I Warned Against ‘Emilokan’ Politics – Tunde Bakare

Senior Pastor of the Citadel Global Community Church, Tunde Bakare, told his congregation on Sunday that he warned against the “Emilokan” kind of politics.

Emilokan, a Yoruba saying, meaning ‘It’s my turn,’ became very popular when it was used by President Bola Tinubu during his 2023 pre-election campaign.

Bakare, during a State of the Nation broadcast, at the church in Ikeja, Lagos, said ’Emilokan’ was a tendency of authoritarianism.

During his speech themed ‘Vice, Virtue & Time: Three Things That Never Stand Still,’ the cleric said, “I’m reminded of the warning that I sounded to Nigerians in January 2023 in my address titled, ‘Bridging the gap between politics and governance.’

“I warned that the politics of entitlement; the ’Emilokan’ type of politics would breed an imperial presidency, one that would slide towards dictatorship and would be intolerant of dissent.”

He also warned the Federal Government against making the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele a scapegoat over how he handled the country’s monetary policy.

According to him, Emefiele couldn’t have acted without presidential authorization.

“Mr Godwin Emefiele may have made the wrong judgement calls in the management of Nigeria’s monetary policy, but he must not be made a scapegoat.

“If Emefiele is found liable for any crime, by all means he should be prosecuted. However, considering the dynamics of the pre-election environment and the then candidate Bola Tinubu’s public allegation that the naira redesign policy was targeted at him, the optics of the president targeting Emefiele for prosecution after winning the election and being sworn in as the president could be interpreted as a form of vendetta far beneath such a distinguished office,” Bakare said.