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2019 presidency: Pastor Bakare speaks on Atiku’s visit to U.S

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Serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has berated the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for making the visit of the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to the United States a big issue.

Bakare said he was disappointed by the way people in both APC and PDP have made the journey of Abubakar a big issue.The former vice presidential candidate stated this in Lagos on Sunday while delivering his 2019 State of the Nation Address in his church.

He said, “the issue of who could or could not travel to America had little or no relevance to governance and the nation’s development.”

Bakare called on politicians to “face the real campaign issues and stop distracting Nigerians with things that could not better their lots.”The cleric also spoke on the insurgency war, where he pointed out that the recent setbacks recorded by the country were more of declining patriotism among the troops more than any other reason.

He continued, “On the resurgence of terrorists activities, the president, the National Security Council, the Ministry of Defence, the Army Headquarters, and the National Assembly Committees on Defence must re-examine the defence architecture, especially the human resource factor, and address every anomaly in the interest of the vulnerable, rather than the powerful.

“Failure to do this could undo the gains of the war on terror. The soldiers, on their part, must approach the call of duty with civility and courage; with civility because the reports and allegations of human rights violations by the military are repugnant and unbecoming of the distinguished profession.

“Their code of conduct must be influenced by the words of Proverbs 14:31 (MSG): ‘You insult your Maker when you exploit the powerless; when you’re kind to the poor, you honor God’.

“ In addition, we enjoin them to continue to act with courage, because, in the words of General George S. Patton: ‘Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men’.

“To our soldiers in the theatre of war, you carry the weight of the hopes of a generation on your shoulders. May God replenish your resolve and reward your courageous resilience.

“For those who have died in combat, we owe these heroic patriots the eternal duty of ensuring that they did not die in vain.“Not only does the government owe their families adequate welfare packages and the assurance of a decent future, we, the people of Nigeria, for whose sake they laid down their lives, must become soldiers in our own right; we must become soldiers for good governance.

“At crucial moments such as the coming elections, responsible choices must become our weapons in the theatre of citizen engagement, and credible leadership must become our banner of victory.

“We owe the memories of these soldiers a well-governed nation, a nation that is worth their sacrifice, because good governance is the soil upon which patriotism is nurtured, and a nation that is worth dying for must be worth living in,” he said.

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