There'll be no Election in 2015 - Tunde Bakare (Saturday Sun)

Vice presidential candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 elections, Pastor Tunde Bakare, is convinced that the trial of oil marketers accused of oil subsidy theft is all a show. Or “I can guarantee you that the best is to ask them to refund the money they took and they will not tell us whether it was refunded or not.” To the cleric, there is nothing unlawful in using his church to make political demands or calling for social change. He also told Saturday Sun in this interview that, since the president admitted that Boko Haram has penetrated his government, it would amount to chasing shadows by fighting the sect sinceit has members in the arms of government. On the threat to impeach Jonathan, he said the resolution is empty, adding that Nigerians should adopt a wait-and-see attitude; although headmitted that the point the House made has merit. Excerpts: What is your position on the threat by the National Assembly to impeach the President if the budget is not implemented in its entirety before September 18? My opinion is that the impeachment threat is one year late. So, I can’t take them seriously. I do not think they will pull it through. They should have acted on the admission of the government spending two trillion without appropriation. That is an impeachable offence. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala responded by saying that there is no government in the world that does 100 per cent implementation. That they have moved from 39 percent in May to 53 per cent in July and before the year runs out, they will still do more. Whatever percentage they agree upon within them, we will wait to see if the House can prove that it is not a toothless bulldog. Is the Senate not going to be involved? You know they are not working together. The House and the Senate have their own agenda. Each Chamber has its own agenda. Especially when both the heads of the Houseand the Senate have their eyes on the highest seat in the days to come. They can’t work together. Two cannot work together exceptthey agree. They are already eying where they would go. Let us wait to see if they will get anywhere. Some are saying the threat is empty. The spirit behind it, the argument and all that Gbajabiamila said deserves some applause. At least we can say somebody is speaking. Outside of that, as far asI am concerned, they can’t travel far. The Security people invited you and you told Nigerians that it would not, in any way, change your approach to national issues. The questions many ask is, why say these things on the pulpit? That is the platform I have. Jesus called Herod fox while he was preaching. The prophets challenged the authorities either in their own domains or Mount Camel when they invited them to apublic encounter. Except I am invited to a public domain, the domain I have is whatGod has given me. It is the place ofthe call of God and I am talking to my primary constituency – the church. I have every right under the law to preach the word of Godand to do so under the ambit of the law. If they can prove that I have violated any law, then they have cause for concern. They should go and use their secret service and their intelligence and abilities to investigate Boko Haramand leave people like us alone. Thecomplaint in some quarters is thatyou use Sunday service as your political platform. Go and check all the messages I preach and see if I have no other job other than political preaching. By the way, if I use that platform to do what I am doing and the people in the church appreciate what I am doing; enlightening them about their responsibilities to the state and to their families… The church is the salt of the earth and the light of the world that is set up on a hill that cannot be hidden. The Bible says from the lips of the priest, men should learnabout the law because he is the messenger of God. They should come to him about knowledge. Clergymen should not be lazy men. Partisanship is not a crime, neither is it a sin. You spearheaded the trial of those accused of subsidy theft through the Save Nigerian Group. Are you satisfied with the way it has been handled so far since prosecution has started? I can’t trust the Federal Government, neither can I trust any agency under them and a leadership that condones corruption cannot checkmate corruption. You see all the people, if you look at them in the newspapers and television, all the people arraigned were laughing. They know it was a show. It is going nowhere. The people of thiscountry must find alternative that are lawful to prosecute the war against corruption. It is not going to go anywhere.