As Nigerians continue to groan under the severe economic hardship occasioned by the soaring prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) across the country, renowned preacher and politician, Pastor Tunde Bakare has come out to slam persons accusing of keeping quiet over the removal of petroleum subsidy by the Bola Tinubu administration, despite joining a nationwide protest against the PDP-led Federal Government over the same issue a decade ago.
Speaking in a ‘State Of The Nation’ address at his church in Lagos on Sunday, Bakare, who contested for the APC’s Presidential Ticket back in 2022, argued that the nationwide protest that was organized by the civil societies and Labour Unions in 2012 did not fight against the removal of fuel subsidies by the Goodluck Jonathan regime, but rather, it was fighting against the corruption that had pervaded the system at the time.
He said; “Some media persons have been calling out at me. They say “Pastor Bakare has not spoken since. He went to Ojota to protest about subsidy removal, but now he is keeping quiet.” May God forgive you. Fellow citizens, the rallying cry by which the ‘Save Nigeria Group’ galvanized itself in 2012 at the Gani Fawehinmi Park in Ojota was for government to kill corruption, and not Nigerians.
This was our cry when we made it evident that our cry was not against the removal of the fuel subsidy, but that it was against the corruption in the system. This was our fight amid the threat to my life and family, when, right there at Ojota in front of national and international television, I called out by name, those persons and corporations that were ravaging our nation’s economy.”