…Rejects pressure to join ADC
Renowned cleric and founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has revealed that he is under intense pressure from top political figures to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC) – but insists he has no intention of leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC), a party he helped to build.
Speaking at the inaugural ‘Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series’ in Lagos on Saturday, Bakare said both senior and younger political associates have been lobbying him to align with the ADC ahead of the 2027 elections.
“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 disclosed.
The cleric said some of the appeals came from a former governor and a former minister from the South-West, as well as a younger political ally who previously held key positions in the APC.
Bakare, however, dismissed the idea in his characteristically blunt style.
“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”.
The former APC presidential aspirant, who once ran as Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011, reaffirmed his continued loyalty to the ruling party.
Turning to national politics, Bakare described President Bola Tinubu’s rise to power as a product of divine orchestration, saying only God could have made it possible. “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’s remarks come amid growing realignment efforts within the opposition, with the ADC emerging as a platform attracting notable politicians ahead of the 2027 general elections.
A veteran of Nigeria’s political evolution, Bakare previously ran alongside Muhammadu Buhari as vice-presidential candidate under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in 2011 – a party that later merged with others to form the APC in 2013.
