The General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has warned Nigerians to avoid politicians playing ‘emi lo kan’ politics.
The cleric who warned against vote-buying in the forthcoming elections, urged Nigerians to reject political merchants during the 2023 general polls.
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Bakare who made this known during his State of the Nation broadcast, titled: “Bridging the gap between politics and governance,” in Lagos on Sunday, noted that Nigerians can’t do without the God factor in the 2023 general elections.
Bakare who lost the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket to eventual winner, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, said politicians who practice entitlement politics are intolerant.
He highlighted politics of division, deception, manipulation, merchandise, exploitation, betrayal, slander, intimidation, elimination, and entitlement as bad forms of politics.
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 a perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve but to gratify long-time 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; they 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.
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“Entitlement politicians set low-performance benchmarks for themselves when they secure power and are content with projecting molehills as mountains of achievement.
“In 2023, we must avoid political merchants and vote buyers.
“Everyone practicing bad politics in Nigeria, your time is up.
“We cannot ignore the God factor and if you think everything is closed, there will be a new chapter,” he added.