Pastor Tunde Bakare, the Presiding Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, has cautioned Nigerians to keep clear from politicians who engage in “emi lo kan” politics.
In the auditorium of his church in Ikeja, Lagos, Bakare declared this on Sunday during a national broadcast.
In the run-up to his party’s primary election last June, Bola Tinubu, the APpresidential candidate, used the Yoruba phrase “emi lo kan,” which means “it is my turn,” to canvass for votes in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
Speaking on the programme called “Bridging The Gap Between Politics & Governance,” Tinubu is an entitled politician, according to Bakare, who was denied the APC’s presidential nomination in favour of the former Lagos State Governor.
He emphasised the negative aspects of politics, including polarization, deceit, manipulation, merchandise, exploitation, treachery, defamation, intimidation, exclusion, and entitlement.
In his words, the cleric said: “This ’emi lo kan’ politics that insists on one’s turn, even if circumstances do not align, is bad. Politics of entitlement also manifests as a perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve but to gratify long-time personal ambitions.
“It could also manifest as insistence on a given political office as a reward for what one considers a lifetime of sacrifice to the nation. Politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debates; they do not consider it imperative to communicate with the electorate.
Entitlement politics will breed an imperial presidency that is distant from the people and has no sense of responsibility or accountability to the people. Such imperial governance will slide towards dictatorship and will be intolerant of dissent.
“Entitlement politicians set low-performance benchmarks for themselves when they secure power and are content with projecting molehills as mountains of achievement.”