The founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Dr Tunde Bakare, has disclosed that he is under pressure from political stakeholders to join the African Democratic Congress.
Bakare, who spoke on Saturday at the maiden edition of the Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series tagged ‘Nigeria at 65: Historical Reflections, Futuristic Projection’ in Oregun, Lagos, however, ruled out the possibility of joining the party.
According to him, several political figures, including a former governor and minister from the South-West, had urged him to align with the ADC.
“There has been a lot of pressure on me from who is who to join ADC. They come to my home. Even while I was abroad, the hierarchy of that party kept calling, saying they needed my voice,” Bakare said.
He added that one of his younger political associates, who benefited from holding key offices in the All Progressives Congress, urged him to lend his influence to the ADC. Bakare, however, dismissed the idea, saying, “I am not going to take part in ADC. The last time I knew about ADC was about a plane that crashed. I wish them well, because we need a robust opposition. But you don’t birth a child called APC and then try to kill it yourself. We are not going to have another Awolowo–Akintola crisis in the South-West,” he stated.
The cleric, who played a role in the formation of the APC, maintained that the emergence of President Bola Tinubu was backed by divine providence.
“If God wants to remove ‘emilokan,’ He knows how to do it. You can’t get the kind of thing Tinubu has brought without God’s support,” he added.
Also speaking at the event, guest speaker Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, identified corruption and tribalism as Nigeria’s greatest challenges.He argued that the ethnicity of the president should not matter if governance delivers results.
“The two problems our country faces are corruption and tribalism. If there is a way of eradicating these two evils, we will be alright. Corruption is the father or mother of tribalism. If the money being stolen was available for development, Nigeria would be far better.
“The fact that Tinubu is president does not automatically improve the life of an average Yoruba man, just as an Igbo presidency will not improve the life of the ordinary Igbo man if there is no development.”
