Tunde Bakare, senior pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly (LRA), says President Muhammadu Buhari must rise above partisanship and petty ethnic sentiments for the country to move forward.
He said this while speaking with journalists after his state of the nation address in Lagos, on Sunday.
The pastor said it was time for every section of the country to sit and discuss the progress of the country.
Bakare said no ethnic group has the monopoly to govern Nigeria, adding that there is no section of the country that cannot be trusted with power.
“Time has come to sit on a table of brotherhood and that’s why I said a President like President Muhammadu Buhari must rise up above partisanship and above petty ethnic sentiments, like Abraham Lincoln, like George Washington, to say let’s sit down, Nigeria must move forward,” he said.
“It is bigger than any of us and it will be better for us to work together by getting the best of the North and the best of the South to think through the road path for the greatness of this nation.
“I detest the saying that a particular section of this country must not be trusted with power; no! Then, we cannot live together because nobody is going to be servant of anybody.
“This is not time for mutual suspicion; this is a season for collaboration. All the infighting must stop; it is like father and mother are fighting and the children are confused. The season cannot afford this; let’s mend the fences. Let’s come together and let us begin to pursue a strategic objective that will set Nigeria on the path of predictable progress.”
Bakare prayed for Buhari that “his legacies will not be rubbished”.
He said the president is making efforts to ensure that his legacies remain after his administration.
“The reason he (Buhari) is tackling corruption left, right and centre and the reason he is ensuring there is security is so that there will be opportunity for our land to develop,” he said.
“If you spend eight years and there is nothing tangible recorded against your name, that is not right. Remember, for a considerable part of his first term, he was ill; thank God he made it back. It’s like he is doubling efforts now to ensure that a legacy that cannot be erased is left behind because four years will soon come and go.”
