Akeem Lasisi
Lagos-based Pastor, Tunde Bakare, has advised those envious of a former Governor of the state, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to find something mutually useful to do.
He said hating him would not put food on their tables.
It is part of his recent sermon that has been raising a lot of debate.
While some people are accusing Bakare of exploting the pupit to advance political issues, others said he had once berated the same Tinubu.
But the pastor of The Citadel Global Community Church had preempted such an argument, asking people to call him whatever names they liked.
He said he would not bother because he knew his own name.
He said as he defended Tinubu: At this juncture, I have some words for some Yoruba people, whose stock in trade is no nothing but a rancorous noise and characterised by bitterness and resentment about the ancestry of the former two-time governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola AAhmed Tinubu. Carry your stone.
“”Those who have not achieved as much as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has achieved, but are always querying and worrying themselves about his ancestry, are quick to tell you he is from Iragbiji in Osun State, he is not from Lagos State – as if that will resolve the issues that we face today. Please hear me loud and clear, knowing the names of Asiwaju’s father or mother cannot put food on the table of the hungry. Or create jobs on the unemployed or the unemployable. Despite his growing challenges growing up, the turns and detours of his life, he delivered Lagos State and nearly all the South-West states from the onslaught of the PDP from 1999 to 2007. And, truth be told, without his cooperation and political dexterity, the APC victory at the polls in 2015 and 2019 would have been impossible.
People , please note that I am not Asiwaju’s brand manager; and definitely do not edorse everything you might have read about his present or his past or his lifestyle, his politics and his businesses, All I know is that just as every saint has a past, every sinner has a future, and the best of men are still men at the very best. Frankly speaking, I’m not sure that many of his traducers would have survived if they had gone through the vicissitudes of life that Asiwaju went through. Therefore, those who are envious of him, and should busy themselves about what can add value to society.
“”Furthermore, no right-thinking person can describe himself as a self-made man. We are made up of thousands of others. Everyone who has done a kind thing to us or spoken a kind word to us has entered into the making of our character and our thoughts as well as our success. I think this was the basis of the relationship between the late Iyaloja Abibat Mogaji and the adopted son Asiwaju Bola Tinubu . Therefore, the latter calling the mother his mother is not only proper, it is also honourable. It is those demonising their mothers and such relationships that should find something profitable to do with their time. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu could not choose his biological parents; yet no on e can forbid him from choosing his role models or changing his from changing his name.
To his credit, he has fought many battles on behalf of Yoruba people and won despite his rough beginnings. And God does not need permission to lift such people up.””
