The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), formerly known as The Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has set the record straight regarding his efforts to bring peace to the conflicts ravaged Southern Kaduna and described any attempt to portray him as a supporter of the proponents of the mayhem going on in that part of the country as a complete falsehood.
Bakare, in a release that was made available on Friday said: “I have in my personal capacity by the grace of God intervened in the senseless killings going on unabated in Southern Kaduna both at state and national levels.
“Apostle Emmanuel Kure and some of the notable elders in Kafanchan can testify to the fact that I personally brokered a meeting in the (Kaduna State) Governor’s office between them, the state governor and some members of his cabinet with a view to finding a lasting solution to the merciless and senseless killings of fellow citizens.
“That day, some three years ago, despite my tight schedule, I personally chartered a plane to go to and fro Kaduna to facilitate that meeting. That was my last visit to the state.
“As a matter of fact, I have only been in Kaduna State twice since Mr. Nasir El-Rufai became the state governor.”
He gave this clarification following the purported resolutions of a meeting that was held on August 9, 2020, on a Zoom online platform on the killings of Christians in the Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt of Nigeria by the Christian Social Movement of Nigeria (CSMN).
The resolutions, which was titled the “Voice of the Persecuted: The Southern Kaduna Killings and the Blame – What is the Truth,” and signed by the Executive Secretary of the CSMN, Mr. Bosun Emmanuel, alleged that “a notable Christian pastor was among the major sponsors and backers of Governor El Rufai whose first-term election he purportedly bankrolled with a personal donation of N160 million. The said pastor must be held to vicarious liability for these killings of his fellow Christians and in that light, he and others like him must speak up and speak out now or never.
The resolutions also said, “Christian leaders who aided, abetted or facilitated the election of the present federal administration be called out to openly denounce the anti-Christian policies of the administration and lead an open repentance for their actions and inactions or be held complicit in the general persecution of Christians and the wide-scale murder of innocent citizens all over the country, particularly in the North.”
The resolutions further claimed that the “federal government and the Kaduna State Government be held responsible for the murder of Christians of the indigenous ethnic nationalities in Kaduna State. The meeting specifically identified the Governor of Kaduna State, Mr. Nasir El Rufai, as derelict in his primary duty of protecting the lives of citizens of his State,” adding that “the scale and pattern of the killings is tantamount to genocide no less than the dastardly occurrence in Darfur, Sudan.”
However, Bakare, in his clarification, wondered how a message that was sent to him by Bosun on May 25, 2020, requesting to book an appointment with him to discuss Christian engagement in politics as well as the situation facing Christians in the North, which he (Pastor Bakare) has not replied to suddenly metamorphosed into the resolutions of a meeting allegedly held on August 9, 2020, that only him (Bosun) personally signed.
Bakare clarified: “I did not give a personal donation of ₦160 million to the Gov. of Kaduna State or any other Gov. at any time. That is a lie.
“Those who profess the name of the Lord should check their facts before they publish their sensual falsehoods and emotional gibberish.
“The native language of the devil and his human agents is lying. John 8:44 NIV states so: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
Source: THISDAY
