Pastor Tunde Bakare
In this interview with Adeola Balogun, Nonye Ben-Nwankwo, Pastor Tunde Bakare opens up
On his take on anointing oil
People like to create their own Tunde
Bakare. I love God, I love people, I love the godly and the ungodly and I
try within my God-given ability to teach the truth. The reason I fought
with my friend, Bishop David Oyedepo, and tore his book, I remember
when we resolved this problem in London, we came out of a plane, he took
me aside and said he was angry with me because I tore his book. I said I
didn’t tear your book, I tore my book.
That is fine, you wrote it, I bought it,
so it was my book I tore. I saw errors in that book because he said the
anointing oil is not a symbol of the Holy Spirit that it is the life of
God in a bottle. How can you write that and I would let it pass.
No! If the anointing oil is the Holy
Spirit, then Jesus is a lamb walking on four legs. These are metaphors
and when you have the real, you leave the shadow. Besides it is for the
sick in the New Testament. So, you can anoint the entire church if they
are sick and I would wonder how a sick church can bring healing to a
dying world.
On his participation at the national conference
Number one, I didn’t select myself; I
didn’t force myself on the government. I represented the South-West
geo-political zone. When the elders met, they put my name down. I
pleaded with them that I would not even have the time. But they insisted
that they wanted me there and you don’t reject your elders if they feel
you have something to contribute or they consider that you are
relevant.
Two, while I was still battling with who
will represent me at the conference, the Ogun State Governor, Senator
Ibikunle Amosun, also put forward my name. At that point I decided to
give it a chance. But I gave a condition and that condition was that I
would not take a penny from the conference; I would not be given any
allowance and I wrote a letter to that effect and they replied me. I did
this so that if anything went wrong, I would retain my freedom to
express myself freely. That does not mean others who took the allowance
are bad people. No! We see things from different perspectives. Staying
in Abuja is very expensive. I won’t tell you how much I spent but I
travelled on each occasion with my research team and about three to four
staff and we stayed in a suite which is quite expensive.
On if he has joined politics again
I have never joined politics. I am a
nation builder, I am not a politician. I sleep well, I wake up well. I
have no ambition; there is no desire to be anything in politics. All I
want to see is a nation that works. If you ask me today if I am seeking
any elective office, my answer will be no. I was asked to be a running
mate to Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, I was not looking forward to it at all.
But if I am beckoned upon to do something, I will pray about it and if I
see that it does not negate what I stand for and believe in, why not?
The truth is that if good people don’t participate in politics, then we
will continue to endure the rule of idiots.
On if asked God and was told to go ahead to be Buhari’s running mate
Several times Paul would say in the
Bible that “this is I speaking but not the spirit of God even though I
have the spirit of God in me.” With every sense of modesty, a man like
me would not jump without looking. If you don’t look and you leap, you
can leap into disaster that would backfire on you and everything you
stand for in the society.
When my book is out, it would be clear to all
the process it took for me to be a running mate.
I sat in my house, leading a group
called Arrow Heads which is already public knowledge after Mallam Nasir
El-Rufai wrote about it in his book, ‘Accidental Public Servant.’ We
gathered a group of Nigerians we felt could make a change in our clime.
People like Oby Ezekwesili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Donald Duke, Nasir
El-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, Fola Adeola, Jimi Lawal, Yinka Odumakin, Jimi
Agbaje, Wale Osun and a few others.
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