Why I stopped Visiting Buhari – Tunde Bakare

• “I had in mind to help Nigeria but when Awolowo could not become the president, as a good person, I washed my hands off”

Tunde Bakare, overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, formerly known as Latter Rain Assembly, has disclosed when he stopped his trips to Abuja to visit President Muhammadu Buhari.

Bakare was Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 presidential election — the duo contested on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).

Speaking with BBC Yoruba, Bakare said he stayed away from Buhari because he (Buhari) did not listen to his ideas and ignored his advices on how to move the country forward.

Nigerian leaders are corrupt and have steered the country to its current state, noting that things had worsened under Buhari.

He said many people voted for Buhari because they thought that, as a former military leader, he would understand the nation’s predicaments and would be able to lead the country on the right path.

“Things have turned upside down. They say the elders are the ones disrupting the nation, but it started with the youths. The coup plotters in the military — there are people that were 20 years old, 30 years old — they are the ones that brought us to where we are. They brought us here before they grew old in the job and refused to leave,” Bakare said.

“If a military takes over a country, they won’t leave until things become bad. They will plunder every conceivable object is gone. However, there are still good ones among the bad eggs.

“Our leaders are corrupt. Let’s assume the military destroyed the government, what happened to our civilian government? Although many of them moved from the military, we still don’t know if we are in a military or civilian era. Nigeria will continue to deteriorate unless we turn around and make amends and ask those stronger than us to help us

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“I was in my house when I started the Save Nigeria Group. It was to help the country. I never knew Jonathan or Yar’Adua. God only showed me a vision and I started moving around, saying ‘do not let Nigeria go bad’. Professor Wole Soyinka, Akinrinade, renowned people of Yoruba extraction joined us.

“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 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”