Pastor Tunde Bakare, the General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos State, says the true enemies of Nigeria are in every level of government, from the local to the state to the federal levels.
YaahooJournalist reports that Pastor Bakare made the assertion in a statement on the micro-blogging site, Twitter, on Sunday, January 5.
The cleric said critics and the media are not the enemies of President Muhammadu Buhari‘s “Next Level” government.
Pastor Bakare called on Nigerians to stand up against the true enemies at all levels rather than attack journalists who criticize the government.
The clergyman stated that the true enemies of the country are those who choose to be spectators while the nation goes down the drain on their watch.
His words: “A few days from now, on January 15, we will observe Armed Forces Day; a day earmarked to honour Nigeria’s fallen heroes in commemoration of the end of the Nigerian Civil War.
“Fellow Nigerians, the true enemies of our nation are found at every level of government, from the local to the state to the federal levels, and in every arm of government. They can also be found on the streets, in households and in the marketplace.
“As it is with the leadership, so it is with the citizenry. Leaders and citizens have their citizenship in common; they are drawn from among us and are a reflection of our basest instincts or our highest ideals at every level of government.
“In Nigeria, the vast majority of our people regularly take turns perpetuating the cycle of corruption either as beneficiaries or benefactors.
“These enemies in citizens’ clothing are those who choose to be spectators while the nation goes down the drain on their watch; those perverts on the pulpit who hide under togas of godliness to manipulate the vulnerable; those economic behemoths who window dress their underhandedness with filth-lanthropy; those who are perpetually “not on seat” because they can’t “come and go and die;
“Those who partake of loot and celebrate looters from the same ethnic group or religious organisation; those who say of the looters, “We know say na thief, but this thief na our thief.” These are the true enemies of Nigeria.
“At the local level of government, the true enemies of our nation are those agents of oppression who place excruciating multiple tax burdens on often defenceless Nigerians.
“At the state level, the true enemies of Nigeria are those state governments that feed fat on unaccounted-for security votes; those who deploy the paraphernalia of office in their selfish interests rather than in the service of the people.
“Those who connive with zonal political oligarchs to personalise and privatise the state; those who deploy the force of state to quell dissent, those who give critics an excuse to postulate that if state governments are already abusing the little power they currently wield, what will they do if we devolve yet more powers to them? These power-drunk state officials are the true enemies of Nigeria.
“At the zonal level, the enemies of Nigeria are those who have perverted their influence and turned the states within their zones of influence into personal estatesThey are the political puppeteers who rig the system to enthrone their stooges and use them to corner resources and opportunities.
“They are the political bandits and pseudo-democrats who are maniacal in merchandising the will of the people, from masterminding vote-buying to engineering seemingly spontaneous outbreaks of political violence. These are the true enemies of Nigeria.
“At the federal level, the true enemies of Nigeria are in every arm of government. In the judiciary, they are judges who pervert justice and auction judgements to the highest bidder.
“In the legislature, they are those legislators who rob the nation “under the guise of constituency projects” and are quick to pass laws that undermine our national freedoms, thereby threatening our national stability.
“In the executive arm of government, the enemies of our nation are those who deploy the machinery of state against hapless citizens; those who serve self rather than the people.
“These are the true enemies that we must stand up against, not the angry young fellow who throws salvos at Mr President hoping to get a few retweets not the journalist who stares the government squarely in the face, and certainly not the dissenting voice in the midst of sycophants.
“The thrust of the new decade that commences this year 2020 must be to, once again, come together as one people, to wrest the soul of Nigeria from the jaws of the bear and the mouth of the lion, and to begin to build a great nation.”