Baptist convention tells Tinubu to provide exemplary leadership

The Nigerian Baptist Convention (NBC) has called on President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to learn from the mistakes of past leaders to provide exemplary leadership for the country.

President of the Convention, Rev. Israel Akanji, gave the advice at the 110th National Convention holding at the Baptist International Convention Centre, Lufuwape, on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. With the theme ‘Entering into Newness through Love and Unity’, the convention entered day four yesterday and will end on Thursday.

According to Akanji, ‘Nigerians are good people and easy to lead if their leaders show good examples. He urged Tinubu to use the goodwill he enjoys from Nigerians to serve them with the best leadership possible.

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The cleric also urged Tinubu to ‘always put into perspective the geographical, religious, and ethnic balance of the country while conducting the affairs of the nation’.

He said: “Nigerians are good people if the leaders show the right example. The new president must take advantage of the goodwill of Nigerians to ensure that mistakes of past leaders become raw materials to provide our country with the best leadership possible.

“Policies must have a humane face. Leadership must be conscious of the hardships which accompany policies that are hurriedly prepared for a big country such as Nigeria. For instance, in the recent case of the Naira redesign, while the idea might have been good, there were visible signs of unpreparedness for the steps that were taken, which brought a lot of hardship to Nigerians. Such approaches must be carefully avoided in the future, and leadership must be constantly responsive to the cries of the masses.

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“In tackling insecurity, I’ll want to counsel our new president to look at areas where the current administration did not engage, and ensure those areas are blocked. The inadequacies of the previous administrations should become raw materials for the new president to engage the situation. Where there is inadequate ammunition for our security men, the Federal Government should ensure that modern and sophisticated weapons are provided.”

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Speaking on the call for interim government, Rev. Akanji lamented that those calling for interim government are ‘trying to take us back’.

“I counsel that Nigeria should not go for interim government as it will be too wasteful. I believe the person elected has a lot of experience and he can do well. The only thing is to encourage him to be inclusive and not segregate. He should bring everybody to the table,” he added. (Nation)