The Senate has fired back at fiery cleric and former presidential aspirant, Pastor Tunde Bakare, over his harsh criticism of the 10th National Assembly, accusing him of making \u201csweeping and politically motivated\u201d statements that cross constitutional boundaries.<\/p>\n
Bakare, in his Easter State-of-the-Nation address in Lagos, lambasted the legislature, describing it as \u201ca haven for legislative rascality\u201d and likening it to the unofficial 48th member of President Bola Tinubu\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n
He also condemned the controversial emergency rule in Rivers State and faulted the National Assembly for backing it.<\/p>\n
But the Senate, through its spokesperson and Chairman of the Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, said Bakare\u2019s remarks were not only \u201cdisparaging\u201d but also lacked substance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe view his corrosive criticisms of the National Assembly as a biased and political ecumenical homily,\u201d Adaramodu said in a statement released in Abuja. \u201cTo cast aspersions on the entire institution based on personal frustrations or political positioning is unfair and counterproductive.\u201d<\/p>\n
While affirming Bakare\u2019s right to free speech, Adaramodu insisted the pastor had overstepped, especially in drawing parallels between the current Assembly and the infamous Third Term bid under former President Olusegun Obasanjo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe executive has never brought any unconstitutional agenda before the 10th National Assembly\u2014unlike the notorious Third Term proposal, which Bakare referenced,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The Senate also clarified that it had engaged the executive on aspects of the Rivers State emergency declaration, contrary to Bakare\u2019s suggestion of total legislative submission.<\/p>\n
Adaramodu urged national discourse to be driven by truth, mutual respect, and constructive dialogue, warning against rhetoric that undermines public trust in democratic institutions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Senate remains open to dialogue with all Nigerians, including Pastor Bakare\u2014but not at the expense of misleading the public,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate has fired back at fiery cleric and former presidential aspirant, Pastor Tunde Bakare, over his harsh criticism of the 10th National Assembly, accusing him of making \u201csweeping and politically motivated\u201d statements that cross constitutional boundaries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[10632,3528,300,10462],"class_list":["post-23562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-legislative-rascality","tag-pastor-tunde-bakare","tag-senate","tag-slams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23564,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23562\/revisions\/23564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}