A popular Nigerian pastor, Tunde Bakare, has recounted how he converted from Islam to Christianity in the early 70s.
Bakare, who is the founder of The Citadel Global Community Church (formerly Latter Rain Assembly) in Lagos, South West Nigeria, specifically spoke of how he faced persecution after he became a born again Christian.
The cleric, a trained lawyer, shared his experience in an interview with BBC Yoruba, which was monitored by Church Times Nigeria.
He said he was born into a strong Muslim family in Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State, where his grandfather was the first Chief Imam of Sodeke, an area of the town.
He also said his father, Adekunle Bakare, was also committed Muslim.
Pastor Bakare said he started learning the Quran at the age of four and graduated from Koranic recitation in 1967 at 13.
“I had a friend who was a Muslim but had become born again. I was a photographer then. The friend wanted to do baptism and he wanted me to come and take picture of the baptismal service. That was how I went to church,” he said.
“I did not go to church because I had a problem. It was while in the church and the preacher was preaching on the topic ‘Jesus the light of the world’ that I recalled a vision that God had showed me about 10 years ago. That was how I screamed and said in the church, I have seen the light, I have seen the light.”
Bakare said he surrendered to Jesus Christ that day and almost joined the church immediately.
He said however he kept his conversion away from his parents as well as his elder brother with whom he lived at the time but went secretly to the church to learn more about Christianity.
He said after his repeatedly asked God where he was taking him to.
Persecution
Bakare said his persecution began on October 14, 1974 when he was requested to recite the Koranic verses at the Muslim prayers. He said he told the Islamic leaders that he would not do so because he had become a born again Christian.
“I was asked to pack my things and leave the house. That night I slept at the filling station at Alagomeji in Lagos,” he said. “I was beaten by the rain. But God had mercy on me. I went to the church the following day. I was given a small place where I hibernated.”
Bakare explained that it pleased God to make him a Christian at the age of 20 and that for 32 years he has been a pastor.
According to him, those who opposed his conversion at the time have all become Christians. One of them was his mother who had been on pilgrimage to Mecca.
Hard times
Bakare said after conversion he was hit by hard times because at the time he left his brother’s house he had no job. He said he soon began the laundry business.
“I wrote letters to people and asked that they should allow me to come and wash their clothes. I would wash their clothes and iron for them and they will pay me some money, “he said.
According to him, one day while he was washing clothes in one of his clients’ house that he began to sing a song in English.
“The man was shocked when he heard I was singing in English. Out of curiosity, he asked, if I could speak English. I said, yes, that in fact, I had an A in English in my WAEC. That was how he helped me secure a job in First Bank. So working in First Bank was a big relief. I began to have some money. I got a room to myself. And the first thing I laid on the floor of the room was a newspaper somebody gave me.”
Bakare said it was money he got from working with the bank that he used to enrol in a “continuous education” centre to do Advanced Level GCE.
He added that he had a good result and was subsequently admitted to the University of Lagos to read law using the money he earned from the bank to sponsor himself in the first two years.
Bakare said at the university things became difficult at some point that he started washing plates at the Oasis Hotel, close to the university, to make some money. He said he also worked with the Gani Fawehinmi chambers.
Becoming a pastor
Bakare said he had prospered as a lawyer and that it was while practicing that God called him to the ministry.
He further recounted, “My wife said, he did not marry a pastor, that he married a lawyer and was wondering how we were going to survive. The children were already coming. I told her that God who provided for me as a lawyer will also provide for me as a pastor.
“My mother did not find it funny. She said, in the whole village, they used to call her lawyer’s mother. She was now asking what will they now be calling her. I told her they would call her the mother of a pastor because I had already accepted the call to ministry.”
Bakare said, “God has not allowed me to be put to shame since I embraced the gospel.”
