The Senior Pastor and General Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has claimed that the major interest behind the United States President, Donald Trump’s recent redesignation of Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” and was the country’s oil wealth.
Bakare, who made the assertion during a State of the Nation at Church on Sunday, insisted that the Trump administration considers Nigeria’s oil wealth, other mineral resources and critical sectors such as real estate as central to its agenda.
He noted that Trump was also keen on controlling Nigeria’s role in the value chain of emerging technologies, a development he described as major pillars of the American leader’s foreign and economic policy.
He stressed that so far, Trump has signalled a particular interest Trump in Nigeria which he linked to Middle East politics, oil and gas, real estate, and the country’s expanding technology sector.
“It is clear to us that President Donald Trump was going to have a particular interest in Nigeria. Nigeria’s oil wealth and other mineral resources will be critical to the Trump presidency, as will our role in the value chain of emerging technologies,” he stated.
Pastor Bakare recalled that shortly after Trump won the 2024 US election, he received a vision in which the American leader arrived in Sabo, Yaba, Lagos, aboard Air Force One, dressed in Arabian thobe and ghutra and declared:
“We are here now.”
According to Bakare, that revelation showed that the symbolic attire Trump wore in the vision pointed to religious implications that could spark tensions if not properly managed.
“Trump’s Muslim attire was a clear indication that his interest in Nigeria could have serious religious implications, such that could cause religiously motivated social unrest,” he said.
Bakare labelled Trump’s leadership as style transactional and advised the Nigerian government to respond with a structured economic plan.
“President Donald Trump has proven to be a transactional leader whose threats are usually invitations to the negotiating table.
“The Nigerian government should present the United States with a mutually beneficial business proposal, one that will facilitate US business interests while guaranteeing Nigeria’s security, educational development, industrialisation and access to cutting-edge technologies,” he urged.
