FACT CHECK: Did Tunde Bakare endorse Tinubu?

A social media post attributed to Pastor Tunde Bakare, the General Overseer of Citadel Global Community Church has gone viral.

The post claimed Bakare endorsed the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Cleric in the statement shared on his Facebook page described the allegations as absolute lies.

“My attention has been drawn to the viral but concocted and ridiculous statements credited to me, by some unscrupulous writers and bloggers. Amongst other things, I was quoted to have said that the agitations by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), were ploys by the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to force a weak candidate on APC.

“In addition to this, I was alleged to have said that CAN wanted to lure APC into presenting a weak candidate. The spurious writers also alleged that I stressed that Christians are righteous people who behave like Christ, and that CAN are politicians who behave like PDP.

“As if the poorly strewn lies were not enough, I was quoted as saying that Tinubu is my candidate. Isn’t this the same Tinubu that I announced to all and sundry at the APC Presidential Convention that I was not stepping down for? He has suddenly become my candidate!

“I wish to state unequivocally that the statements are absolute lies. There was nowhere I granted anyone any interview or preached on any platform, where I said the ludicrous statements. I challenge anyone who is in possession of the video or audio file of the statements to please put it in the public space.

He noted that he is a nation builder and will not in any way create real or imaginary division among Nigerians through the medium of political parties or religion.

Bakare urged Nigerians to disregard the statements, claiming it does not in any way represent his position