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Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly has said people who compare Late Obafemi Awolowo and Bola Tinubu really no little or nothing about history, especially talking about the boundaries Awolowo broke. In an interview published in the second edition of The Interview magazine, Bakare explained, Yorubas can only have one Awolowo at a given time, while there are so many Tinubus out there.
Read more after the cut...
“What major river did he (Tinubu) cross?” Mr. Bakare fired back when asked by his interviewer if the former governor was not qualified to take the place of the sage who is widely described as the last authentic leader of the Yoruba.
Reminded that Mr. Tinubu was the major engineer of the merger that helped to bring the Yoruba together, the clergyman said, “And you think it was only Bola Tinubu who made that possible. I see. Which one came first, the chicken or the egg?”
He stated further, “Well, the answer is in the Bible. You are a preacher yourself. God first created the bird of the air and not eggs. The birds laid the eggs. If you see the picture of patriots and Nigerian leaders here, they are all a collapse of his.
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| Chief Obafemi Awolowo. |
“The people who are attempting to wear his (Awolowo) glasses do not have his vision, they attempt to wear his cap but do not have his brain, they attempt to wear his shoes but do not walk his ways. Show me the empire that Awolowo built with public funds. To a Yoruba man, there is no concept greater than Omoluabi.
“If you get to my father’s grave in a hut he built in 1922, which is now a museum, there is an inscription ‘bibire koshefowora” which means you cannot buy a good pedigree or familial background.
“I am not trying to take the shine off Tinubu’s efforts; he had laboured but he is not in the same class with Awolowo. Regardless of how many rivers he crosses, he is still Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Awolowo is Awolowo.
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“I have seen some paintings and pictures out there of Mahatma Gandhi, Awolowo and others and I just laugh and wonder why people can’t be themselves. When God needed a Mahatma Gandhi, he created one. So he did when he wanted an Awolowo. He created a T.D Jakes when he needed one.
“A young man once went to T.D. Jakes and said, ‘Pray for me that God will bless me and make me like you.’ T.D.Jakes asked him, “Are you sure.” “He said ‘Yes’ and T.D. Jakes said, “Let us pray. May you be homeless, go through hardship,’ and the young man jumped up and said ‘no, no, no, no, “and T.D. Jakes said, “That is what produces results.”
Bakare also said the books Awolowo authored were still relevant today.
“You need to see books he (Awolowo) wrote and how they are still relevant today,” he said. “Years after he left the scene, he is still the numero uno Yoruba leader. Eagles don’t flock. You see one at a time.”