that “resignation is not a sign of weakness it is a sign of patriotic
truthfulness. It is giving opportunity to those who can do a better job in the
interest of the nation to carry on with nation-building where the exiting
leader stops.”
He, however, said the state of the nation
calls for a change of guards, noting that the Federal Government had failed to
see the linkage between corruption and violence.
He said: “Undoubtedly, the catalogue
of scandalous mismanagement of national resources, the unbridled stealing of
public funds, and the bewildering exposure of the level of corruption in almost
every arm of government as well as governmental agencies and parastatals, call
for a change of guards `more so when the president has openly admitted that the
security situation in the country has changed his pre-election agenda.
”And, in spite of the president’s promises
to deal with insecurity head-on, this government appears helpless because it
cannot see the linkage between corruption and violence.
“This is no time for false accusations and
counter-accusations. Mr. President may be doing his best, but the impact is not
felt anywhere except in the bank accounts of oil vultures, his corrupt
political allies and corporate cowboys.
“We have a patriotic duty to educate our
people and we will continue to do that until light replaces the darkness in
foggy minds, since education is considered a better safeguard of liberty than a
standing army, in the words of Henry Peter Brougham.”