Emmanuel Ukudolo
Nigeria, April 6, 2016 – Convener, Save Nigeria Group and Serving Overseer, The Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a Presidential Commission for National Reconciliation, Reintegration and Restructuring to take Nigeria out of its present predicament.
Bakare who gave the advice on the occasion of the 27th anniversary of the Latter Rain Assembly said such an institutions should be made of highly respected national influencers of high moral standing and men of unquestionable integrity with bridge-building antecedents.
“This commission should be mandated to work closely with stakeholders and power blocs as well as legislative houses to create a new national identity for the Nigerian people; promote forgiveness and reconciliation among contentious interest groups in Nigeria; foster the integration of the diverse sectional groups in Nigeria into true nationhood; facilitate the creation of an acceptable functional governmental structure for Nigeria; and midwife a process of constitutional rebirth that will culminate in a referendum by which the people will adopt a new constitution”, he averred.
He noted that the report of the 2014 National Conference with its Nigerian Charter for National Reconciliation and Integration will provide a ready-made operational springboard for this team.
For him, this national rebirth process can go on seamlessly alongside socioeconomic development championed by the economic team of this administration headed by the Vice President as well as a national security and anti-corruption strategy spearheaded by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.
He however made it clear that, within the allowance provided by the current constitution until it is replaced, socioeconomic development and national security strategies must be channeled in line with the cutting-edge nation philosophy from which the new constitutional order will emerge.
The pastor noted that the process will also result in the adoption of a long-term constitutionally backed national vision that will subsequently guarantee accurate succession as well as guide policy-making for many generations, irrespective of the party in power.
He added that through the institution, partisan elections and leadership selection will then be based on determining which political party and which candidates have the best strategies to achieve the national vision, which he said remains the pathway to the New Nigeria.
He alluded to his 60th birthday, during which he spoke of a New Nigeria.
According to him, the new Nigeria should be…a nation built on the pillars of…righteousness and peace; a land of freedom and of justice and a home of equity and fair play…where, though creed and tongue may differ, the people will unite in the pursuit of a common national destiny.
He averred that the new Nigeria remains a dream that is rooted…in God’s plan and purpose “for our nation and whose fulfillment I desire to see in my lifetime”.
He explained that Like Abraham Lincoln who laid the groundwork for the unification of the United States of America by winning the war against the forces of disintegration and championing the Emancipation Proclamation, President Buhari has the opportunity to leave a legacy of a new Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria is squarely in the midst of the predicted socioeconomic and political quagmire, warranting a re-examination of the configuration of our nationhood and a re-assessment of the framework of state.
“The time has come, once again, to ask ourselves whether our nation is appropriately configured to survive current and coming upheavals, talk less of fulfilling her great destiny”, he noted.
The firebrand pastor also warned the President that he has no excuse for failing to act on the basis of fall in the price of crude in the international market.
“It is a symptom of chronic national laziness to blame the global economic downturn for Nigeria’s economic woes, or to wait expectantly for a rise in crude oil prices in order to sustain our consumptive economic patterns.
“Our problems are not the result of global economic cycles; our problems are the result of counterproductive national paradigms and self-limiting frameworks of state”, he warned.
