The presiding overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that Nigeria’s democracy is facing existential threat. In his nationwide broadcast for the Easter celebration yesterday, Bakare said that under President Bola Tinubu’s watch, the legislative arm of government is also collapsing.

In his message entitled: ‘Let the people know the truth, and the country is safe’, he carpeted Tinubu over what he called the seeming state capture.

His words: “The past few months have shown that those responsible for steering the course of our nation lack the humility and character this moment demands of leaders. Instead, what we have seen since the beginning of the year is a descent into tyranny and brazen abuse of power.

“Those entrusted with power appear determined to destabilise what is left of our political institutions, and have committed themselves to obliterating the guardrails of constitutional governance.

“From the theatre of the absurd staged in Rivers State, with puppets on strings controlled by directors in Abuja, to the dance of shame performed by the National Assembly in their rush to suspend the constitution and endorse, through the backdoor, the usurpation of powers by President Bola Tinubu; from the Senate’s shameless bid to silence Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan for demanding that the President of the Nigerian Senate uphold the moral standards required of that office, to the uncouth outbursts of an undistinguished senatorial misfit who tried in vain to silence distinguished citizens attempting to testify on behalf of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan, it is clear that our so-called leaders are determined to turn Nigeria into a mafia state.

“The two main contenders in the ongoing institutional ‘Immorality Olympics’ are the executive and the legislature. It is often said that these two arms of government suffered the worst forms of arrested development because they were the direct victims of the military era, but after 26 years of uninterrupted democracy, one must ask:

‘How much longer (do we have to wait) before our institutions finally mature?’ “While it is not in dispute that our institutions and constitution are inadequate, it has become obvious that our biggest problems are the occupiers of these institutions and executors of the constitution.

The quality of leadership in Nigeria has become so repugnant that citizens must declare a state of emergency on governance, demanding that every aspiring public officeholder undergo rigorous psychiatric evaluation before seeking election.” According to him, it is through the influence of the President that the National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality, rubber-stamping everything the President sends to them.

Bakare advised Tinubu to stop playing God and embrace humility, noting that while he does not agree with the President’s political perspective, it was not his wish to see him fail.

“At the centre of this political banditry is the motor park brand of politics nurtured by the old brigade politicians and, in recent times, by President Bola Tinubu. Mr President, it is through your influence that the National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality.

“Mr President, it is under your watch that the National Assembly has become an extension of the executive, grossly violating the principles of separation of powers, and rubber-stamping the whims and caprices of your office, while singing the international anthem of sycophants:

‘On your mandate we shall stand’. “Recent events have made it clear to Nigerians that had this Assembly been in place in 2006 when the third term agenda was proposed, our democracy would have since morphed into one of Africa’s lamentable tales of sit-tight dictatorship.

“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under whose brand of politics the institution of legislative oversight is collapsing and our democracy is faced with an existential threat, I say: ‘Mr President, Nigeria is too delicate for this kind of politics’.

“If this state capture was what you meant by Emi lo kan, it is an anti-climax that can only be counterproductive in the end. I urge you, Mr President, to think deeply and reflect on these words: No man is wise enough or good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. Please, stop playing God!