Pastor Tunde Bakare, former vice presidential candidate and serving overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church (CGCC), has dispelled reports credited to him that he Presi­dent Muhammadu Buhari as president in 2023.

Speaking exclusively with Daily Independent, Bakare, who was a running mate to President Buhari in the 2011 presidential election on the platform of the defunct Con­gress for Progressives Change (CPC), said his position on the outcome of the just conclud­ed presidential election in the United States of America (USA), which was won by Joe Biden, was misconstrued by the media.

He said: “I’ve realised that the Nigerian press, some­times for the sake of their sale, use headlines that, when you read the entire story, you will be wondering, ‘what has this title got to do with this?’

“I can’t stop the press from doing whatever they will with what I said, but I will say to you that there is a difference between ambition and a vision that is clear to you. The com­panion of ambition is anxiety.

“You’ve been trying to scheme to make it happen, you pursue it and so on, but if it is a clear vision from heaven and it is clear in your spirit, it’s a question of time.

“Whoever is going to deal with God must have to be patient. The vision upon my head, like Daniel will say, I saw in 1967.

“It is not today. Go and interview some of my class­mates in secondary school, they will tell you that I shared it with them.

“Speak to my wife also. Be­fore I proposed to her, I spoke about it also.

“That was probably one of the reasons he encouraged me to step in when President Bu­hari asked me to be his run­ning mate. I don’t want you to continue asking people.”

Bakare, who said he does not belong to any political par­ty at the moment, said howev­er he had a significant role to play in the emergence of the 16th president of Nigeria in 2023.

“My destiny is intertwined with that of Nigeria. By the grace of God, I have a role to play.

“When I wrote the book on my mum titled, ‘The Woman Who Saw the Future’, page 85 of that book says: ‘By the time the 16th president will come into manifestation, I have a significant role to play and it is a role of destiny. I shared it with Mr. President himself.

“There is no place where the president and I sat down and said, ‘Oh, you will succeed me in 2023’.

“And I’ve not openly, any­where, joined a political par­ty and say this is the political party I’m going to use; neither have I put any structure in place.

“But I do know this, if God said to Samuel, to the House of Jesse, anoint one of his sons, I have provided myself a king in his house, King Saul can do whatever he wants to do, God has already said good­bye.

“All the Adonijahs of this world can have war chests and buy chariots to become the next king after David, if it belongs to Solomon, they may not invite him to their party.

“They will hail Adonijah and say ‘Hail King Adonijah’ before he will know that Sol­omon is the preferred choice.

“If it’s true or false, it’s a question of time. Be patient! These things will come into manifestations in the days to come.

“I believe very strongly that God is raising me to shep­herd this nation just as I have shepherded the church.

“I can’t wait to step into the fray, add my own quota alongside other people, men and women of goodwill who want Nigeria to stop being a potentially great nation, to work for that great nation to manifest. Responsibility is a price of greatness and if we are responsible, we should think deep alongside others and create a blueprint that will transform Nigeria.”

While clarifying his state­ment on Joe Biden’s emer­gence, Bakare said he was merely emphasising the fact that nobody should be written off in a contest.

According to him, “I said, look at Joe Biden. Everyone more or less, wrote him off.

“They called him Sleepy Joe. They said he even made a blunder choosing a black lady (Kamala Harris) who joined lesbians together as husband and wife as his running mate. So, Biden had lost that elec­tion before it happened.

“Many churches also stood by Donald Trump saying he will win a second term.

“Joe Biden looked harm­less but he won the election. Go and investigate, the bulk of the voters are young people.

“God will raise young princes of this nation who will do what is right very soon. That is the context in which I narrated what I said.

“I have no relationship with Joe Biden or with Don­ald Trump, but we know that whatever happens in America can have a domino effect on the entire world.

“So, if Joe Biden who no­body thought could muster any serious support ended up with the number of mil­lions of votes he got, then we have to be careful in writing people off.

“Although Biden had unique experience, not only as a senator but also as a for­mer vice president for eight years and he has attempted these thrice, he lost the pri­mary twice.

“When the time comes, he has it. President Buhari tried three different times until he got it the fourth time.”

Also, speaking on restruc­turing, Bakare who advocated geo-economic restructuring with emphasis on devolution of powers said the APC-led Federal Government owes Nigerians explanation why it has failed to implement the report of APC Committee on True Federalism headed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

“Well, they have done something on restructuring but not as much as one would have expected. But you cannot say they’ve not done anything because under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, the Nasir El-Rufai committee was formed to look into the issue of true federal­ism and restructuring.

“They made fantastic, for­midable recommendations to the government and to APC. Why the government has not implemented it and what is hindering them, they will have the questions to answer in the days to come. But they still have the oppor­tunity within the next one or two years because there is no army that is as powerful as an idea whose time has come.

“I’m emphasising geo-eco­nomic restructuring so that we don’t put the cart before the horse. Let us begin with the devolution of powers. Let us make the centre less attrac­tive, not weak, strong state and strong centre. And states that have commonalities in culture, ethnicity, language and proximity can come to­gether and form geo-political zones without disrupting the structure. But let them put their resources together to develop their own area.

“Nigeria needs redemption right now and we are praying to God so that it can be prop­erly restructured and it can be better than it ever was in our trajectory”, he said.

Industry stakeholders, yesterday, expressed concerns over the state of Nigeria’s petroleum downstream and of other African countries in the face of emerging global issues.

With over $30 billion yearly import of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) into Nigeria alone, the stakeholders insisted that environmental and health challenges of imported petroleum products, closure of refineries across the world, logistic challenges, import of used cars and other emerging issues could double existing challenges in the country.

They argued that these developments can spike energy security problems amid growing poverty, poor capacity utilisation of existing refineries and low investment appetite for fossil fuel related projects.

The experts spoke at a webinar hosted by the University of Port Harcourt, in conjunction with Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers (NSChE), as part of the activities marking the 5th International Conference on Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals. The keynote speaker, who is the Executive Secretary, African Refiners and Distributors Association (ARA), Anibor Kragha, speaking on “Getting the Petroleum Refineries Back on Stream: Sustainability and Socio-Economic Considerations,” said populations explosion will force Africa to target sustainable financing options to build refineries and transport infrastructure.

Kragha disclosed that investors were getting worried about investing in capital-intensive fossil fuel industry, which requires high operational & HSEQ performance amid volatile, internationally impacted margins, high regulatory and country risk and potential conflicts with global climate change policies

He insisted that Africa needs a unique sustainable financing and energy transition to produce and distribute cleaner fuels in line with global standards, safe, secure, economic and efficient petroleum supply chain as well as concerted efforts towards global climate change policies for alternative fuels. He said Africa has no option than to reduce Sulphur in petroleum products to 10 parts per million (ppm) as well as a greater vehicle control system to phase out abandoned vehicles.

To him, efficient, safe, sustainable and economic refinery operations will provide significant positive, multiplier socio-economic benefits to Nigeria and other countries.

Kragha added that rigorous analysis of investments, risks and socio-economic benefits remained essential to attract financing for African refinery and downstream projects, adding that government support, particularly fiscal and regulatory certainty, is required to attract requisite brownfield and greenfield refinery investments

“African countries must follow natural supply chains to promote regional investments and harmonize product quality as well as tariffs to encourage free trade,” he said.

The Conference Chairman, Tony Ogbuigwe, said peak oil would be sooner than expected, stressing that prevailing challenges have changed the industry’s outlook, especially demand for oil.

Apart from the challenges posed by COVID-19, emerging issues such climate change, electric vehicles and other actions have created disturbing situations leading to closure of refineries across the world. He said it remained pitiable that Nigeria spends as much as $30 billion yearly in importing petroleum products in the face of low utilisation of refineries.

He insisted that Nigeria and other Africa countries must build new refineries and ramp up utilization or risk energy security issues.
Canvassing a robust refining and petrochemical sector, Ogbuigwe said Nigeria needs to release the potential of existing refineries by adopting an Independent Joint Venture (IJV) model.

He urged the government to divest 51 per cent equity or more of its present stake to private sector core investors, as proposed in the current PIB.

To address ‘dirty fuel’ issues in the sector, he encouraged private investors to invest in hydrodesulphurization to meet extant regulations, and enable the product to be sold across the region.

In his opening remark, the Chief Host and Acting Vice Chancellor, University of Port Harcourt, Prof. Stephen Okodudu, said while Nigeria is a leading producer, it remained sad that it continues to import refined products.

Stressing the need to change the narrative, he charged stakeholders to do everything possible to ensure that the country becomes self-sufficient in refined petroleum products.

Okodudu said giving its dynamics; the university is doing everything possible to build capacity in the downstream sector through a series of programmes.

National President, Nigeria Society of Chemical Engineers, Onochie Anyaoku, said the country needs to examine and initiate actionable solutions to reposition the oil and gas value chain.

To him, the window of opportunity in the sector is fast closing as investment in fossil fuels is drying up. He said outlook for energy demand and mix clearly indicates that Nigeria has at best a 10-year investment window to harness resources in the sector or otherwise remain underdeveloped, and called for a blueprint to confront the government and other policymakers to act fast in harnessing the sector’s potential.

Former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has promised Nigerians that if he yields to the clarion call by some Nigerians to contest presidency and wins, he would ensure that the perceived political “unbalanced equation” of things in all parts of the country is “balanced.”

The senator, representing Imo West Senatorial District, disclosed this, yesterday, at his residence at Spibat, in Owerri capital city, when a South-East-based political pressure group, known as Igbo for Rochas Movement 2023, led by Jeff Nwoha, staged a call of beckoning for him to contest for the presidency in 2023.

According to the former two-term governor of Imo State, Nigeria needs to be fixed to bring it on track. He said that there was need for the country to be on the right pedestal.

“It is a wake up call to balance this unbalanced equation in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“Nigeria can only vote for person that can guarantee peace and unity of Nigeria. If I must run, it is not for the profit of the job, but for peace. If I must run, there will be free education. If there is any problem, I have the capacity to fix it,” he said.

Okorocha said that his offering of free education for the less fortunate, had made 6,000 to graduate and 25,000 undergoing training in Foundation Colleges.

THE worsening insecurity in the country has taken another dimension with more killings and abductions.

Suspected bandits abducted 12 senior police officers who were travelling to Zamfara State from Borno State.

The incident occurred along the Katsina-Zamfara highway about two weeks ago, the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported yesterday.

Police spokesman Frank Mba did not respond to calls and messages to his cellphone to confirm the incident.

The officers, all Assistant Superintendents of Police, were on their way to carry out a special assignment, the report said.

It was gathered that the kidnappers have demanded N800, 000 for each of the victims.

The wife of one of the victims said her husband had called to inform her of the abduction.

The abducted officer had reportedly instructed his wife to sell his house to raise the money.

The woman said she knew the families of eight other abducted officers.

The Katsina State Police Command said it is investigating the abduction.

Its spokesman Gambo Isah told our correspondent: “The Commissioner of Police Sunusi Buba has already ordered a thorough investigation, to find out where it happened and when it happened if it actually happened. We are not yet very sure of the facts.”

The Zamfara State Police Command spokesman Muhammad Shehu said they had no report of any such abduction.

16 killed in Kaduna

Gunmen have killed 16 persons in Kaduna State in the past three days, the Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said.

According to him, many were injured when gunmen attacked Giwa, Zangon Kataf, Igabi and Kajuru local government areas between Sunday and yesterday.

He said the District Head of Gidan Zaki in Zangon Kataf Local Government Area (LGA), Haruna Kuye, and his son, Destiny, were killed at home early yesterday.

The deceased district head’s daughter and widow sustained machete and gunshot wounds. The gunmen also abducted many others.

Aruwan said two persons were killed when assailants attacked Fatika, Kaya and Yakawada villages in Giwa local government area.

The commissioner added that 11 persons were killed in Monday’s attack at Albasu village in Igabi LGA.

He urged citizens to contact the government with information that could lead to the arrest of the assailants on 09034000060 or 08170189999, or via email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The commissioner said the military under the auspices of Operation Safe Haven informed the Kaduna State Government of the killings.

“The security report further stated that the act was carried out by about five men wielding AK-47 rifles and machetes, who also tried to burn the house and a vehicle.

“Three empty cases and a live round of 7.62mm special ammunition were recovered at the scene.

“Troops in collaboration with other security agencies are carrying out investigations and trailing the assailants,” Aruwan said.