Pastor Tunde Bakare with Buhari and Tinubu on differeoccasions, ons

By Rotimi Adedayo

Since very early in Year 2020, when Pastor Tunde Bakare publicly prophesied that it had been divinely revealled unto him that he would be enthroned as Nigeria’s number 16 President and Commander-,in-Chief to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, (who he has always boasted is his most trusted ally), members of his congregation and admirers have been hoping and praying for the miracle to happen before their own eyes.

That has however not stopped discerning members of the public from wondering how a man of God like Bakare, who does not have any tested political structure in today’s Nigeria, can make his prophecy come true, miraculously..

Since pressure has continued to be mounted by critical political stakeholders in Southern Nigeria on the North that the Presidency must rotate back to the South come 2023, (when the incumbent from the North, President Muhammadu Buhari would have completed his two terms of four years each totalling eight years), a lot of Nigerians simply decided to adopt the wait-and-see approach to see how Pastor Tunde Bakare would be DIVINELY ENTHRONED by his “trusted friend), to succeed him.

To demonstrate that the 17 Southern Governors were no rookies, their Chairman is the incumbent Governor of Ondo State, Ogbeni Olurotimi Akeredolu, a time-tested Constitutional lawyer, who is also former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, and a holder of the prestigious Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, title.

While the 17 State Governors in the South had, for the first time in Nigeria’s history come together to jointly insist that the Presidency must shift to the South next, some Northern Governors like Bello Masari, (Katsina), Zulum (Borno), and Umar Ghanduje, (Kano), have also on occasions supported the clamour for power rotation on a number of occasions, some outrightly conservative Governors from the North have been vehemently countering the move, supported by some socio-cultural associations and pressure groups.

Being a trained lawyer himself before veering into the Ministry, one would have expected Pastor Bakare, who has prophesied his coming enthronement as the next President of Nigeria would have expected him to support the position of all the 17 Governors fro the South, a position that would actually make it easy for his tough dream to come through.

Nigerians were however shocked on Friday, 15th October, to see Pastor Bakare publicly repudiating all those who have been clamouring for the rotation of power back to the South after PMB.

According to Bakare, who briefed State House Correspondents at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, after paying President Muhammadu Buhari His friend AN unscheduled visit. ” those clamouring for power rotation are politically immature.”

In. an ironic twist, Bakare asserted that rather that rigidly demanding for power rotation, competence should be the yardstick of choosing the nation’s next President.”

What made Bakare’s position even more dramatic and hypocritical, is that he had, about three months ago vowed not to visit President Buhar at the Aso Rock Villa again due to the worsening insecurity in the country, which is actually being vigorously batted by the military.

To therefore see Bakare sneaking into the Villa to have a closed doors meeting with his “trusted friend” barely two months after visiting never to visit again, portrayed Bakare as unserious.

Apart from the 17 Southern Governors, who are vehemently committed to their insistence that power must shift to the South next, virtually all segments of Southern Nigeria, safe for members of the PDP, who are rooting for the election of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, (a Northerner, who is infact being accused of being a Camerounian by birth.

One if Nigeria’s leading Constitutional lawyer and university teacher, Professor Itse Sagay, (SAN), Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee, PAC, has however lashed out at all those opposing power rotation in Nigeria.

In the words of Professor Sagay in a recent interview published in The Sun newspaper, “It would be a risky risky gamble to stop power rotation to the South come 2023..”

“Such a position is unfair and unequitable. In a way, it is an insult to the South and a risky gamble.because we have to think of the stability of the federation, something that can cause not just chaos, but disenchantment and instability.”, Prof Sagay aßerted….

Most critical voces from the nation’s oil-rich Niger Delta have also all insisted that the North must wait till 2031 before tasting the Presidential power again.

That is after the Southern part of Nigeria would have produced the President for another 8 years.

For now, Pastor Bakare is being seen by many as very insincere and mist hypocritical on the issue of power rotation to the South, come 2023.

Pastor Bakare’s surprising U-turn lately is equally being interpreted to mean that he may be desperately trying to stop Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the national leader of the APC, who is regarded as a topmost contender for the Presidency come 2023.