The General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), Pastor Tunde Bakare, has clarified that there was no formal or written agreement between him and the late former President Muhammadu Buhari regarding succession plans.
Speaking during an interview on Politics Today, aired on Channels Television on Monday, Pastor Bakare addressed lingering speculation about an alleged pact that would have seen him take over from Buhari following the end of his presidency in 2023.
“There was no written pact between us,” Bakare stated when asked directly about any such arrangement. He noted that although no official deal existed, there were indications that Buhari saw him as a preferred successor.
“He’s late. I will never say anything unfair about him. But there was a kind of look — ‘you’re one of those I would love to succeed me’ — and he did his best,” Bakare said.
The clergyman, who once served as Buhari’s running mate in the 2011 presidential election under the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), also recalled a meeting convened by Buhari with presidential aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the party’s primaries.
At the meeting, according to Bakare, Buhari gave his blessing for an open contest among aspirants.
“I have allowed governors to choose those who will succeed them or go for a second term. I’m asking you today to freely choose the person I desire to succeed me,” Bakare quoted Buhari as saying.
Bakare, a vocal critic of bad governance and advocate for national restructuring, was among the aspirants who contested the APC presidential ticket in 2022.
