Speaking in an interview on Arise Television, the Pastor prayed for God to deliver President Buhari from wicked counsels and counsellors who tell him life is sweet and that everything is going fine, without giving him the reports from the streets.

Bakare said “Every Nigerian citizen who has the aspiration to add value to this country is at liberty so to do. It is my fundamental right to run if I chose to. I mean every word I spoke. I cannot fold my hand or say well, let me continue to watch. No. My support for former President Goodluck Jonathan then was more or less based on what the late Obafemi Awolowo said that days would come when someone from a minority will rule this country which happened in the time of Jonathan. I am a citizen of this country, born and bred here by the grace of God and I intend to contribute my quota. It is as a matter of life and death. If we have the right people, I will support them. And if I offer myself and people support me, so be it. I am not taking those words back. I have something to offer my country. But it is all left for my country to say we want you because I cannot impose myself on them. I challenge right-thinking patriots to rise and let us join hands to fix our country. If God designs it that I will be the 16th president in 2023, I’m ready. I’m prepared. I have no word to impress anybody. All I have is quality service and God who took David from the sheepfold to shepherd the nation of Israel has trained me for over 30 years to be able to add my value to this country.  One of the things I pray for President Buhari is that God should deliver him from wicked counsels and counsellors who tell him life is sweet and that everything is going fine but without giving him the reports from the streets.  In 2015, it seemed as if we had a long time. But, four years have gone and we are into the second year of the second term which is going to end soon. Time is going and anyone who is thinking of legacy, it is the best time to go into action – maybe two, or three things which people may see and say in the days of President Buhari, Nigeria took a giant trip in these three areas. Without that, it will just be like he came twice – first as military head of state and second as democratically elected president –  without much being ascribed to him as achievements of his administration. President Buhari still has enough time to leave behind an enduring legacy. He can still do a lot between 2021 and 2022 because 2020 is already running out”

Reacting to Governor Sanwo-Olu’s directive of reopening religious centres for services from August 7, the Pastor asked worshippers not to be “deceived by the government or religious leaders”. 

Pastor Bakare said in an online service “I have to appeal to you once again, please keep safe and do your best to stay alive. Do not let anyone, whether religious leader or governmental leader, to drive you like a sheep to the slaughter.  If they (the government and the disease control authorities) said that the month of August is going to be the peak of the infection, why should they ask people to rush in (re-open the churches) again? Please keep safe and do your best to keep alive by keeping all the necessary rules. We know that by the grace of God this pandemic like the others before it has an expiry date. It shall not see our end. We shall see its end in the mighty name of Jesus.”

Pastor Tunde, who made this known in a short video address posted on the church’s Facebook page on Sunday night, berated church leaders criticising the government over the closure of religious centres while markets have been allowed to open.

He said, “I will like to bring some ethical corrections to some of the lamentations of certain people within the church over the ban of congregational worship in churches while markets and hospitals are allowed to operate. I am so glad that not only churches are prevented from congregating, the mosques also are locked down. The government’s order to open the market for a few days is to prevent hunger, especially in the lives of daily earners because the palliatives by the government cannot go to all citizens in their homes right now. Not only that, but those churches with multiple facilities, rather than their leaders criticising the government should also collaborate with them. They must be prepared to offer some of their halls to government as isolation centres, in support of the efforts of the government. I am not suggesting what we are not prepared to do; we have already done that in our church – we have offered two of our facilities to the Lagos State Government and the private residence we have in Abeokuta, we have offered to the Ogun State Government. Let the church lead in this campaign and support the government, rather than criticising them for all the arduous tasks they are presently confronted with. There is no distance in the spirit and the church is not the building but the saints of God. So, if we cannot congregate because of the lockdown, we can be very effective in our neighbourhood as our brothers’ keepers and at our various workplaces…COVID-19 might have resulted in a lockdown that has made congregational worship impossible for a moment but every home must become more or less a church and every office table and stall must become a pulpit. I am confident that… the church can only be stronger after COVID-19,”