The serving Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly and Convener of the
Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunder Bakare, has said that the July 23
attack on Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) would have led to the
disintegration of Nigeria had it succeeded.
Bakare, who was
running mate to Buhari in the 2011 presidential election, observed that
Northern youths who reverence Buhari would have resulted to mayhem and
this would have led to repraisals across the nation.
The clergyman said this while addressing the nation on Sunday in a church service in Lagos.
He
debunked insinuations in some quarters that Buhari was in an armoured
car provided by the presidency, noting that “he (Buhari) was in a
regular car”.
He added that the attack should have made it clear to all that Buhari was not a Boko Haram sympathiser.
He
said, “This past week might have marked the beginning of the end if the
attack on him and his entourage on Wednesday, July 23, 2014 had
succeeded. The architects of the Nigerian disintegration agenda would
have been smiling home to the bank.
“All those Northern youths who
see him as a messianic symbol would have responded in uncontrolable
fury of a vengeful army and there would be corresponding violence.
“One need not to be a political analyst to see that such action would have culminated in the demise of our nation.”
Bakare
noted that the military at present was unable to adequately combat
terrorism, noting that soldiers confront members of the Boko Haram with
“inferior weapons”.
He criticised President Goodluck Jonathan for
seeking to loan $1bn to fight terrorism, saying “the last time the
military was equipped was in the 1980s and there have been budgetary
allocations every year.
“The Senate say they want to reconvene to
consider the request and nobody is asking what happened to the amount
budgeted for security this year.”
He added that other factors
contributing to the manace were failure of intelligence, palpable
government incompetence, sinful silence of stakeholders, and
international conspiracy.
The cleric noted that the reign of terror should not be ascribed to religion but “sheer psychosis”.
He
warned that traditional Islam and radical Islam must not be group
together, saying that radical Islam, alongside zoning deprivation,
oppression and injustice, was the cause of terrorism.
“To win this
war, we must embark forthwith on accurate diagnosis. There is a
fundamental difference between traditional Islam and the radical Islam
of our day. To lump them together would be a tragic mistake. It would
only produce error which would lead to attendant terror.
“I only hope
that this is a wake up call to our government and we must now rise up
so that together we can deploy all our resources to stop the terrorists
dead in their tracks,” he said.
Bakare further stated that he was taken by God in a vision to the dreaded Sambisa Forest in Borno State.
The
Sambisa Forest has become notorious in recent past as it is said to be
the location where the over 200 abducted Chibok girls are being held by
members of the Boko Haram sect.
The clergyman noted that the Sambisa
he saw was a tourist destination without any sign of violence or the
Boko Haram and prayed that the vision would become reality.
He said,
“The Lord took me in the spirit, I lie not in the Holy Ghost, He took me
to Sambisa Forest. When I got there, I didn’t see violence, I didn’t
see any ambushment, I didn’t see any insurgent group.
“I saw a
beautiful landscape and I saw buildings and it became a historical
choice centre. I have seen that day and it will come to pass in this
nation in the name of Jesus. Village life will return to this nation.
