Founder of Lagos-based church, Latter Rain Assembly, Tunde Bakare, announced yesterday that God told him to run for president.

God, said Bakare, however, has not revealed when to contest for presidency.

Bakare, who is also a renowned social critic, made the announcement during the new year service in his church.

In a rundown of 12 revelations for 2018, Bakare told congregants that God told him not to abandon his political career.

“This twelfth one is a difficult one for me. It may draw excitement or condemnation. I have tried my best to keep it (to myself) but the Holy Spirit will not allow me do so.

“In my study around 4:00am on Sunday morning, God told me ‘you cannot bring your political career to a close; there is still more to do. Run for the presidency. I will do it at the appointed time.”

Bakare, who was running mate to President Muhammadu Buhari on the platform of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the 2011 presidential election, further added he was aware the revelation might prove difficult to actualise.

He, however, said he was unfazed by the challenge, because once God has spoken, it was left for God to make it come to pass.

“Joseph (in the Bible) did not contest an election, yet, he became the prime minister of Egypt.

Why must I worry myself about where to get the resources for the task? Your own duty in this assignment is to pray along with me.

“When it is the appointed time, He (God) will do it. When He tells me the time, you will hear about it,” he stated.

Bakare also prophesied that many political bigwigs in the country will fall “at the feet of women in 2018.”

Without mentioning names, the Pentecostal cleric said some of the most powerful politicians in the country would be replaced.

“In 1998, I told you that I saw your president dying between two women.

“Did it happen? I’m telling you again; some of these political juggernauts will fall at the feet of women and you will see it happen,” he said.

He added that women would break barriers in 2018 in many fields of human endeavours. in Nigeria and globally.

Bakare was born on November 11, 1954, in Ogun state.

Two years after his birth, he lost his father and was primarily raised by his mother, Abigail Eebudola Bakare, who clocked 108 in 2016.

He attended Lisabi Grammar School, Abeokuta, before moving on to University of Lagos, to study law, at a time Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was studying the same course, in the same school.

Bakare once said he had a vision of late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his early years, which highlighted his assignment as a preacher and a voice in Nigeria.

Speaking during his 60th birthday in Lagos, Bakare said: “Chief Obafemi Awolowo was my personal hero.

“I grew up idolising this colossus of a man who, to me, was the quintessence of leadership.

“On April 10, 1967, as a 10-year-old, I had a dream in which I was on a mountain top, seated between Chief Obafemi Awolowo and the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon.

“In this rather mysterious encounter, we were discussing the future of this nation.

“After that experience, a seed of destiny was deposited in me which, although I did not fully understand at the time, I could not deny or shake away.”