Renowned cleric and founder of Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has disclosed that he is facing intense pressure from influential political figures to join the African Democratic Congress (ADC), a rising opposition coalition.
Bakare made the revelation on Saturday during the inaugural edition of the Citadel School of Governance Dialogue Series held in Lagos. He noted that despite the persistent appeals from top political actors, he has no intention of joining the ADC.
“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,” Bakare said.
According to him, several prominent politicians—including a former governor and a former minister from the South-West—have been lobbying him to align with the coalition ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Bakare revealed that the pressure is not limited to political elders. A younger associate who rose to prominence through key positions in the All Progressives Congress (APC) has also urged him to support the ADC’s political project.
However, he was unequivocal about his stance:
“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.”
Speaking further, Bakare stated that President Bola Tinubu’s emergence as Nigeria’s leader was divinely ordained, insisting that no one can upturn what God has permitted.
“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 added.
Bakare was one of the aspirants who contested for the APC presidential ticket in 2023 but lost to Tinubu. His comments reflect both his continued loyalty to the ruling party and his reluctance to be part of the growing ADC opposition movement.
Bakare’s political journey is well-known. In 2011, he ran alongside Muhammadu Buhari as the vice-presidential candidate under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). The CPC later merged with other parties to form the APC in 2013, paving the way for Buhari’s eventual victory in 2015.