The General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has berated Nigerian politicians for urging Nigerians to endure economic hardship when they live lavish lifestyle.
Bakare led this out, during his speech at the Wilson and Yinka Badejo Memorial Lecture 2024, held at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Wednesday.
The cleric called for dialogue among the ruling class, rather than confrontation to resolve the challenges facing the country.
He said: “All parties must approach the dialogue table with open minds, effective communication and empathy.
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“Open and honest communication helps to establish transparency, making intentions and actions clear.
“When leaders communicate transparently, they demonstrate that they have nothing to hide, and that builds trust.
“Empathy is a bedrock of dialogue. It requires us to see beyond our own perspective and seek to comprehend the experiences of others.
“The ability to feel with others, to share in their joys and sorrows.
“It also means sitting where the people sit, as in the book of Ezekiel, feeling their pains and sharing their burdens.
“An empathetic leader does not feed fat while asking the people to tighten their belts.
“Nigerian political leaders have mostly not demonstrated empathy. Otherwise, how do you live so large while your people are ravished.
“This is why it’s often said that hunger is a unifier. This is why citizens are responding or reacting to the hashtag #EndBadGovernance protests across the land, from the North to the South, to the East to the West.
“Hunger does not ask whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, male or female, Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, APC, PDP, or Labour Party.”
