The presiding pastor of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare has challenged President Bola Tinubu to go after subsidy thieves who have plundered the treasuries of Nigeria in the name of fuel subsidy if truly he is serious about fighting corruption.
He also admonished Tinubu to kill corruption and not Nigerians.
The cleric cum politician made these observations on Sunday while delivering his State of the Union address at his church in Lagos.
Recalled that the president in his nationwide address on Monday July 31 had said subsidy monies are being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals over the years.
In his words “For several years, I have consistently maintained the position that the fuel subsidy had to go. This once beneficial measure had outlived its usefulness. “The subsidy cost us trillions of Naira yearly. Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals,” he said.
While addressing the congregants, Bakare who asked the president some salient questions on the subsidy removal also wondered why the president has not taken any action to go after the fraudsters and recover the monies from them.
Bakare said “Fellow Nigerians, what is further clear concerning our domestic challenges is that by imposing hardship on Nigerians, without going after those corrupt individuals, corporations and government officials who have plundered Nigeria over the years in the name of subsidy, the president has picked the wrong fight”.
“In his Monday July 31 2023 address to the nation, the president stated that the vast sum of money which could have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security was been funneled into the deep pockets and bank accounts of some select few individuals. The president further stated that the subsidy removal policy was to stop the smuggling of money by fraudsters”.
“This compelled us to ask the following salient questions: Who are these group of individuals into whose pockets our national treasuries have been funneled? Who are the fraudsters and smugglers that have been defrauding our nation in the name of subsidy? Who are these nameless characters that have fed fat at the expense of the poor?”
“Mr. President, are they your business partners or are they all sacred cows? Mr. President, if you are truly on the side of the poor, if you are serious about the welfare of the people, if you truly want the poor to breathe as you once said, then kill corruption and not Nigerians”.
