Is popular cleric 'politely' seeking political appointment?

Pastor Tunde Bakare, Lead Pastor of the Latter Rain Assembly is not new in the Nigerian political space.

Having built his career as a Pastor, Lawyer, teacher, and author, most Nigerians were surprised when Pastor Bakare announced his intention to venture into politics.

News broke on January 31, 2011, when General Muhammadu Buhari (then Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, presidential candidate) announced his intention to vie for the post of the president with Pastor Tunde Bakare as his running mate.

The cleric accepted General Buhari's offer and was vocal against the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who was a major contender in the 2011 General elections.

But we all knew how the story ended - Jonathan won the election and was returned elected as Nigeria's president by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Despite the outcome of the election, and merger of the CPC, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) and subsequentemergence of Professor Yemi Osinbajo Buhari's running mate in the 2015 presidential race, the "love" between General Buhari did not grow cold.

ALSO READ: Tunde Bakare advises Nigerians to be patient with Buhari

Bakare, who has been generally away from politics since over one year of the Buhari administration made headlines when he said God instructed him "not to serve in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in it's first two years."

According to The Cable, Bakare noted that many of his church members were mounting pressure on him to join the current administration.

His words: “Here we are today, almost two years into this administration. Many of you were putting pressure on me. Even a retired inspector-general of police wrote to me, he said; ‘Pastor, if you have only served in this government, maybe it would not be like this’.

“And I said to him, ‘God said to me, don’t touch it for the first two years. Don’t go near it, just be praying for them and be watching, and be monitoring the things that are happening’.

“God knows where you should go, when you should go, so stop going aimlessly about. As many as are led by the spirit of God are the sons of God,” the cleric added.

The President Buhari-led administration would be two years in office on May 29, 2017 - that's barely five months from now.

Recall that President Buhari was advised to delay the cabinet shake-up the second anniversary of his inauguration in May.

So, is the popular cleric 'politely' seeking political appointment?

Well, time would tell.