Many of my readers would by now have watched Tunde Bakare’s viral video where he came out swinging in defence of Bola Tinubu, and made a number of claims, among which were that some ‘rancorous elements, bitter and resentful noise makers’ Yorubas, ‘who have not achieved as much as Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has achieved’ had sent someone to him, and they included his name in a list of participants in a conference without asking him, and that the conference was being backed by two sworn enemies.
His exact words were “when Pilate and Herod agreed, it is because they wanted to kill Jesus. Who do you want to kill? I reason straight from Scripture.”
If he had stopped at ‘who do you want to kill’, then I would have held my peace. But by saying ‘I reason straight from Scripture’, he libelled Scripture, and I for one will not let that pass, lest younger believers are misled by this untruth.
He claims that if two enemies come together, then it means they want to kill Christ. He gives Scriptural backing to it, saying Pilate and Herod were enemies, that only came together because they wanted to kill Christ.
That alone is evidence of Bakare’s shallow grasp of Scripture. Like many Nigerian big men of God, Bakare is blessed with oratorical skills and a firm grasp of the art of persuasion, with which he uses to beguile our people, who hardly read Scripture to verify what they are told, but just eat up slop dished out to them from the pulpit.
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His use of clever, sleek, highfalutin, but inaccurate arguments, has the capacity of deceiving the body of Christ, even if that may or may not be his intention.
Pilate never wanted to kill Christ. As a matter of fact John 19:12 says:
“From then on, Pilate tried to set Yeshua (Jesus) free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”
Pilate actually wanted to free Christ and indicated his desire, but was firmly resisted by the Jews. We see that in Matthew 27:23:
“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate. But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”.
In fact, both Herod and Pilate did not want to kill Christ. We see that in Luke 23:14-15
“You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. NEITHER HAS HEROD, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.”
When Pilate was pushed to the wall by their threat to report him to the Emperor l, and could not prevail against the Jews, Scripture records the following:
“When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”-Matthew 27:24.
I think Pastor Tunde Bakare is probably confusing Herod Archelaus with his father, Herod the Great, who wanted to kill Christ, but died in 4 BC, when Christ was 4, at which point, Joseph and Mary brought Him back from Egypt, from where they had taken him after they were warned by an angel.
That Herod (who murdered all the children of Bethlehem, from two years under) did not live to meet Pontius Pilate. He had no agreement with Pilate.
Tunde Bakare has such a limited grasp of Scripture. And his congregation would not know it, because by and large, many Nigerian Christians are very unlike the Berean Christians of which Scripture said:
“Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”-Acts 17:11.
As far as many African Christians are concerned, if it comes out of the mouth of our pastor, it is true. Mesmerise them with big grammar, and they fall in love with you and out of love with Scripture and its author!
What we saw with Tunde Bakare was an attempt to bend Scripture to suit his bias, rather than to bend his bias to suit Scripture.
And let us for the sake of argument agree that Herod and Pilate wanted to kill Christ (they did not), Is Bola Tinubu Christ?
Scripture asks us to make peace with our enemies (Follow peace with all men-Hebrews 12:14). That is what these two former enemies are doing (I know their identities, but I promised not to reveal it).
Bakare is not a stable fellow. This is a man of God, who preached in October of 2019 as follows:
“That’s why potholes are killing you, that’s what pools of water…you can’t drive now anymore because what is meant for road has been stolen since democracy began, they are living larger than life having jets here, having jets there, HAVING HOUSE IN BOURDILLON, having house in this place, having house in that place, having house in every place at the expense of the public. You will not go without vomiting what you have stolen. Wait, and see. Because a king will reign in righteousness and princes will rule with justice. Unfortunately, Nigeria people, you celebrate your villains and crucify your heroes.”
And now, barely a year later, he has now become Voltron, The Defender of those who have “HOUSE IN BOURDILLON”? What a shifty character!
Tunde Bakare is one of those who feed the false stereotype that the Yoruba are unreliable backstabbers. That stereotype is not true because some of the most reliable Nigerians have been Yoruba, including President Obasanjo himself (a man who, unlike what Bakare said, has achieved more in life than Bola Tinubu can ever dream of achieving), who returned from Copenhagen to clear his name of coup plotting charges levelled against him by Abacha, Tunde Idiagbon, who returned from Mecca after he and Buhari were overthrown by Babangida, and Adekunle Fajuyi, who chose death, rather than abandon and betray Aguiyi-Ironsi.
But enemies of the Yoruba will point to characters like Tunde Bakare, who are unreliable, shifty, double-tongued, and cannot be counted on to say the same thing today and tomorrow, as specimens for that false stereotype of the Yoruba.
Take a stand and stick to it. Scripture says “Likewise must the deacons be grave, not DOUBLETONGUED, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre.”-1 Timothy 3:8.
Note that word “double tongued”. That fits Tunde Bakare to a T. The man cannot take a stand and stick to it. That is why he has become a figure of fun amongst Buhari’s inner circle, who mockingly call him ‘Number 16’ behind his back (a reference to his laughable claim that God told him he would succeed General Buhari). I am aware. I have my informants.
I ceased taking Pastor Tunde Bakare seriously ever since he lied against the Holy Ghost by prophesying (wrongly) that “Let me tell you the truth by the spirit of God, neither OBJ, Atiku, IBB and this tall one, Buhari are part of the new. They are part of the old that is decaying. That old one is passing away. The new is emerging and these ones are not part of that new.”
For those who do not know, Pastor Tunde Bakare made the above statement in an October 2, 2006 interview he granted to the Punch Newspapers. Please research it.
It is now a historical record that after claiming that God’s Holy Spirit told him Muhammadu Buhari was part of Nigeria’s decaying past, the same Pastor Tunde Bakare went ahead to accept to be the running mate of the Muhammadu Buhari who was ‘not part of the new’ in 2011.
Perhaps only in Nigeria would such a character continue to parade himself as a pastor. It is as Karl Marx said, “religion is the opium of the people” and Bakare sure knows how to feed that addiction.
The Bible clearly tells us two things about the Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 12:32, Christ, the Son of God said “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Bakare clearly lied against the Holy Spirit of God because his so called word “by the Spirit of God”, DID NOT come to pass.
1 Corinthians 14:33 further tells us that “God is not the author of confusion.”
If a man can lie against God, is it man that he cannot lie against? I wonder why Nigerians continue to take people like Bakare and Mbaka seriously!
Did Bakare not say “I have never said that to you before. I make it plain this morning, I let you know it this morning, nothing can change it in the name of Jesus. He (Buhari) is number 15, I am number 16”?
If God actually told him that, why is he campaigning for Bola Tinubu today?
And you can imagine him accusing eminent Yoruba elite of making “rancorous noise”? What nonsense!
It is just his luck that Nigerians have short memories. Is this not the same Bakare that prophesied on March 7, 1999 that Obasanjo was going to die before he was sworn in as Nigeria’s President?
His exact words were “Obasanjo is not your messiah. He is King Agag and the prophetic axe will fall upon his head before May 29.”
When he was questioned about the failure of his ‘prophecy’, Bakare said “If I gave a false prophecy, why did Obasanjo invite a thousand pastors to Ota to start praying for intervention?”
I know for a fact that President Obasanjo did NOT invite a thousand pastors to Ota. Again, Bakare lied.
Twenty one years later, Obasanjo is still alive and is still making news, while Tunde Bakare is still making noise!
We remember all the nasty things he said about Bishop David Oyedepo, when he publicly tore Bishop Oyedepo’s book. Who does this fellow thinks he is? Today, in terms of integrity, credibility, and morality, Bishop Oyedepo, whose book he tore, stands head and shoulder above him.
Oyedepo will certainly not be caught dead eulogising a man whose house was photographed receiving bullion vans on the eve of an election! Never!
Tunde Bakare is a guesser, not a prophet. And like any guesser, some of the rubbish he speaks will come to pass, because a broken clock will automatically be right twice a day. But those who still believe in him and believe him, should read Deuteronomy18:22:
“If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.”
Reno Omokri
Gospeller. Deep Thinker. #1 Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years. Avid traveller. Hollywood Magazine Film Festival Humanitarian of the Year, 2019.