NEWS
My presidential aspiration is a lifetime dream, Bakare declares
Pastor Tunde Bakare who is the Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos, says his aspiration to become Nigerian President is a lifetime dream.
Bakare did not say if he would be running for president in the 2023 elections. He said he desired to contribute meaningful quota to the development of the nation.
The clergyman spoke in an Instagram Live Chat on Tuesday night with popular journalist, Dele Momodu, monitored by Top Naija.
Bakare was Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) running mate in the 2011 presidential election. They both contested under Congress for Progressive Change party and lost to former President Goodluck Jonathan and his deputy, Namadi Sambo of the People’s Democratic Party.
Buhari contested again and won in 2015 with Yemi Osinbajo under All Progressives Congress Party. Change was the motto of the ruling party in 2015.
But Bakare said, “Rather than getting the change, it appears that we have been shortchanged.”
He said, “In an ideal situation, every Nigerian is entitled to his or her dream and we must find a way of liberating that office that any Nigerian who desires to be in the office or to be the president of Nigeria should be at liberty to do so.
“I express my own desire but it is not any inordinate ambition and it is not that I must kill and maim in order to get there. I have something to offer my country, God giving me the opportunity and the people saying so, I desire to still contribute my meaningful quota to the development of my nation. It is a dream I have had as a little boy and it has never left me but I am not pushing neither am I forcing myself on people.
“Remember something about the presidency in Nigeria, those who pursue it too hard hardly get it, those who put everything into it hardly get it and those who are qualified like MKO, he won the election, they didn’t let him get it. Chief Obafemi Awolowo has been described as the best president Nigeria never had.
“I will tell you it was the time Muhammadu Buhari stood publicly and said I will no longer offer myself for public service; it was after that that he got it. So, there is no inordinate ambition here that it must happen at all cost. If God gives me the opportunity, I will serve my nation but may the best candidate win in the net election and may God bring the best and brightest candidate emerge and steer the ship of our nation.”
“As a servant of God the Most High, President Buhari and I have never discussed it not once. I say that publicly today and if anybody has anything to the contrary, he can bring it to the open. We have never said it. He had never said to me, I confide in you, you are the man I would, no, not once, I express my own desire.
“And if you care to know, this is not the first time I said it. I said it in Lisabi Grammar School in 1973. Ask my classmates, they will tell you I said one day; I will be the president of Nigeria.
“In 1984, I mentioned it to Pastor Adeboye, he is still alive. Before I proposed to my wife in 1982, I said it to her that one day I will be the president of Nigeria. It was something that I had seen as a little boy that I have something to offer my country and this country can be better than this and I will do my best to give it the best shot but it is not driven by inordinate ambition,” he added.
The clergyman added that Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State and he have not decided if they would both be contesting in the 2023 presidential election.
Bakare said the next president of Nigeria could come from the South-East geopolitical zone; also the candidate must join a major political party because politics deals with figures.
Pastor Tunde Bakare was born on the 11th November, 1954. He studied law at the University of Lagos. He was called to the Bar in 1981, practiced law with different firms and later established his own firm; Tunde Bakare & Co (El-Shaddai Chambers) in October 1984.
In May 1988, at the peak of his legal career he was called into ministry and he founded The Latter Rain Assembly renamed as Citadel Global Community Church in Lagos.
The clergyman established The Family Heritage Foundation as a way of giving back to humanity. The foundation is focused on giving scholarships to the less privileged students both within and outside the shores of Nigeria. He is happily married to Layide Bakare and the union is blessed with five wonderful children.
