By Two weeks after Pastor Tunde Bakare declared his interest in the 2023 presidential race, the outspoken clergyman has resigned from pastoral duties to pursue his ambition.
It would be recalled that on April 9, Bakare, who is the founder of he Citadel Global Community Church (formerly known as the Latter Rain Assembly), declared his intention to run for the office of the president in the 2023 elections under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
To kick-start the process, the 67-year-old pastor delivered his valedictory speech at the end of the church service on Sunday, announcing his decision to step down from active ministry to pursue his presidential ambition.
Bakare had tagged his presidential bid ‘Project 16’ defining his aspiration to serve as the 16th president of Nigeria.
“Project 16 is not just about me. It’s not just about the presidential ambition of any man. In any case, I do not have a self-generated ambition. What I do have is a vision of a new Nigeria that was birthed in me from childhood and an honest aspiration to serve as the 16th president of my beloved nation, Nigeria,” he told a group of Nigerians in diaspora at a virtual event.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time the Ogun State indigene would be ditching the pulpit for the murky waters of politics. In 2011, he was the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari when the latter ran unsuccessfully in that year’s presidential polls.
This time around, the clergyman would be squaring up against APC bigwigs who had thrown their hats in the ring for the nation’s top job, such as former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu; former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha; minister of transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, among others.
