Our reporter/ Without mentioning names, the serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, says politicians who practise the “emi lo kan” kind of politics do not intend to serve the people.
“Emi lo kan” is a Yoruba phrase which loosely translates to “it is my turn”.
Bakare, who spoke on Sunday during a state of the nation broadcast delivered at his church auditorium, titled: ‘Bridging The Gap Between Politics & Governance’, urged Nigerians to shun vote buying and focus on politics that can spur development.
According to him, the politics of entitlement, also known as the “emi lo kan” politics, gratifies personal ambitions.
“Politics of entitlement , this is the ’emi lo kan’ type of politics that insists on one’s turn, even if circumstances do not align,” Bakare said.
“Politics of entitlement also manifests as perennial candidacy, not with the intent to serve, but to gratify long personal ambitions.
“It could also manifest as insistence on a given political office as a reward for what one considers a lifetime of sacrifice to the nation.
“Politicians with a sense of entitlement evade political debates and do not consider it imperative to communicate with the electorate.
“Entitlement politics will breed an imperial presidency that is distant from the people and has no sense of responsibility or accountability to the people. Such imperial governance will slide towards dictatorship and will be intolerant of dissent.
“Entitlement politicians set low performance benchmarks for themselves when they secure power and are content with projecting molehills as mountains of achievement. That is bad politics and bad fruit and all that it is.”
The fiery cleric further stated that politicians who practise good form of politics communicate with the people and do not avoid debates or delegate questions.
“Good politics — it is communicating. Politicians who practise good politics talk to the people they intend to govern,” he said.
“By communicating, they allay fears, restore hope and assure the citizenry.
“It is engaging and interacting — practitioners of good politics are open to interrogation and they do not avoid debate or evade difficult questions. They don’t even delegate their questions to people to answer for them.”
The presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu in June last year popularised the catchphrase – emi lo kan – while addressing APC delegates in Ogun state shortly before the national convention, stating that it is his turn to become the country’s president.
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