Founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has revealed he is facing mounting pressure to join the opposition African Democratic Congress (ADC) — but insists he will not make the move.
Speaking at the inaugural Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series on Saturday, Bakare said several influential politicians, including a former governor and minister from the South-West, have approached 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,” he said.
The fiery cleric, however, dismissed the possibility of switching sides, saying he remains committed to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“I am not going to take part in ADC. The last time I heard of ADC was about a plane crash. I wish them well because we need a robust opposition,” he stated.
“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.”
Bakare, who contested the APC presidential ticket in 2023, described President Bola Tinubu’s rise as divinely orchestrated.
“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.
Bakare previously served as running mate to Muhammadu Buhari in the 2011 presidential election under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), one of the legacy parties that merged to form the APC in 2013.