When
it comes to teaching the words of the scripture today, Pastor Tunde
Bakare, no doubt is one Nigerian cleric that has used the Word of God to
change lots of lives.
The celebrated pastor, teacher, mentor and
human right activist who presides over Latter Rain Assembly will clock
the enviable age of 60 on 11th November, 2014. In celebrating the
milestone age, he had an exclusive chat with TheNEWS Magazine of 27th
October, 2014, and he spoke succinctly on the journey of his life.
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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment