Serving Overseer of The Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as the Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has declared his intention to contest the presidency in 2023 on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bakare, who disclosed his intention during a Zoom event organised by the PTB4-Nigeria movement on Saturday evening, claimed he was one of the founders of the APC and has never been part of any other party.
The event was organised to unveil ‘Project 16’ to Nigerians in the diaspora. In his address, Bakare said his ambition is based on a first-hand understanding of the challenges faced by the average Nigerian.
He noted that his mandate would be founded on peace, progress, prosperity and possibilities, adding that ‘Project 16’ is focused on his interest in becoming Nigeria’s 16th leader since the country gained independence in 1960.
“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.
He added that joblessness is responsible for the persistent insecurity in the country, saying that the vast majority of young people that are jobless are the ones easily recruited by those who are plaguing the nation with kidnapping and all kinds of terrorism.
“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.
Speaking on his plans if elected as president, the cleric noted that his administration would make the ‘New Nigeria’ dream a 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 marginalised in Nigeria.”
“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 honour 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 declared.
MEANWHILE, prominent Yoruba socio-political groups, Afenifere and Yoruba Ronu Leadership Forum, yesterday, differed over the declaration of Bakare to contest for the 2023 presidential election.
In separate reactions, the Chairman of Afenifere, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, said irrespective of how Bakare lampooned Afenifere in the past over its tough disposition towards the National Leader of APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in a sermon that went viral, Adebanjo noted that “Bakare has his fundamental rights to aspire to contest for the 2023 presidency under any political party of his choice.”
The nonagenarian specifically said it doesn’t matter what Bakare said about Tinubu or any group that takes a tough stand against the former governor of Lagos, his right to seek elective positions cannot be questioned.
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.”
Malaolu also blamed the cleric for a lot of what he described as inconsistent statements. “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.”
