Nigerian Pastor Tunde Bakare, the founder of Citadel Global Community Church (previously Latter Rain Assembly), has intimated that he may run for president in 2023.
Bakare made the remarks following a private meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday, October 15.
Bakare was Buhari’s running mate on the Congress for Progressive Change platform in 2011. After the meeting, he told State House Correspondents that he came to “dispense what was in my heart” to the President.
When asked if he would run for president in 2023, he answered he would if ‘God’ and ‘Nigerians’ wanted him to.
Bakare said; “Every Nigerian, who is of age and who is not disqualified by any means, is free. I’m a nation builder, if God wants me to do that, and the people of Nigeria will appreciate that, why not? I’m as free as anybody to do anything with my time. I’ve pastored a church for 33 years, now we raise new leaders. I want to focus on nation-building.
On power rotation, Bakare stated, “I had said it on October 3. It’s our immaturity, politically and otherwise, that makes us say power must either be in the North or be in the South, instead of looking for the best, the fittest, the most competent, and people of character, who love this nation.
“If it’s from the South, why should a person like President Obasanjo freeze and seize the account of Lagos State in his own tenure? If it’s from South-South or South-East why couldn’t President Jonathan use all his powers to develop South-South/South-East?
“Not where they come from, it’s what they carry and what they have to offer. May the best of the best of Nigerians rise, whether they’re from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south.
