A leader of Market Women Association in Anambra State, and foremost political woman leader, Chief Mrs Ifeyinwa Ezenwa has warned Pastor Tunde Bakare to withdraw his statements concerning an Igbo President in 2023.
According to Bakare in one of his recent preachings, Ndi Igbo cannot be president because they are cursed.
But Chief Mrs Ifeyinwa Ezenwa, from Anambra State, who represented the Market Women Association at the National Conference of 2014 in Abuja said Bakare is full of hate and bitterness against a people who God has created, stating that for a man of God to stoop so low as to speak along the lines of tribe shows that he is not truly called by God.
In an interview granted to Jungle Journalist Media Limited, Mrs Ezenwa asked Bakare to withdraw his hatred for Ndi Igbo, which she argued was inspired by the Biafran War which ended more than 50 years ago.
“A child born in 1970, when the war ended is more than 50 years old now for God’s sake and this man is still wallowing in war-inspired hatred for Ndi Igbo!”, she thundered.
She then warned that Bakare will soon find himself in the midst of irrelevance, as he has chosen the path himself. She also advised Igbos to organise themselves and be determined, as they have got what it takes to win, and rule country from 2023.
Her words; ” I know he was making reference to the war experiences of Ndi Igbo.
Let me remind him that after the war, there was no Victor no Vanquished. That means, Yakubu Gowon wanted the teeming Nigerian children of that time to have hope. Today, those children are now all grown up. This is 50 years plus after the war. If Bakare can come up at this time, after 50 years and still make reference to war bitterness and conclude that Ndi Igbo cannot rule Nigeria, then it means that Nigeria don’t have good leaders. I must say that our leaders are our problems.
“He was also a delegate in the 2014 Conference. Let me remind him that the war was fought for two years and a half and ended on January 15 1970.
“Any child born back in 1970, even after that war is already more than 50 years old. After 50 years, for a leader with a sound mind can now come up and say that Igbos cannot be president is an absurdity.
“He is trying to draw attention to himself, showing Nigerians he is an irrelevant person. Ndi Igbo should ignore him and his irrelevance, and prepare themselves. In our constitution, every citizens had the right to vie for the position of Presidency.
“To say that a particular people don’t have the right to run for any office is hate speech.
“We don’t have strong laws, that’s why anybody can get up and talk any rubbish he or she likes. That is why Bakare has not been arrested for such level of hate speech.
“For a man who says he is a man of God to come up and speak such hate about a particular people, such a man should be looked upon with suspicion. The same Bakare has been jostling to be made President or Vice President of Nigeria, where Ndi Igbo is part of. Is that how he would have led the country? Such a leader should be pegged as an enemy of the state, a man against unity of the country.
“So, the Igbo has the right to become president.
“Politics is a game of numbers, Ndi Igbo have the numbers, and if they play their game very well, lobbying properly, and showing others why they should give the Igbo man a chance, they will surely get the Presidency.
“In the past, Nnamdi Azikiwe performed very well, and that alone is a yardstick to score the Igbo at the Presidency.
“The war is gone and is past. Bakare should understand that in a country where we believe in Equity, Justice, Fairness, men of good will will stand up and defend these virtues. Is he such a man? That is a question he should ask himself.
“By that statement, Bakare has singled himself out as an enemy of Nigeria, not just Ndi Igbo. But Ndi Igbo must see him as an enemy, for their own good.
“I pity his followers whom he comes up on the pulpit to tell things with both sides of his mouth. He preaches what God did not ask him to preach, hate and division.
“As an Igbo woman, as an Igbo mother, I am now asking Pastor Tunde Bakare to apologise to Ndi Igbo and withdraw his statement before it costs him more than he bargained for”, Chief Mrs Ezenwa stated.
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