Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, has sharply criticized Nigerian politicians for urging citizens to endure economic hardships while they themselves continue to live extravagantly.
Speaking at the 2024 Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, Bakare condemned the political class for their lack of empathy.
He urged leaders to “sit where the people sit” and share in the struggles of the common man, questioning how politicians could lead such lavish lifestyles while the majority of the population suffers in poverty.
“An empathetic leader does not feed fat while asking the people to tighten their belts,” Bakare remarked.
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Addressing the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests, Bakare noted that hunger unites people across all divisions, cutting across religion, ethnicity, and political affiliation. “Hunger does not ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, male or female, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, APC, PDP, or Labour Party,” he said.
Bakare also criticized the lack of ideological difference between Nigeria’s major political parties, describing the APC and PDP as “two sides of the same coin.”
The event, which honored the late General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Wilson Badejo, and his wife, Yinka, also featured Debola Deji-Kurunmi, who emphasized the importance of unity in diversity.
Additionally, 52 students from various universities received scholarship awards during the event.