Chinelo Obogo
The Senior Pastor of The Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, has denied urging President Muhammadu Buhari to pick or choose his successor.
In a statement, yesterday, Bakare said his words were misconstrued in his state of the nation address of last Sunday where he said “a key responsibility that history has bestowed on President Muhammadu Buhari is to institutionalise systems of accurate succession that will build and sustain the Nigeria we desire.”
He said his statement was wrongly interpreted as asking Buhari to foist his choice on the nation in flagrant disregard of democratic principles.
“I did not insinuate at any point that Buhari should ‘pick’ or ‘choose’ his successor as some news outlets have conjured. Succession is about casting long term visions, building stable institutions and raising the next generation.
“Succession is an expansive term that does not focus on one position alone. I am not that one individual can singlehandedly solve Nigeria’s problems. Instead, it focuses on the institution of systems of predictable progress, and the sustainable replacement of capable hands across the entire system.
“In a democratic society, you cannot achieve accurate succession without free, fair and credible elections. My overriding concern in offering propositions was to forestall the emergence of a new iteration of recycled enemies who will once again seek to lock us into a cycle of doom and gloom at the turn of a new decade. If we have been excellent at anything in Nigeria, it has been at creating a succession pipeline of the worst of us ruling over the best of us. On my part, I remain committed to facilitating, however God enables me, the emergence of the best, brightest, fittest and most competent Nigerians across every gamut of our national life,” Bakare said.