Tunde Bakare, a well-known pastor and former presidential hopeful, has spoken clearly about his recent meeting with President Bola Tinubu, clearing the air on rumors and false ideas surrounding the visit.
The meeting took place on June 4 at President Tinubu’s private residence in Lagos. According to Pastor Bakare, the visit was not planned in advance.
He explained that he had been enjoying lunch with his friend, Mr. Fola Adeola, at the Metropolitan Club when he received a sudden call. The message was direct — the president wanted to see him.
During a sermon days later, Bakare explained what led to the visit and shared a few details about the private discussion he had with Tinubu.
In his words: “I had the privilege of sharing some words with Mr. President. That’s not my reason for being here.
“On the 4th of June, I was eating lunch with my friend, Mr. Fola Adeola, of the Metropolitan Club. He is the youngest president of the Metropolitan Club in the history of that club. And he has done so well. People have been congratulating him.
“Chief Emeka Anyaoku said, look, if it’s possible to give you another term, what you have done. So he has been echoing that. I said, okay, I will come and see what you have done.
“So I went in there for lunch. It was in the course of lunch that a phone call came that the president wanted me to visit him. I didn’t tell my wife before leaving home, I was going to Mr. President. But one of the things I told him, please listen attentively, is that in Zion, the Bible makes it plain.
“The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lord giver, the Lord is our king, he will save us…. But in the same passage he said, all the inhabitants of Zion will be wild, none of them will be sick. But it is the lame that will take the prey.
“He said, I don’t understand that. I said, I will explain it to you. You are the lame, Mr. President. I will never say publicly what I have not said privately, you are that lame man.
“He said, what do you mean? I said, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, with all the grace, with all the intellect, with everything that he did to be president of Nigeria, he didn’t make it. He got DCFR… but he was not president of Nigeria. And look at his achievements, his accomplishments.
“Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of Britain said, Awolowo has the brain capacity to run both America and the UK at the same time.
“MKO, my God, spent and was spent, participated in an election. Won the election, they nullified it, he never became president.
“You with all your excess baggage, I’m not, I’m not, I’m not trying to polish anything. There was nothing. I said, I could not withstand what he withstood, cocaine, forged certificate, no father, no mother.
“I have but this warning, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, now that God has given it to you, don’t play God.”
In his earlier briefing with journalists after the meeting, Bakare, known for his fiery sermons and public critiques of government performance, emphasised that his interest was in the progress of the country.
He said, “It’s not about just reservations, it’s about how the country will go well. My life’s personal vision is to see a nation that works in my lifetime, and those things I’ve discussed with Mr. President… they are not hidden things.”
Pastor Bakare said he believed it was wise to allow the president to process and decide what to do with the ideas he presented during the conversation.
“When you discuss with the person in charge, you leave it with him to do whatsoever he wills with what you have suggested.
“I’m glad that he received me well, and I trust that God will help our nation,” he noted
Responding to the question of which areas he wanted the Tinubu administration to improve upon, the cleric again refrained from details, saying, “What transpired in my discussion with him stays with me and with him. God guiding him and giving him wisdom will help this nation not to slide… but to bounce back.”
Looking ahead, Bakare outlined his vision for Nigeria over the next two years of Tinubu’s administration, saying, “I’d like to see a peaceful nation. I’d like to see Nigerians being their brother’s keeper. I’d like to see good collaboration between the best of the north and the best of the south to steer Nigeria in the right direction.”
He added: “We have danced around some subjects for too long a time. It’s time to take concrete action to ensure that the masses of our country do not live in abject poverty.”
