THE Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that for Nigeria to remain an indissoluble entity, ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua should honourably resign from office and hand over to Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan.

Delivering his message to the nation in a sermon entitled “Beginning of the End,” Bakare warned politicians not to manipulate the Constitution, saying, “If Yar’Adua refuses to leave office, the office will leave him.

Quoting from 1 King 22:47, which states that “there was then no king in Edom: a deputy was king,” he said that it was divine and in Nigeria’s case, constitutional, for Jonathan to become the president after Yar’Adua’s exit. “Long live King Jonathan,” Bakare said.

Speaking to the congregation at his Ikeja Church on Sunday, the pastor said the political schemings over whether or not the president should resign and who should succeed him were uncalled for.

“Now as I’m speaking, we don’t have a functioning president and the vice-president we have is a lame duck.

“So if you cannot empower the vice-president to function for whatever reason, then you are left with only two options. One, step down or resign and hand over for your deputy to function, that is what the constitution says. But except you kill him and if you make a mistake of killing him, all the weapons that are hidden in the Niger Delta, plus those owned by people in other parts of the nation will be brought out and this will lead to the disintegration of Nigeria.

“Also, the Western power will move into this country and this will give rise to forming of seperate nations in the country by ethnic nationalities in Nigeria.

“The current state of health of the president warrants an immediate resignation from office as his patriotic duty to the country,” Bakare said.

He cautioned the politicians calling for Jonathan’s resignation to beware of the consequences of their actions.

Bakare said the only way out was for President Yar’Adua to hand over to Vice-President Jonathan, and to forestall a situation like this in future, Nigeria must have a full, functional and effective deputy that will discharge the duties of the president when he is not around.

He said such a deputy must be “someone that will always stand in place of the president when he cannot perform his duty.

“It is an insult upon our collective integrity for the president to travel and go for treatment under presidential fleet, whether in coma or not in coma, without a proper handing over, thereby creating a vacuum,” Bakare said.

Sympatising with President Yar’Adua over his predicament, Bakare said it was not his fault to be sick, saying, those who wished the president dead may even die before him.

“God sees my heart; only wicked people will wish others dead. Since it is not his fault that he is sick, we will not wish him dead.

“But since this is the situation, Jonathan must take over.”

According to him, “if politicians knew beforehand that Jonathan could not preside over the country because he will turn Nigeria into a zoo because he is a zoologist, why did they put him there?
“If you think Jonathan will treat the nation like a zoo because he studied zoology, you should have probed him first before you put him there, so if you see the whole country as monkeys, then you need a zoologist to treat it.

“Now at the presidential lodge you have created this mess, you better give him power to function or else, others will rise up and wipe all of you out of office.”

However, in what appears to be the first reaction of President Yar’Adua’s family on the current controversy surrounding his health, the president’s younger sister and former women leader of the Atiku Abubakar Campaign Organisation, Hajiya Binta Kuraye, has dismissed the calls on her brother to resign, insisting that her brother will continue to be president by the will of Allah.

“Those calling for the resignation of the president on his ill-health should have the fear of God for the sustenance of democracy of the country,” she said.

She told newsmen in Kaduna, at the weekend, that her family and their well wishers were not happy to hear the rumoured death of the president.

“The president wiIl soon bounce back, stronger than ever, to assume the leadership of the country. President Yar’Adua cannot be changed by anyone. If the president is given the chance, he has the ability and capacity to lead the country for another 16 years.

“Those clamouring for the death of the president or for his removal must know that death, itself, is inevitable; power belongs to Allah. Those calling for constitutional change of government are the real enemies of democracy in the country. They have vested selfish interest and ulterior motives calculated at creating disharmony and total disintegration of the Nigerian nation.

“Corrupt politicians in the country are not comfortable with the present administration’s pursuit of war against corruption. The leadership qualities of the president are those of the late Sir Ahmadu Bello, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo.”

She said wishing the president dead was an ugly development and bad omen for both Muslims and Christians, adding that what was expected at a moment like this is for all Nigerians, irrespective of their religions, to pray for the president.

Kuraye urged Nigerians to be their brothers’ keeper, just as she stressed the need to sustain the current peace initiatives by the president in the Niger Delta.

She described the current presidential roadmap in the Niger Delta and the 13 per cent derivation for the oil producing communities as unique and laudable, saying that this was a feat successive administrations in the country could not achieve.

“His rumoured death is the handiwork of corrupt politicians in the country, who are not comfortable with his style of administration. Those politicians have lost out of the struggle for power.

“These politicians calling for constitutional change of government are the real enemies of democracy in the country. They have selfish interest and ulterior motives calculated at creating disharmony and the total disintegration in the country.

“Why do you wish others dead, when you know that death is inevitable? Power is of Allah. So, nobody can change the president. We will soon bounce back in sha Allah.

Nigerians, she said, should have faith in God and the ability of the president to lead Nigeria on the right path.

http://nigeriabreakingnews..com/2009/12/kill-jonathan-face-break-up-pastor.html

Another rabble rouser. This loud mouth is at it again.

Another rabble rouser. This loud mouth is at it again.

@citizeny,
if there is any loud mouth here, u are the one. what is wrong with what the pastor said. he quoted a place in the bible for the christains and then make refference to the constitutional provissions of the country for the informed people of nigeria so if he did not make provissions for ignorant idiots like u, keep quiet and wait for fools in ur own kingdom to talk to ur delights.

@chidichris,
Rabble rousers and loudmouths make noise without giving any solution. I know for sure that you and Bakare have a joint project
to crucify Obasanjo. You have always wished him dead and God has kept him alive. Everyone in Nairaland knows that. You cannot
make any post without mentioning OBJ as if your life depends on it. That is idiocy of the highest degree. I now know why you did
not mention OBJ in this post- your work is in progress.