Social Critic and General
Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that he is
not expecting a ministerial appointment from President Muhammadu Buhari.
Bakare, who spoke
in an interview with Sahara TV monitored by our correspondent on Thursday,
however, parried a question on whether he would accept a ministerial
appointment if offered by the President.
Bakare, who was
the running mate of Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive
Change in the 2011 presidential election, defended the President’s style of
governance, saying, “slow and steady wins the race.”
The cleric said,
“As far as I am concerned, I am not expecting to be named a minister. If I am
offered an appointment, when I get to that bridge I will cross it. I am already
a minister of the gospel. Ministry is my calling and my life. The word minister
means servant. When you expect nothing, you cannot be disappointed. I keep on
doing what I am doing, to be a solid supporter of the Buhari movement and what
he stands for in public life. I have no regret on what I did in 2011. If an
opportunity presents itself, I will do it again. I am not seeking anything.
“Let’s not count
chickens before they are hatched. The bible says the expectation of the
righteous will not be cut off. That is when the expectation of the righteous is
in tandem with God’s expectation. If you are expecting from God, the flesh can
fail. Who knows tomorrow? In the next two months, when the ministers would be
named, what if nobody is here or alive? ”
He, however, said
he would continue to support the President in any capacity.
The cleric said
President Buhari’s visit to the United States has improved the relationship
between the two countries.
On whether former
President Goodluck Jonathan should be probed, he said, “I will not advocate
that President Jonathan should be probed or not be probed. A day or two before
the inauguration of the President, the transition committee received a report.
They worked on it for weeks.
“The President
has looked into those reports. If there are anomalies, President Buhari will
call the former president and say
things are irregular and the law should take its effect. But as for the
witch-hunt of others, that is a waste of time. If you keep on chasing the wrong
things, you will not do the right things. But that does not mean anyone who has
done evil should get away with it.
Bakare said he
would not support the restitution of stolen funds as amnesty for corrupt
government officials, noting that this would promote a wrong attitude.
He added, “What
Nigeria needs now are not so much of restitution. Some stolen funds that were
sent back to Nigeria in the past went into wrong hands. What Nigeria needs is a
clear example of good governance, the rule of law as against the rule of men.
“On the rule of
men, might is right. On the rule of law, right is might. So if you can get
‘right is might’ in place, if you do something wrong and you are punished for
it, those who have the desires to do similar things will know that there are
consequences for their choices, that is where we are going. I can tell you that
witch-hunt is not something that President Buhari would support. Perish the
thought, it is not his character.”
