The founder of Citadel Global Community Church (formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said that it does not matter where the next President comes from as long as the President can deliver good governance.

   This is as he voiced his support for the electronic transmission of votes in the 2023 elections and subsequent ones, saying it will protect eligible voters from disenfranchisement.

   Bakare said this on Friday after a private meeting with the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

   Bakare, who in 2011 was the running mate of Buhari on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change, was scheduled for a 12-noon meeting with the President in his office.

   Despite his previous close political affiliation with Buhari, the clergyman had in recent times castigated his regime.

  Speaking with State House Correspondents after the meeting, he said the visit was to “dispense what was in my heart” to the President.

 

   On power rotation, Bakare stated, “I had said it on October 3. It’s our immaturity, politically and otherwise, that makes us say power must either be in the North or be in the South, instead of looking for the best, the fittest, the most competent, and people of character, who love this nation.

   “Listen to me, if where the president comes from will make the place he has come from to be better, the northern part of Nigeria should be the richest and should be the most progressive and the most developed because out of 61 years, the north has produced either the president or heads of state for 40 to 41 years, and yet see the retrogression in the North.

   “If it’s from the South, why should a person like President Obasanjo freeze and seize the account of Lagos State in his own tenure? If it’s from South-South or South-East why couldn’t President Jonathan use all his powers to develop South-South/South-East?

   “Not where they come from, it’s what they carry and what they have to offer. May the best of the best of Nigerians rise, whether they’re from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south.

   “If there are agreements between politicians among themselves on rotation, a bargain is a bargain. That’s between them. But as far as this country is concerned, what we need at this stage is a man who can drive us to the Eldorado.”

   He also said that there is the need for the nation to adopt electronic voting to ensure that no Nigerian of eligible voting age including the Diasporas are disenfranchised.

Pastor Tunde Bakare declares national movement

   Bakare lampoons unnamed official, says change of baton imminent

   Asked about his mission at the presidential villa, Bakare said, “It’s a private visit to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, and I’ve dispensed what’s in my heart.”

   He applauded the Senate for reversing itself on the electronic transmission of election results, saying beyond that, the country should also adopt electronic voting.

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