President Bola Tinubu’s Bourdillion, Ikoyi, Lagos home has turned into Mecca of sort as high profile visitors trooped to his personal residence.
The president is in Lagos for Sallah after departing Abuja more than one week ago.
Interestingly, some of the visitors are Tinubu’s fierce critics like Pastor Tunde Bakare, General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church.
Bakare, on Wednesday, visited Tinubu at the residence in Lagos.
The outspoken Pastor had recently said that Nigeria was spiraling into tyranny and suffering from a brazen abuse of power under Tinubu.
Speaking during his State of the Nation Address to mark Easter celebrations, Bakare took a swipe at the National Assembly, condemning what he described as the collapse of the legislature, which he called a “bastion of democracy”, but now failing under the president’s leadership.
He also frowned at the state of emergency declared in Rivers State by Tinubu, saying it was a clear example of what he described as a “theatre of the absurd”.
He slammed both the president’s actions and the National Assembly, which he accused of endorsing the measure, declaring that the national legislative body has become the “most spineless” in Nigeria’s history, allowing for Tinubu’s actions to go unchecked. “Under your watch, Mr. President, the legislature has become a mere rubber stamp, endorsing every action you take without scrutiny,” Bakare said.
As controversy trails the cleric’s visit to Tinubu, it’s not yet clear whether the man of God has found ‘salvation’ in Tinubu’s temple.
Apart from Bakare, the opposition elements in the country currently in the political Intensive Care Unit, (ICU), battling for survival appear to have resigned to fate to join the band wagon. First it was the suspended governor of Rivers State, Sir Sim Fubara, who ‘sneaked’ into Bourdillion on Tuesday, perhaps for confession and restitution. His visit came amidst the wave of defections from the opposition parties to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Fubara’s visit to the president is coming on the heels of his recent address to his loyalists where he reportedly told them to thank Tinubu, stating that in no distant time he will be recalled from suspension.
Another indication that the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) may soon become an empty shell is the visit of the Adelekes from the president’s home state of Osun.
Governor Ademola Adeleke, his senior brother, Deji, and the music icon, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido, visited the president on Tuesday.
The reason for the visit is still kept secret by both parties but one thing that is in the public space is that in few months to come, the governor will be seeking re-election against the candidate of Tinubu’s party..
The president also met with the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka, at the commissioning of the coastal road. Soyinka is a known critic of past presidents except Tinubu who is said to be his friend.
The social critic has been attacked in some quarters for keeping quiet in the face of current economic hardship in the country. The president’s Lagos home has also hosted the creme de la creme in the society, including billionaire Bill Gates who was conferred with a national honour, as well as members of the political class and captains of industry. While Bourdillion is bubbling with activities with the attendant blockade of roads, the Presidential Villa Abuja is quiet as Vice President Kashim Shettima is also engaged in activities that take him out of the capital city.
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