By Dare Babarinsa
Pastor Tunde Bakare’s mission is not just to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, but also to go into practical Christianity by participating in politics. Bakare, who turns 70 on Monday November 11, is a wealthy attorney, but also better known as a radical pastor. His congregation in the Citadel Global Community Church, CGCC, believes he speaks for God; but in the open arena of politics, Tunde Bakare speaks for the voiceless.
For Tunde Bakare, his life journey has been a voyage of discovery. When we met at the University of Lagos in 1978, (he came in in 1977 to study law), Bakare was already a self-assured young man who had big dreams and tall ambitions. He ran for and was elected the president of the University of Lagos Students Union, ULSU. It is a testimony to his capacity for keeping friends that many of those who were his contemporaries in Unilag are still with him till today. Senator Gbenga Daniel, former Governor of Ogun State, who was with us in Unilag, remains a member of his inner circle. Gbenga Fakile, Ekiti State former commissioner for finance, who succeeded Bakare as ULSU president, is a leading member of the Citadel. To mark his 70th birthday, Bakare would be handing over a gift of solar-power infrastructure to the Faculty of Law, Unilag, an important station of his life journey. He would formally present the infrastructure that free the faculty from the public power supply system to the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Folasade Ogunsola as his birthday gift to the university.
Bakare is a rare gift to our generation. His father was a wealthy polygamist and he was born into a large family of many siblings and relations. Then his father died at his prime and the family plunged into penury. His mother, Abigail Eebudola, a strong-willed entrepreneur, was determined to knock him out of an easy embrace of poverty. He crammed the koran and memorised his texts at school. He learnt to sell the odd and ends of little wares that our mothers were famous for in those days. The struggle was brutal and his mother confronted her challenges with open-eyed insolence. She would not agree to be poor. Follow me, she told her son! Later in life, he discovered Christ and learnt to follow him without questioning.
When Bakare was born in November 11, 1954, Abeokuta, his native city was coming into itself as a self-assured megalopolis. It was founded by Egba leaders around 1830 in response to the gory years of Yoruba Civil Wars and Revolutions of the 19th Century. Hitherto, Egba communities and settlements like Ake, Oko, Iddo and others were the soft targets of ambitious militarists and slave raiders. The Egbas thought the humiliation was enough and had to stop. They formed a great pow-wow and under the leadership of their war hero, Lisabi, created a liberation army. Though Lisabi died during the struggle, the Egbas became free and they forged a novel Constitution. Their leader, henceforth would be the Alake, one of the ancient princes of the House of Oduduwa who brought his crown from Ile-Ife. The Egbas created a modern government and their society was receptive to good ideas and was able to maintain its independence until the Egba sovereignty was abrogated by the British in 1914 at the dawn of colonial rule.
The Abeokuta of Bakare’s early years was an open school and when he moved to Lagos after his secondary education at Lisabi Grammar School, the best of Abeokuta was already in him. He was made of steel, but he did not know it, until the billows of life struck him. As a young lawyer, he worked in the chambers of fiery social critic, Gani Fawehinmi and got inoculated with the germs of fearless advocacy. As a young barrister, he once took on a case involving dispute over a property. One night, the other side struggling with his client approached him with a large sum of money. They wanted him to compromise and lose the case of his client. It was at that moment he discovered he was forged in the furnace of adversity and schooled in the mores of old Abeokuta. He would not bend. The ambassador of evil went back disappointed.
Many years later, he wanted to buy the property in Ogba that was to become the headquarters of his new church, the Latter Rain Assembly. The price being quoted by the agents was far beyond his means and he virtually lost hope. One day, he was approached by some people whom he later discovered were the owners of the property. The were ready for him to pay in instalments. They said many years earlier, they were aware of his refusal to collect bribe in order to compromise the case of his client. They confessed they were the client and now an opportunity had presented itself for his integrity to be rewarded. Bakare was shocked that something that was done in secret was apparently well known by many people. It was a turning point in his career as a pastor.
The Latter Rain Assembly became his bully pulpit to rail against military rule and perceived injustices that rode into town with the coming of civilian dispensations in 1999. He co-founded and led the Save Nigeria Movement dominated by activists and opposition politicians. Then his friend, Mohammadu Buhari, a retired major-general and born-again dictator, wanted to be President and Bakare started seeing vision that he could tame the tiger of politics. In 2011, Buhari picked him as his running mate only to try to jettison him when he found a more robust political bride. The new coalition sent an embassy in Bakare’s pursuit asking him to write a post-dated letter of resignation as the Vice-President of Nigeria. He refused. He said for him to have signed such a letter would negate everything he had learnt on the streets of Abeokuta and the ethos of Christ he has embraced as the road to salvation.
But the vision continued to harass him. One day, he bared all to his congregation at the Citadel. “I am Number 16; Buhari is Number 15!”
He was so sure of his vision that he put down 100 million Naira to seek the nomination of Buhari’s party, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. He lost. I am not sure now whether anyone from Abeokuta or the Citadel voted for him. He soon discovered that what he saw so persistently after all was not a vision but a mirage. That is what afflicts the traveller in the Sahara Desert when the mirage in front always deceives him when the simmering sand of the desert look like the next oasis.
The truth is that our country is in search of such oasis, but it is not Pastor Bakare who is going to lead us there. His failure as a politician does not diminish his greatness or pollute his universal impact as a moral force. Nothing in this world; neither fear nor blandishment, can make him lose his voice in the service of God and humanity. He has travelled a long distance and achieved so much as a lawyer, activist, author and leader. He has earned his celebrations and every accolade we, his friends, have decided to shower him, is justified.
Sharing the moment with him was his wife, Olayide, who was part of the journey when Bakare, like the River Niger was but a small stream, meandering through the gulleys, tumbling through cataracts, struggling through patch land and difficult terrains. Now that it is moving on in full majesty, she has earned her spot. No one has been more consequential than Olayide, except Mama Eebudola, who was there when the Niger River began its journey on the Futa Jallon mountain. Now, Olayide knows that Bakare is now like the mighty Niger He is defining lives and changing destinies.
Despite all his achievements and all the struggles, he has won, no one can keep Bakare out of trouble. This is because, despite his primary calling as a priest, he cannot be indifferent from the politics and public affairs of his country. He loves Nigeria deeply and without reservation. Therefore, for him, troubles still lie ahead. Congratulations Pastor! May your days be long and glorious.
Babarinsa is Chairman, Gaskia Media Ltd, writes from Lagos
