Bakare said the “emi lo kan” type of politics insists on one’s turn even if the circumstances do not align. He also said politics of entitlement manifests as perennial candidacy,
By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
General Overseer of the Global Citadel Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has warned Nigerians against voting persons with entitlement mentality to the presidency of Nigeria.
In a state of the nation address at his church in Lagos today, January 15, the former aspirant for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket, said Nigerians should reject people with emi lo kan kind of politics which insists on their turn even when the circumstances do not align.
Recall that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu famously said in Abeokuta before the party’s presidential primary that the presidency of Nigeria was his turn (emi lo kan).
Bakare, during his address, listed what he described as bad politics and warned Nigerians to avoid politicians who play that kind of game.
One of the bad politics, Bakare highlighted, was Politics of Entitlement.
Bakare said: “This is the “emi lo kan” type of politics that insists on one’s turn even if circumstances do not align. Politics of entitlement also manifests as perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve, but to gratify long-term 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.”
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Bakare added: “Politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debates and 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.”
In contrast to the Emi lo kan politics, Bakare said good politics is communicative and that politicians who practice good politics talk to the people they intend to govern. He said by communicating, they allay fears, restore hope, and assure the citizenry.
Bakare also said good politics is engaging and interactive. He said the practitioners of good politics are open to interrogation and they do not avoid debates or evade difficult questions.
