Tunde Bakare as the 16th president of Nigeria

“Mohammadu Buhari is the 15th, while I am the 16th”.

These were the exact words spoken by Pastor Tunde Bakare that set both the cyber and political space on fire sometime ago. But before we crucify the man, let us find out why the man is so confident to boldly and publicly declare that he is going to take over the leadership of this nation from Mohammadu Buhari.

If you know Pastor Tunde Bakare very well, you would know that he is not flippant, flimsy or talk anyhow, when the issue at stake has to do with the well-being of our nation. He sleeps, wakes, breathes, walk, talk and speak Nigeria. He would tell you matter of factly, that his destiny is intertwined with the destiny of Nigeria. That the reason he was born, and the purpose why God sent him to this geographical entity called Nigeria, is to lead her and make her great in his lifetime.

Tunde Bakare knew early enough as a young boy that the hand of God was upon his life to lead this nation someday when He showed him a vision of himself, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Yakubu Gowon, sitting down together discussing the Nigerian Project. Ever since that time, he knew and it came into his heart that someday, though he didn’t know when, and didn’t know how, that God would use him to help our nation realise her potentials and truly make her great.

And as this great man is want to do in all things that he does, ever being so painstaking, prepared and meticulous, turned to his maker to show him the way and what to do to get this assignment done. Almighty God then in His infinite grace, mercy and favour, through His Holy Spirit, downloaded into Tunde Bakare’s human spirit, the manual, blue print and the template, of how to finally turn Nigeria around for the good of all her citizens.

That is why Pastor Bakare would tell you all the time; “I have the template of how to develop and rebuild this nation right here in my pocket”. And don’t you ever think he is bluffing. He is not. He is telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That is why he will tell you, in my time as President, I will make six dubais out of South East of Nigeria. I will restructure this nation that every segment will have a sense of belonging. And he will equally say, under my watch, no Nigerian child will ever go to bed hungry. It will never happen.

God has loaded this man with so much incredible ideas of how to finally bring Succour to the Nigerian People. Just like David of Old before him, God has trained TundeBakare’s fingers for battle and his hands for war, given him unbelievable skills, giftings, talents, and creative ingenuity, to be deployed, to recreate and craft Nigeria, to make her truly awesome –thereby making her the envy of other great nations.

Tunde Bakare is as incorruptible as they come. He is as clean as a whistle-spick and span. He once told us a very interesting story during the twilight of the Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, when he was invited to ASO ROCK VILLA to see the president. He said the president said to him; Pastor Bakare, you know I will soon be leaving office, name one thing you would want me to do for you before I step down.
This story reminded one of a similar encounter in the Bible, where God equally gave Solomon a blank cheque. You would expect pastor Bakare to ask the president for money, riches, choice cars, properties, or an oil rig to booth. But not Pastor Bakare.Just like Solomon before him, who asked God for Wisdom, Pastor Bakare merely asked the president to give him a pen. And President Jonathan retorted, just a pen pastor, just a pen your Excellency, just a pen. And the president shaking his head in disbelief, gladly handed his golden pen to Pastor Bakare as a parting gift. The pen is still there till today as a memorabilia.

Pastor Bakare told us of another encounter with the same President Goodluck Jonathan- because they seemed quite close when Jonathan was in office. How he went to Abuja to hold a meeting with the president and that after the meeting, on their way back to Lagos, a Presidential aide met them at the parking lot with an envelope containing a whopping sum of $50,000 American dollars, as transport fare back to Lagos. But your guess is as good as mine; pastor Bakare promptly rejected the said gift and asked that the envelope be returned back to the President.

This no doubt is the kind of man we need in Nigeria today to be our leader, who will not himself, nor allow his aides to put their hands into the national treasury or national till to rub the people of what rightly should go to them, we have hadenough of this sort of leadership.

Pastor Tunde Bakare is no longer a stranger or outsider to the Nigerian political class. He was the vice- presidential candidate to the current president, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2011 presidential election, when they both ran on a joint CPC ticket. He was also the one that moved the motion for merger, when his then political party, the CPC merged with other parties to form the APC.

From the foregoing therefore, I humbly suggest that both the political class, as well as the Nigerian people close ranks, put aside politics, bitterness, rancor, envy, ethnic and religious differences, to make this man president after Muhammadu Buhari. What God has ordained and put together aforetime, let no man try to destroy, separate or put asunder in time.

So that after all said and done, we shall all come together as one people, in unity and in love, and in great celebration to chorus the old negro spiritual; Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, we are free at last.

ImuzezeBawa, a legal practitioner, wrote from Lagos.