Founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Dr Tunde Bakare, has revealed that he is facing pressure from prominent political figures to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Speaking on Saturday at the maiden edition of the Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series, themed “Nigeria at 65: Historical Reflections, Futuristic Projection”, held in Oregun, Lagos, Bakare disclosed that political stakeholders from within and outside the country had approached him to join 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 explained that among those urging him to align with the party was a younger political associate who had previously held important offices under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Bakare, however, ruled out the possibility of joining the ADC. “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.
Bakare, who was part of the coalition that birthed the APC in 2013, reaffirmed his belief that President Bola Tinubu’s emergence was not accidental. “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 said.
Also speaking at the dialogue, Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, a former Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, identified corruption and tribalism as Nigeria’s greatest challenges.
“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,” Osuntokun stated.
He further argued that the ethnicity of a president should not determine the quality of governance.
“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,” he added.
