Politics

2023: I Will Run For President Under APC, Says Pastor Bakare

April 11, 2022
2:59 am

Pastor Tunde Bakare, currently serving as the overseer of The Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, has announced his intention to run for the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Read Also: To Be President, One Must Negotiate With North — Bakare

Bakare, who announced his decision during a Zoom event organized by the PTB4-Nigeria movement on Saturday evening, claimed he was among the founders of the APC and had never been associated with any other party.

According to him: “It was my privilege to move the motion for the merger between Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), on February 6, 2013, which resulted in the emergence of the APC, and I have never been part of any other party apart from that. By God’s grace, that will be the party I will seek the opportunity to serve and lead my nation.”

The purpose of the event was to introduce ‘Project 16’ to Nigerians living abroad. As Bakare emphasized in his speech, his ambition is based on a first-hand knowledge of the challenges confronting the average Nigerian.
According to him, his mandate would be based on peace, progress, prosperity and possibilities, adding that ‘Project 16’ is his bid to become Nigeria’s 16th leader since independence in 1960.

Bakare argued that, “Against the backdrop of the prevailing state of the nation, we need a leader who can reconcile historical and current differences, reintegrate various ethnic and religious constituent parts into true nationhood and rebuild the broken walls of federalism, while maximizing Nigeria’s diverse, geo-economic potential.

“Project 16 is not just about me. It’s not just about the presidential ambition of any man. In any case, I do not have a self-generated ambition. What I do have is a vision of a new Nigeria that was birthed in me from childhood and an honest aspiration to serve as the 16th president of my beloved nation, Nigeria.

“Birthing the new Nigeria is the mission of the 16th administration. The new Nigeria is a nation where no one goes to bed hungry and no child is left out of school without access to quality education; where our homes, schools, streets, highways and villages are safe and secure and Nigerians can work, play or travel with their minds at rest and go to bed with their hearts at peace.

“It’s a Nigeria where our hospitals are life-saving institutions and every Nigerian has access to good, quality healthcare; where no youth is unemployed and our young men and women are job creators; where businesses thrive on innovation and made-in-Nigeria can compete anywhere in the global market; where homes and businesses have access to clean and uninterrupted power supply and ideas are facilitated by functional infrastructure and cutting-edge technology.”

Furthermore, he said that joblessness is responsible for the persistent insecurity of the nation, as most of the young people who are jobless are readily recruited by terrorist groups and kidnappers that plague the nation.

“If we are able by God’s grace to get them engaged, employed and settled in their own environment to become productive, you will see that those attacks will wean.

“You have heard reports of our arms and ammunition getting into the hands of terrorists. If we build a formidable military, that is strong and well trained to tackle external aggression and join our police to tackle internal rebellion, we will be able to stem the tide of this plague of terrorism, kidnapping and all kinds of affliction that are now producing a profit of crime to our young people whose means of livelihood have been cut off and who are ready to die just in case they are killed,” the pastor said.

In terms of his plans if elected president, the pastor outlined how his administration would bring the dream of a “New Nigeria” into reality.

“The message is simply ‘A New Nigeria for Every Nigerian.’ The 16th dispensation will be about making the New Nigeria the reality for every Nigerian. This is what the PTB brand stands for. It means that no part of our nation – North, South, East or West – should feel marginalized in Nigeria.”

Moreover, he added that the current challenges facing the country continue to provide an opportunity for the right individuals to assume leadership roles within the country.

“If we are able by God’s grace to get them engaged, employed and settled in their own environment to become productive, you will see that those attacks will wean.

In terms of his plans if elected president, the pastor outlined how his administration would bring the dream of a “New Nigeria” into reality.

Moreover, he added that the current challenges facing the country continue to provide an opportunity for the right individuals to assume leadership roles within the country.

“The factors that have thus far shaped our national trajectory are converging towards a tipping point. I am confident that the darkest nights produce the brightest stars. Now is the time and this is the moment for such nation-builders to work towards one objective: the emergence of a New Nigeria.

“Inspired by my childhood dream and in line with my trajectory in bringing together the best of the North and the best of the South, it would be the honor and privilege of my life to facilitate this coalition of nation-builders as we collectively take the sixteenth step or leap towards the Nigeria of our dreams,” he stated.

Additionally, prominent Yoruba socio-political groups, Afenifere and Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum diverged yesterday over Bakare’s declaration of his candidacy for the 2023 presidential elections.

According to the apex Yoruba group, regardless of what this cleric may have said in the past, his fundamental right to contest cannot be questioned, while Yoruba Ronu argues that the cleric is too inconsistent in his commentaries that he is unlikely to be taken seriously by reasonable people in Nigeria.

As a response, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Chairman of Afenifere, noted that despite the way Bakare has mocked Afenifere in the past for its tough stance against Bola Ahmed Tinubu, National Leader of the APC, in a sermon that went viral, the chairman highlighted the fact that Afenifere is a Christian organization. “Bakare has his fundamental rights to aspire to contest for the 2023 presidency under any political party of his choice.”

In other words, the nonagenarian stated that it does not matter what Bakare said about Tinubu or any other party taking a strong stance against the former governor of Lagos, his right to seek elective office cannot be questioned.

“Do you want Afenifere to condemn Bakare for running for the presidency in 2023? That is not possible. Or has Bakare said Afenifere should stop its agitation and demand for restructuring? No. As a matter of fact, I will be unhappy with whoever tries to stop or discourage Bakare from seeking election into the number one office. It is his desire and it is also for Nigerians to look in his direction or not,” he affirmed.

Adebanjo also disagreed with the insinuation in some quarters that Bakare is into the race simply to spite or spoil Tinubu’s chances, saying, “I don’t think it’s right to think like that.”

The President of Yoruba Ronu Forum, Akin Malaolu, however, said that from what Bakare said in the viral sermon in which he attacked Yoruba elders for standing against Tinubu, it could be interpreted as the pastor backing Tinubu and the sudden declaration that he will run for presidential election seems to be out of character.

Malaolu also criticized the pastor for many of the beliefs and statements he described as inconsistent. “The same man will talk restructuring, talk intermediate government and has now declared to run for President of Nigeria. He even said God has told him he would be Nigeria’s 16th President after Buhari. This is confusing.”

AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK