Channels Television, a Lagos-based
independent 24-hour news station, on Sunday
suddenly terminated a broadcast by fiery
pastor, Tunde Bakare, over claims the tone of
the message was critical of the Nigerian
government.
Moment of Truth, a one-hour recorded paid
programme, through which Mr. Bakare
broadcasts messages he preaches in his
church, The Latter Rain Assembly, runs every
Sunday on the Lagos channel of the station,
between 5p.m. and 6p.m.
But 45 minutes into the programme on
Sunday, Channels terminated the programme
just as Pastor Bakare was making comments
considered critical of the Nigerian
government.
“We had to hurriedly take the programme off
air after he (Pastor Bakare) began spitting
venom against the government and saying
things we cannot defend,” an official of the
station, who asked not to be named because
he has no permission to speak on the matter,
told PREMIUM TIMES.
The official did not say what those comments
were, but he insisted they were serious
enough that Channels could not afford to allow
anyone to spread them through its station.
When contacted, the General Manager of the
station, Kayode Akintemi, confirmed he
received complaints over the pulling of Pastor
Bakare’s broadcast.
He however said the station was looking into
the matter.
Pastor Bakare told PREMIUM TIMES he and his
church had not been given any explanation
for terminating the programme.
“The broadcast is not free,” Mr. Bakare said. “
It is paid for and those in charge will write
them tomorrow to demand explanations.”
The pastor insisted Channels had no
justification for pulling his broadcast.
“There was nothing I said in that broadcast
that is subversive other than warning the
nation that the forthcoming election is laced
with disaster and that if we must plunge into
it, we should be ready for the consequences,”
he said.
In the broadcast entitled, “The Gathering
Storm And Avoidable Shipwreck – How to
Avoid Catastrophic Euroclydon”, Pastor Bakare
accused the government of plunging the
country into political and economic disaster
and warned of an impending storm.
He spoke of the “fundamental flaw in the
polity” and the gathering of the cloud ahead
of a major storm.
Accusing the government of ignoring
warning signs and allowing criminality to
thrive, Mr. Bakare argued that the Nigerian
economy had now crashed because it could no
longer sustain the massive corruption in the
subsidy fraud.
The pastor, who declared his loyalty for the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, later
identified the danger signs facing the country
and the steps he said are necessary to avert
crisis before, during and after the
forthcoming elections.
According to him, the signs include:
Poor level of election preparedness
Acts of lawlessness and partisanship of
security agencies
Security risks across the country
Likely minority king-making
Looming constitutional and legal crisis
Impending post-election tension
Looming economic collapse
Potential religious confusion, betrayals and
persecution
No comments: