Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has advised former Vice President Atiku Abubakar to consult God before running for presidency in 2019. The Primate warned that if the Waziri Adamawa fails to consult God, he “may not get it right.”
The warning was contained in Ayodele’s 2018 prophecies, where he called on Nigerians to be prayerful. VERA WISDOM recorded the interview
Generally, leaders of most Nigerian Churches are not accountable to their members in terms of income and expenditure but your own approach is different; what is your take on church leaders being accountable to members?
Our own church is what I know: we give account on how much spent, how much we incur, but in other churches, I cannot say much about them. What I know is that in the church where I pastor the people, I give account. I am not even in charge of the funds; it is the people who are in charge that give account of all expenses made in the church. So, if a church leader is not giving account, I don’t know why it is so; they should give the people proper account for they are accountable for what they spent in the church. He also said that what he can do in the church, he goes ahead to do by extending his hand of fellowship to the people who are in need. I don’t like to talk about what I don’t know, but what I know.
Recently, you feasted the widow and this has become your yearly culture; why did you decide to do that in spite of the recession?
We do it because it is a calling on me; we are doing it because it is our other ministry for the widows, and the less privileged, and we have to do this.
Recently, we feasted about 10,000 people from various places and each of our members went round to invite the people, and each of them went home with something. Another one will come up by Easter.
Many are speculating that Atiku may be the PDP candidate for 2019, do you think so?
Atiku should consult God before finally making his decision to contest for presidency because the villa is empty. If the PDP has the right candidate, they will unseat Buhari but if they don’t have Buhari will remain there.
And if Atiku consults God, then he will see the answer.
You said this is the last time Tinubu will play politics, how do you mean?
Tinubu, after 2019 will not continue in politics. He may not be able to go around again.
Is it health wise
He might not continue not because of health, but another leader may take over the leadership of the party.
How do you see ISIS coming into the country?
Yes, Nigerians should pray to God to avert all the calamities coming in the year.
Nigeria is 57, do you think the country is making progress comparing it with other economies in Africa?
Nigeria is a blessed Nation, more blessed than America. Africa as a continent is more blessed than Europe, but because of the mis-management of resources, putting the wrong person in leadership position, that is why a country like Nigeria is having all these setbacks. We are having a lot of setbacks; there is no doubt about that. The fact is who is going to lead us out of this wilderness; it may not be any pastor; it is not APC or PDP, but we need a saviour. He may not be a politician but Nigeria needs a savour. Nigeria is sitting on a time bomb, so the state of the Nation is very bad; we are still in a recession but they tell us that we are no more in recession. Meanwhile there is no light, no good roads and security is also a threat. Expect the government to take the warnings of God, humble themselves, and allow God to draw closer to them. You see that some of them are not godly, they believe in themselves. So, these are some of the things causing so much troubles for the nation. So, Nigeria needs a lot of prayers to be honest with you.
Now PDP, APC, these are the regular parties that we have. If PDP has a problem, we will have problems but the only way out is let God himself do it. The ship of the country is shaking, the ship is in the storm, there is a storm surrounding Nigeria and only God will help us. I know at the appropriate time, something mysterious will happen, and that is the reason why anybody cannot put Nigeria together again. If we go to the original system of government, it is fine.
But not all the agitators will do all of these things but God has a time for everything, in his own appropriate time, it will happen. Nigeria will not break up now but what will lead us to the breaking point is already in the pipeline.
What can we do to checkmate the breaking up of Nigeria?
There is nothing to do to checkmate the breaking up because the breaking up is not now.
So, if anybody is making a noise about breaking up, he is just making a noise.
Many are predicting that the nation’s oil would soon not be able to sustain the nation again; do you have such fears?
In the next 15years, Nigeria oil will dry, we will no longer have the quality type of oil that we need, but God will help us out. If we have the right people to manage it, God will help us with some other mineral resources that we have, if we can harness them.
There seems to be so much disunity among Christians today; what do you think is the problem?
Yes, there is no unity among Christians; the leadership of the current CAN president is another problem, he is weak. I cannot be CAN President, I am not dreaming it. If I see Ayorinde, I will tell him what step to take to put Christianity back to the Lord’s glory. We are talking about Islam, is that what we should be talking about? What is the relation to it, it is just to cause distraction. All the big churches are there; what have they done to benefit the society. They should have collaborated with churches, even building factories, then they will know what to do and how to go about it. But everybody wants to praise himself because of greediness, selfishness on leadership, everybody is just running up and down. Nobody is campaigning about God again but about his own glory. For me, the little I can do, I will do it. You don’t need to put it on somebody, it is not about Islam, just do the right thing. We have the Islamic Bank and where is the Christian Bank. We have Islamic Mosque, where is the Christian Mosque. So, these are just mere excuses; it is not the right thing. Pastors should stop talking but work, get involved in meaningful projects that will benefit the youth in Nigeria.
How do you see the co-existence of Christians and Muslims?
God has never shown me that Nigeria is going to be one religion, so government, anybody trying to do that is causing a problem. That is why I don’t want to listen to what people say, but only to what God says.
What is your advice to Nigerians in the coming year?
Nigerians should draw closer to God and be very prayerful.
|Sun