Pastor Tunde Bakare, the senior pastor of Latter Rain Assembly has again shown his penchant for chastity, no doubt he is one Nigerian cleric that has used the Word of God to change lots of lives and a reason he is chosen by Gen. Mohammed Buhari as presidential running mate under CPC in 2011 general election in Nigeria.
In an interview with him by The News, he bared his mind on why he left Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi chamber and other sundry isuues.
Excerpts:
You worked with Gani Fawehinmi and later moved on to establish El-Shaddai Chambers, what happened?
No, I didn’t leave to form El-Shaddai Chambers. I left Chief Gani Fawehinmi and went straight to Chief Rotimi Willaims. I had been part of Gani Fawehinmi’s Chambers since my university days when I was helping him with Law Reports and working at night with Oasis Hotel in Akoka area of Lagos. The Oasis Hotel woman came here for my 40th birthday. Chief Gani Fawehinmi treated me like his own relation and he gave a testimony on my 50th birthday, where he called me a hardworking person and that I have an unquenchable hunger for research. If you see the first copy of Nigerian Law Report, my name was printed there because I went to England to do it for him. However, we were going to Calabar to do a case. He was in the business class of the plane and I was in the economy and he called me by my Muslim name, Sindiku, He said, ‘I’m thinking of marrying a second wife because I want someone very educated as my first wife is not too educated. I want someone who can help co-ordinate my level of activities.’ Then I told him, ‘But sir, I heard from you that you stopped your wife’s education when she was in her A-level because you wanted her to marry you. It would now be injustice to marry another wife because of (her level of) education. Please send her back to school.’
He said, ‘I’m not asking for your advice; I am just informing you, and I looked into his eyes and said, ‘Sorry sir, the day the woman comes in is the day I would leave.’ He joked and called me, ‘Alagidi Talaka’ (Stubborn poor man).’That particular year, I was working in the chambers, he had just paid me my salary: a cheque for #400, and said the woman would be coming later in the day. And I said okay. I took the cheque, enveloped it with a letter of resignation, and told him the cheque was my monthly pay in leu of notice. I had no dime in my pocket when I left him that year. I trekked out of the place and never returned. When he died, the wife saw me and told me she heard the story. In fact, Chief Fawehinmi told my wife inside the plane one day. We entered the first class section; I saw him and we exchanged greetings. He stood up and said, “Your husband is a principled man. Many of my children are Christians today. I watch him on television because I know he talks the talk and walks the walk.’
I left him to join Chief Rotimi’s Chambers. I took the only briefcase I had and when I got to Rotimi Williams, I told him I wanted an opportunity to serve him and he told he was not the one in charge of employment, that it was Chief Bayo Kehinde, who was also a SAN. His twin brother was the then Auditor-General of the Federation. I waited for him to come back and I said to him when he arrived, “Chief Rotimi Williams said you should give me a job.”I didn’t lie. Chief Williams said Chief Kehinde was the one in charge and I told him. He gave me a form to fill; I filled it and my salary was now N510, so I was excited with the increase. On Friday, Chief Williams saw me at the black table and asked, ‘Who are you?’and Chief Kehinde looked at him and said, ‘The man you asked me to give a job.’ He said, ‘Did I tell you that?’and I said, ‘Sir I came here in search of a job and you said Chief Bayo Kehinde is the one in charge. So I assumed you asked me to go and meet him.’ Then he said, ‘You’ve got the job.’
I worked in the chambers for a while, then I got another job in a very interesting manner. I was to represent the Defendant and F.O Bakare was defending the plaintiff. And we ended up in Justice Bakare’s court and he said, ‘F.O Bakare appears for the plaintiff’ and I stood up and was defending the defendant and Justice Bakare said, ‘Bakare against Bakare and to be judged by Bakare! And from the way I handled the case, F.O Bakare said he liked my spirit; that we should work together. So he increased my salary from N510 to N610. I left F.O Bakare’s Chamber in September 1984, though I would not want to state the issue involved, but I preached the gospel and it backfired on me. He was supposed to give me a car loan for my wedding, but he terminated my appointment and that pushed me to my destiny.
