Safiu Kehinde
Popular Nigerian Clergyman, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has slammed President Bola Tinubu, accusing him of destroying the integrity of the National Assembly.
The Citadel Church General Overseer made the allegation during his Easter sermon on Sunday.
As captured in a now viral video shared on X on Monday, the enraged clergyman accused Tinubu of leading what he labelled ‘political banditry’ and ‘motorpark brand of politics’.
Bakare further accused Tinubu turning the legislative arm into a tool of carrying out the biddings of the executive arm without proper checks and balances.
He charged the President to stop playing God as he recounted how previous National Assembly administrations upheld their integrity.
“Fellow citizens, at the centre of this political banditry, is a motorpark brand of politics nurtured by the old brigade politicians and in recent times by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Mr. President, it is through your influence that the Nigerian National Assembly has 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 rubberstamping the whims and caprices of your office all while singing the international anthem of psycophant ‘On your Mandate we shall Stand’.
“Mr. President, thanks to your political machinations, Nigeria is now bedeviled by captured National Assembly. The most ineffective in its checks and balancing role since the start of the Fourth Republic.
“In 2006, the 4th National Assembly had the audacity to tenure the tenure extension bid of a sitting President.
“In 2010, the 6th National Assembly summoned the courage to stand against the power hijacking cabal and restored Nigeria to the path of constitutionality by voting the doctrine of necessity.
“In 2011, the House of Representatives of the of the 7th National Assembly had the courage to elect its leaders as did the Senate of the 8th National Assembly in 2015, defying Executive interference.
“This National Assembly retained as by its unconstitutional endorsement of the President’s abuse of powers proven to be the most spineless in our recent history. Through its actions and inactions, the National Assembly has in effective become the 48th member of the President’s cabinet.” Bakare said.