The race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, who is yet to commence his second term, has begun in earnest.

The Senior Pastor of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare Saturday said he would contest for the presidency after the expiration of Buhari’s second term in 2023.

Bakare made his interest known at a session with journalists in Lagos after casting his vote at the Opebi Grammar School polling unit, noting that he had made up his mind to join the race.

He said, “I am going to throw my hat into the fray. I am just waiting for President Buhari to finish his tenure (in 2023). We cannot continue this way because we have something to offer this country, and we will by the grace of God.”

Bakare, who said he was desirous of making Nigeria one of the greatest countries, said he looked forward to a future where every Nigerian vote would count.

The pastor who was Buhari’s vice-presidential candidate in the 2011 presidential elections, said he would continue to pray for the day when every Nigerian would come out and make their votes count.

He urged Nigerians not to allow themselves to be deceived by ‘stomach infrastructure’ when the needed infrastructure in their communities had decayed.

Bakare’s declaration for the 2023 presidential contest would bring him in collision with the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Tinubu, former governor of Lagos State, has not hidden interest in the 2023 presidential contest. Tinubu’s presidential aspiration, it was alleged, the root cause of the rift in the APC chapters in Ogun, Oyo, Imo, Ondo and Osun, among others.

Beside Tinubu, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and the Minister for Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola have been among the presidential aspirants that will come from the South-west.

•Extracted from THISDAY report