Former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has criticised the relationship between the executive and legislative arms of government under President Bola Tinubu, urging the Nigerian leader to “stop playing God”.

“If this state capture is what you meant by ‘Emi Lokan’, it is an anti-climax that can only prove counterproductive in the long run. I urge you to reflect on these words: ‘No man is wise enough nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.’ Please, stop playing God,” Bakare, who is the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), said during his state of the nation address delivered on Sunday at his church auditorium in Lagos.

Raising concerns about the country’s current trajectory, Bakare said Nigeria was veering dangerously off course.

“To the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under whose brand of politics the institution of legislative oversight is collapsing and our democracy faces an existential threat, I say: Mr President, Nigeria is too delicate for this kind of politics,” he declared.

According to Bakare, Tinubu’s influence has effectively turned the National Assembly into a “haven for legislative rascality”.

He referenced recent decisions by the legislature, such as the endorsement of a state of emergency in Rivers State and the suspension of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, as evidence that the legislative arm has become “an extension of the executive, flagrantly violating the principle of separation of powers and rubber-stamping the whims of the Presidency”.

“This Tenth National Assembly, through its unconstitutional endorsement of executive overreach, has proven to be the most spineless in recent memory,” he said.

“In its actions and inactions, the legislature has effectively become the 48th member of the president’s cabinet, while a cabinet minister now functions, in effect, as a third-term state governor in Rivers State—shielded by presidential indulgence,” Bakare added.