By Ayomide Otitoju
Fiery preacher and former presidential aspirant, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has issued a scathing critique of President Bola Tinubu’s leadership style, accusing him of eroding democratic institutions and enabling the collapse of legislative oversight in Nigeria.
In a strongly worded address, Bakare said the country’s democracy is under serious threat due to what he described as “state capture” and executive overreach, facilitated by the president’s influence over the National Assembly.
“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,” Bakare declared.
The cleric condemned what he characterised as the president’s authoritarian grip on power, referencing the popular Yoruba phrase “emi lo kan” (it’s my turn), which Tinubu used during his campaign. “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,” Bakare said.
Quoting a warning against unchecked authority, he urged the president to reconsider his leadership approach: “No man is wise enough nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power. Please, stop playing God!”
Bakare further criticised the National Assembly, accusing it of abandoning its constitutional role as an independent arm of government. “It is through your influence that the Nigerian National Assembly has become a haven for legislative rascality,” he said, pointing to recent decisions including the approval of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
He argued that the Tenth National Assembly has become “an extension of the executive,” acting in direct contravention of the principle of separation of powers. “Through its actions and inactions, the National Assembly has, in effect, become the 48th member of the president’s cabinet,” he stated.
In a particularly sharp rebuke, Bakare also accused an unnamed cabinet minister of operating like a “third-term state governor” in Rivers State, benefitting from presidential indulgence.
The comments come amid growing public scrutiny of the executive-legislative relationship under the Tinubu administration, with critics raising alarm over increasing centralisation of power and weakening of democratic checks and balances.
