The Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and Convener of the Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has criticised the Yoruba delegation to the 2014 National Conference over statements credited to two of the groups concerning the 2015 polls.
In a broadcast in Lagos on Sunday, the cleric noted that two factions of the group met differently in Lagos and Ibadan and had “flagrantly distorted the truth.”
Bakare, who was an Ogun State delegate to the confab, berated Afenifere leader, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, who was part of the Lagos camp, for saying he would not forgive the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari(retd.), for what he (Buhari) did in the past.
He said, “The Yoruba went to the National Conference as a group but when the March 19 meeting took place, the Deputy Chairman was in Ibadan, while the Secretary, that led the group to the Confab, was in Lagos.
“The meeting in Lagos had a stain of unforgiveness. When I heard such sentiments as ‘I will never forgive General Muhammadu Buhari for what he did as a former head of state’, my heart sank.”
The Pastor, who was a running mate to Buhari in the 2011 presidential election, equally criticised the Ibadan group for “double standard”, saying the group erred when they stated that the Yoruba did not achieve their aims at the confab.
He said, “The so-called democrats declared that the Yoruba delegation at the 2014 National Conference did not accomplish any of the demands they took there. This is definitely far from the truth. Besides, what was so alarming about the Ibadan company was the double standard displayed by men so highly placed.
“On one hand, the convener openly declared that it is not part of Yoruba values to endorse any candidate. However, one of the chiefs brought up a purported endorsement from a revered Oba for a presidential candidate of their choice and many of them clapped.
“On the other hand, under the convener’s watch, another anti-climax came when a well known attendee of the summit contradicted the convener when he declared that any Yoruba person, who votes for a particular candidate not their choice, must be a bastard.”
Clearing the air on his earlier call for election postponement, Bakare noted that it was not a call for Interim National Government.
The cleric said he had lifted the “embargo” he placed on the election, noting that the “issues have been ameliorated by the shift” of the polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
He prayed for the success of the March 28 election saying, “May God Almighty ensure that Nigeria wins. May neither of the gladiators win, if the price we must pay for winning an election, is losing the nation.” (Punch).