Nigeria: I Scored Zero in APC Primary but Have True Identity, Integrity Intact, Bakare Replies Tinubu

19 January 2023

The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has hit back at critics of his position on the state of politics in the country and politics of entitlement, saying it had nothing to do with primordial sentiment.

Bakare had responded to those who wrote criticized and condemned him that, "A man who got zero votes at primary election deserves no serious attention. He is a political paperweight whose utterances should not be given a serious thought," saying, "Why are they then giving any thought to what I said? May be their alleged 'paper weight' is too heavy for them to carry.

"Can someone tell these people that scoring zero in a primary election with one's true identity and integrity intact as well as having original credentials from well-known schools - primary, secondary, colleges and universities - within and outside of this nation are a veritable badge of honour, absolutely legit and unquestionable.

"Please tell them that in the words of Michel De Montaigne, 'There are some defeats more triumphant than victories.' One of the special advisers that I thought had some semblance of nobility had to utter outright lies and falsehoods to satisfy his paymaster. He said I did a video asking members of our church to vote for their candidate and then turn around to ask them not to vote for him.

"Unfortunately, there is no such video containing such falsehood. The abridged video these people are sending around is from a message preached here (Citadel Global Community Church) in 2020 with the title: 'An idle man's brain is the devil's workshop.' I made it clear in the video that I did not endorse their candidate's lifestyle, business or type of politics.

"In the said video, I never asked our members to vote or not vote for their candidate or any other candidate. By the way, our members are not zombies. They, by the grace of God, have their minds and will decide who to vote for on Election Day.

"As for those whose stock in trade is lying against others and fabricating stories that are not true about them, our strong consolation is that their DNA and the final destination are spelt out in the Bible. See Psalm 58:3-8. 'The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.

"Rest assured, I will take the vicious attacks of these political merchants in my stride, because I know that according to Voltaire: 'Many are destined to reason wrongly, others not to reason at all and some to persecute those who do reason."

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