After months of consultations and preparation, wave-making Nigerian Pastor, land Serving Pastor of Citadel Global Community Church, Dr. Tunde Bakare, Saturday, in Lagos, finally threw his cap into the ring for the 2023 presidential race.
Like he had always emphasized in his period of preparation, the outspoken cleric who ran with President Muhammadu Buhari as Vice Presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential elections under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), said he was joining the race not just to make the numbers nor for the fantasy and allure of power, but to fulfill a divinely ordained mission to birth a New Nigeria.
Bakare’s presidential campaign is coded PROJECT 16, and his brand PTB, an acronym for Pastor Tunde Bakare, will be his rallying point for the process.
The former Vice-Presidential candidate left no one in doubt about the focal point of his ambition when he removed the veil in a virtual address on Saturday.
“It is not about the presidential ambition of any man,” Bakare said. “In any case, I do not have a self-generated ambition. What I do have is a vision of a New Nigeria that was birthed in me from childhood and an honest aspiration to serve as the sixteenth president of my beloved nation, Nigeria.”
He decried the state of the nation and declared that Nigeria was in dire need of a focused and purpose-driven leadership, a leader that can cement all the existing cracks in the Nigerian nation. An experienced leader who will return the country to winning ways. And he considered himself the best man for the job.
His exact words: “Against the backdrop of the prevailing state of the nation, we need a leader who can reconcile grievous historical and current differences, reintegrate the various ethnic and religious constituent parts into true nationhood, and rebuild the broken walls of federalism while maximising Nigeria’s diverse geo-economic potential.”
PROJECT 16 and the PTB Brand
Bakare threw more light on the Project 16, and the PTB Brand.
“This brings me to the brand, PTB,” he began. “PTB is currently an acronym for Pastor ‘Tunde Bakare. The PTB brand is the rallying point for ‘Project 16.’
“Nevertheless, Project 16 is not just about me. It is not about the presidential ambition of any man. In any case, I do not have a self-generated ambition. What I do have is a vision of a New Nigeria that was birthed in me from childhood and an honest aspiration to serve as the sixteenth president of my beloved nation, Nigeria.”
“Birthing the New Nigeria is the mission of the sixteenth administration,” Bakare continued. “The New Nigeria is a nation where no one goes to bed hungry and no child is left out of school without access to quality education; where our homes, schools, streets, villages, highways, and cities are safe and secure, and Nigerians can work, play or travel with their minds at rest, and go to bed with their hearts at peace.
“A Nigeria where our hospitals are lifesaving institutions and every Nigerian has access to good quality healthcare; where no youth is unemployed and our young men and women are job creators; where businesses thrive on innovation and made-in-Nigeria can compete anywhere in the global market; where homes and businesses have access to clean and uninterrupted power supply and ideas are facilitated by functional infrastructure and cutting edge technology.”
The population of eminent Nigerians aspiring to succeed President Buhari has been swelling by the day. They include former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Lagos State Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ebonyi State Governor David Nweze Umahi, Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, former Imo State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, former Abia State Governor and current Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, frontline journalist and publisher of Ovation International magazine, Basorun Dele Momodu, and current Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi. And any moment from now, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo will formerly declare his intention to succeed his boss, according to sources close to his party, APC. And the list continues.