Bakare knocks family, media, government, religion, economy for rising crimes

Crimes of ritual killings and fraud are rising in Nigeria due to the corruption and moral deficiencies in the family, media, religious, and political institutions, as well as the national economy, popular cleric Tunde Bakare has said, calling for national moral rebirth “from the Lord”.

Mr Bakare, the Senior Pastor of The Citadel Global Community Church, spoke on Saturday night when he headlined a virtual town hall meeting organised by the International Alliance for Justice and Peace, IAJP, a Nigerian-focused UK-registered not-for-profit organisation.

“The societal ills of ritual killings and the rabid menace of Advance Fee Fraud also known as ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ have reached a reverberating crescendo in Nigeria that the IAJP has taken it upon itself to bring many stakeholders and the Nigerian masses together to discuss and harness thoughts across the strata of the society to help bring to the front burners these issues and also proffer solutions on how to tackle them,” the organisation said in a statement.

In his speech, Mr Bakare listed as “Seven Mountains of Influence” family, education, economy, arts and entertainment, media, politics, and religion to situate the sources of Nigeria’s “national moral devastation.”

“The family institution, which ought to be an impregnable fortress of societal values, has been invaded by a scourge of decadence,” said Mr Bakare, who then regretted that the educational institution has not “come to the rescue” when the “family institution is failing.”

“The moral challenge in Nigeria’s educational system is seen in the scourge of cultism in our citadels of learning,” he added, saying that the problem has cascaded to primary and secondary schools.

”As respite does not come from a morally sound economic and business landscape, the cleric said “expectations of moral sanctity in this sphere are confronted with, not just the licentiousness that has become a defining output of the industry, but also the fixation on occultism and witchcraft.”

On the media, he said: “despite the relative conservatism of Nigeria’s traditional media, radio and television are still outlets for morally questionable content. Furthermore, despite its many positive uses, social media has been linked to some of the moral issues confronting our nation.

“The ‘Yahoo Boys’ or cybercriminals who merchandise deception, and the peddlers of false, unverified or fake news, ply their trade on social media. It is also instructive that some young Nigerian suspects claimed to retrieve guidelines on how to kill for money rituals from social media.”

He also stressed the “moral deficit” in the political and government landscape, mentioning a culture of bribery, thuggery, failed promises, violence, and assassinations.

Many Nigerians see Mr Bakare as a politically exposed cleric. He was, in the 2011 presidential poll, Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change(CPC). They lost that election but Mr Buhari, running with Yemi Osinbajo, also a pastor, won in 2015. Mr Bakare is believed to have remained a friend of the president.

In a speech in January 2017, he both praised and criticised Mr. Buhari. In his 2021 Easter speech, he said: “God had shown me in a vision that GMB still had a role to play in stabilising Nigeria,” and received heavy criticisms from the public at a time of intensifying secessionist agitations and deadly violence across Nigeria.

He has disclosed his 2023 presidential aspiration citing divine revelation.

“Moral rebirth”

Citing scriptures, including Psalm 121:1-2 and Isiah 2:2-4, he said: “the moral rebirth of our nation, and, indeed, any other nation, will not come from any human institution, hill or mountain, important though they are; the moral rebirth can only come from the Lord.

“We realise that God’s strategy for birthing a moral revival that will curb the violence on our streets, deal with occultism, stop the ritual killings, and end the deviation from His path, is the exaltation of Zion, which is symbolic of the true Church.”

On the role of the church, he preached the “true gospel” and said the church “must manifest Christ’s dimension of Strength on the Seven Mountains of Influence.”

Mr Bakare was hosted by IAJP convener, Seun Kolade, an academic, who was joined by a trustee of the organisation, Olawale Akinrogunde, a pastor based in the UK.

The organisation had earlier hosted Wande Abimbola, a traditionalist, former Senate Leader, and professor of Yoruba language and literature.