I’m not expecting ministerial appointment from Buhari —Bakare

The General Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that he is not expecting a ministerial appointment from President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bakare, who spoke in an interview with Sahara TV monitored by our correspondent on Thursday, however, parried a question on whether he would accept a ministerial appointment if offered by the President.

Bakare, who was the running mate of Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change in the 2011 presidential election, defended the President’s style of governance, saying, “slow and steady wins the race.”

Pastor Tunde Bakare

The cleric said, “As far as I am concerned, I am not expecting to be named a minister. If I am offered an appointment, when I get to that bridge I will cross it. I am already a minister of the gospel. Ministry is my calling and my life. The word minister means servant. When you expect nothing, you cannot be disappointed. I keep on doing what I am doing, to be a solid supporter of the Buhari movement and what he stands for in public life. I have no regret on what I did in 2011. If an opportunity presents itself, I will do it again. I am not seeking anything.

“Let’s not count chickens before they are hatched. The bible says the expectation of the righteous will not be cut off. That is when the expectation of the righteous is in tandem with God’s expectation. If you are expecting from God, the flesh can fail. Who knows tomorrow? In the next two months, when the ministers would be named, what if nobody is here or alive? ”

He, however, said he would continue to support the President in any capacity.

The cleric said President Buhari’s visit to the United States has improved the relationship between the two countries.

On whether former President Goodluck Jonathan should be probed, he said, “I will not advocate that President Jonathan should be probed or not be probed. A day or two before the inauguration of the President, the transition committee received a report. They worked on it for weeks.

“The President has looked into those reports. If there are anomalies, President Buhari will call the former president   and say things are irregular and the law should take its effect. But as for the witch-hunt of others, that is a waste of time. If you keep on chasing the wrong things, you will not do the right things. But that does not mean anyone who has done evil should get away with it.

Bakare said he would not support the restitution of stolen funds as amnesty for corrupt government officials, noting that this would promote a wrong attitude.

He added, “What Nigeria needs now are not so much of restitution. Some stolen funds that were sent back to Nigeria in the past went into wrong hands. What Nigeria needs is a clear example of good governance, the rule of law as against the rule of men.

“On the rule of men, might is right. On the rule of law, right is might. So if you can get ‘right is might’ in place, if you do something wrong and you are punished for it, those who have the desires to do similar things will know that there are consequences for their choices, that is where we are going. I can tell you that witch-hunt is not something that President Buhari would support. Perish the thought, it is not his character.”

Punch