The General Overseer, Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, yesterday reiterated that he would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in office, saying that was what he saw and said about one year, seven months ago, adding that the situation had not changed. Addressing the media yesterday, Bakare said it was the moral responsibility of the government to speak on the issue or stop it; urging President Buhari to clear the air on the allegations surrounding the office of Osinbajo. He added that the vice president would have the last laugh except he (Osinbajo) had violated his oath of office.
“My concern presently is that come rain, come shine, Osinbajo must not be disgraced and humiliated out of office except he has truly and flagrantly violated his oath of office, which I find difficult to believe.
The cleric also denied making any statement to denigrate the office of the vice president or taunt the person of Osinbajo “at this period of his travails.” The cleric faulted social media reports linking his presidential ambition to the alleged humiliation of Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo by “the cabal” in the Presidency. “I heard all kinds of things on the Internet about joining the cabal. Those who pull down others to get up will never get up,” he said.
He also clarified the misconceptions surrounding a video on his ultimate emergence as the 16th president of Nigeria and successor of President Buhari. He also said that the trending video was an excerpt from a message titled “Be Grateful for Your Blessings (Part 3),” which he preached on Sunday, February 18, 2018.He wondered why that excerpt should be released at this time, “a year and seven months after the statements were made, and erroneously associated with recent developments relating to the Office of the Vice President.”
Bakare noted that the clarification became necessary to ensure that truth soars high above falsehood and ensure that well-meaning Nigerians were not misinformed about his activities. “I was surprised to find it circulating and coloured with various interpretations and misinterpretations. Let me state categorically that I never granted an interview on the issues affecting the Office of the Vice President.”
“Contrary to the misconceptions and misinformation, the trending video about the 16th presidency was an excerpt from a message titled ‘Be Grateful for Your Blessings (part 3),’ which I preached in this auditorium on Sunday, February 18, 2018. That excerpt was released at this time, a year and seven months after the statements were made, and erroneously associated with recent developments relating to the office of the vice president, suggesting that it was either done by the uninformed, or was a deliberately designed attempt to misinform the public by linking unrelated issues, in order to create divisions where there are none, thereby heating up the polity unnecessarily.”
Bakare also condemned some recent financial policies of the federal government: “What I do care about is that the Federal Government has slammed a punitive three per cent charge on lodgments into a corporate account of N300,000 and above and also a five per cent charge for withdrawal from corporate accounts of like sums. They further slammed a two per cent charge on all lodgments of N500, 000 and above into a personal account, while adding a charge of three per cent on withdrawals from the same, meaning that if I pay N500, 000 into my personal account, I will automatically be charged N10, 000. The banks will also still charge transaction fees for withdrawals and lodgments, Value Added Tax (VAT) at 7.5 per cent, account maintenance fee, stamp duty and any other fee/charges the banks decide to throw at me. The onslaught is relentless! Nigerians are now to pay to put their money in a bank. They pay to keep it there and they pay to remove it.”
