The General Overseer, Citadel Global Community Church (formerly called The Latter Rain Assembly), Lagos, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said he was one of the leading forces in the movement that let to Jonathan's defeat in the 2015 presidential election because he felt the then president failed to leave up to his responsibilities.
Bakare however, during a sermon in his church in Ikeja, Lagos State, on Sunday, said while he still believes Jonathan didn't do well enough during his time as President, the man he thought would be a better President turns out to be a big mistake, and vows to make amends.
Bakare, who was the running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari when the President contested election on the platform of the former Congress for Progressive Change in 2011, founded the Save Nigeria Group (SNG), a group which became so powerful that it grounded the Nation for over a week, because according to him, he wanted to help the country by fighting bad governance.
“I was in my house when I started the Save Nigeria Group. It was to help the country. I never knew (Goodluck) Jonathan or (Umaru) Yar’Adua. God only showed me a vision and I started moving around, saying ‘do not let Nigeria go bad’. Professor Wole Soyinka, (Retired Gen. Alani) Akinrinade, renowned people of Yoruba extraction joined us," he said.
“That was where Buhari first saw me and decided he could bring me close. We too, we wanted to know his intentions for Nigeria. That was how we met in Kaduna. I had in mind to help Nigeria but when (Obafemi) Awolowo could not become the president, as a good person, I washed my hands off.
“People thought someone who had once served as a military head of state, that once he becomes president, Nigeria will be better and progressive but instead of things to get better, everything has worsened," he added.
But the cleric who is on a self redemption mission, said he is forming another movement, this time, to get rid of the monster he helped to power.
He said the failure of the Buhari administration has led to agitations. He said instead of the President to address issues responsible for the agitations, he replaced the search for justice with intimidation and brutality.
He therefore states, though not explicitly, that the President whom he referred to as a 'government official', should come after him too Just as he did to Nnamdi Kanu, and Sunday Adeyemo (Sunday Igboho).
“I dare you to come after me since that is the usual style now. You might have done it to others; you are about to learn a lesson if you touch me,” said the cleric, who did not name the government official.
"If you know what I have done in secret, bring it to the open. I dare you to come after me if you can. I worked with you; I worked for you; I supported you to get there (where you are). When I talk now, I now have a smelly mouth. I am not interested in meeting you any longer; no more visits. Now, it is war, because Nigeria must be set free,” Bakare said.
Speaking further, Bakare went down memory lane to narrate how he supported the top official (Buhari) to get his current position in the President Buhari administration.
“Have you forgotten that you vowed never to contest again? I said ‘not so’. I showed you how you can win the next election and you agreed to run and you won. I was not considering myself but concerned about how Nigeria can become great.
“Winning an election is a different thing; doing the right thing is another. No one must behave as if Nigeria is personal property. Nigeria must be set free and any obstruction along the way must be removed; it must get out of the way.
“I declare to you ‘Nigeria-for-Nigerians Movement’. I’m prepared to lead this movement. Nigeria is not a one-man property. This movement will liberate Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking on the handling of Kanu and Igboho by the Buhari government, he said, “I don’t support any act of violence, taking up arms against the country and killing people. Those are in the realm of criminality and anybody doing that must be brought to book. However, we must realise that what has given rise to the agitation is a lack of justice and equity.
"When there is justice, when there is equity, agitation will die down. How can you be expending so much energy on Igboho and Kanu? Igboho and Kanu are not Nigeria’s problems. Nigeria must restructure and no one can stop that,” he declared.