Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, Spiritual head of INRI Evangelical Church, Oke-Afa, Lagos, is known for his fiery, precise and accurate prophecies concerning individuals, communities, governments and nations. In this chat with Senior Correspondent, ARAMIDE OIKELOME, Ayodele, a philanthropist and political analyst, spoke on the true essence of Easter. He also stressed among other things that the on-going National Confab will only address some pertinent issues and then give birth to a bigger conference that will truely salvage Nigeria from its current multifarious challenges. Excerpts:
Ayodele
What does Easter mean to you?
Easter is a period when you fortify yourself spiritually; when you draw closer to God, humble yourself and appropriate the sacrifice of Christ for you on the cross. It is also a time to remember the poor and needy as we look away from self and seek to help the less privileged as we cushion their pains.
If Easter is all about forgetting self and helping the needy, Is it not a contradiction that this season alone, Nigeria has witnessed a lot of deaths, wastage and loss of lives and property?
That has got nothing to do with Easter. All the bomb attacks we see today have been foretold. Even in your paper, we said there would be severe bomb scare in Abuja and other places.
If these incidents had been foretold and Christians prayed to avert these evils, yet they still happened, what could be wrong?
Thank you very much. You know in the Old Testament, we had prophets who foretell a coming disaster. Even when he had prayed against it, if the people concerned did not take the necessary warning and precaution, such a thing would still happen. It is a similar case here. If, as Nigerians, we do not take heed to warnings or pray collectively, how can we overcome? Prophecy is just about having insight into oncoming events. When we see disaster coming, we do our best to pass it across to government through the appropriate media. It is now left for them to take necessary precaution in order to avert the impending danger or calamity. Unfortunately, our government does not have respect for “Thus saith the Lord”. That is just the problem. Not until we put religious sentiments aside, we will not understand what the word of God is all about. When God warns of impending danger, he wants us to act fast so it does happen but unfortunately, most times we despise his instruction.
Aside speaking through the media, what efforts have you made to seek audience with the powers-that-be in order to pass the message across directly? Or, do you consider this government nonchalant or careless with such divine instruction?
The question is: Who do I want to blame for all that is happening? Is it President Jonathan or his aides? Is it the state governors or others? Another question is: Can government do everything? If at all I have audience with Mr. President or any governor, what we discuss is not for public consumption. Meeting with any of them is not something to boast about; it is not an honour. Rather, it confers on us great responsibility. Whichever way, what I know is that the message has been delivered to the appropriate quarters through the media.
But, if it is not yielding the desired results, should we not seek other avenues to pass it across?
That means the security agencies are not doing their work well. No message concerning the security of the nation should be taken for granted by the security officials. It is a privilege when you hear something ahead of time. The warning has gone out; it is now left for the security intelligence to work on it. You don’t need to see me before you act. Take the case of the missing plane for example. When the incident happened, God said to me that we should forget about missing plane because what has happened is part of government’s agenda and there is nothing like plane crash. This we put in the papers but till now, people are speculating that the plane is inside water. How sad! Let me tell you, the missing plane dilemma is part of Malaysian government politics. They have their reason for doing this but it is now left for the Security agency to take necessary action.
Prophecy is to help the nation; it is not to create panic. Oftentimes we read prophecy as if we are reading Shakespeare novel and we give different meaning and interpretations to it. Whenever it comes true, it always gives me sleepless nights. I do not want these negative prophecies to come to pass because it is preventable. Then, as a national prophet, I must admit that one person like Mr. President cannot do everything; all the intelligence and security agencies must also take it seriously and act accordingly.
We have been talking about Boko Haram insurgency since 2002. In fact, we said it that they are still going to launch a deadly attack that will shake the foundation of this nation. I dare say that even with all that has happened; the attack is not over yet. They are still going to do more.
In fact, there are three categories of Boko Haram in this country. If this one leaves, another one will still spring up. They are still going to attack in sensitive areas; hence we have to be cautious and give more attention to prayer.
At this time, God wants us to dedicate May 1 – 7, 2014 to national fasting and prayer in order to avert further calamities. Do not mind whether you are a Christian or Muslim or what have you. Without God, our government cannot fight Boko Haram; we need God’s intervention. These insurgents are not spirits; they are human beings and have infiltrated everywhere. They are in the government, in the security agencies and they have sponsors all over the place. Government must be well informed and then seek divine directive on how to tackle them. Boko Haram agitation is not hinged on President Jonathan’s stay in power alone. If he leaves today, another insurgent group will still spring up. So, I won’t blame him for what is happening.
But a lot of Nigerians believe that Mr. President is not to blame as the Chief Security Officer of this nation?
The truth is that if he leaves office today, another insurgent group will still unleash terror on this nation. This is not the time to blame anyone; rather we should concentrate on how to fight the group and silence them. That is why I disagree with this government when they said that the on-going National Confab must be restricted to certain discussions. Well, they might have said that for security reasons but also, it would have been a good opportunity to understand the mindset of the people and what they really want. As it is now, Nigeria is drifting and we need a lot of prayers in order to bring everyone together again as one united nation. The confab will expose many things but it is just unfortunate that they recycled old hands; the same set of people that have been governing this country and brought us to where we are now are majorly the same set of people that they nominated as delegates to this confab.
This confab will achieve something, but it will birth another bigger confab in the nearest future. In fact, the ongoing confab is not the one that will take Nigeria to its promised land. Nigeria really needs a lot of prayers to overcome its security challenge. I also recommend that a complete overhauling of the security agencies. They should stop recycling old hands and employ fresh hands; people who are ready to fight for the stability of this country. Our current security personnel are doing their best but obviously their best is not good enough so we need to inject fresh blood.
You said earlier on that Mr. President is not to blame for our insecurity challenge….
(Cuts in) Yes! He cannot do it alone. The person in charge of security should have been the person to brief the President on the security situation. Let’s stop blaming Mr. President. The security of this nation is our collective responsibility. I would not blame President Jonathan for what is happening at the moment. The only area where I will blame him is that he should have declared three days of mourning for the victims of Nyanya, Abuja bomb blast. He should have suspended all national activities for at least three days but maybe he could not do that because he does not have good advisers. Aside this, let’s not blame Jonathan for what is happening now.
But people argue that the incumbent President is not like his predecessor, President Obasanjo, and that he lacks the will power to deal with the insurgents and their sponsors. If they are within government, in the security agencies and elsewhere, how come he is not able to deal with them when he knows them?
Let me tell you one thing, I cannot say that Mr. President is weak. It is only God that can say that. The way we look at people is different from the way God sees them. What I can say he has done wrong is that he should have shunned all engagements in honour of the victims of the bomb blast. What happened is not a one man affair. It concerns the entire nation. In fact, he should have visited the families of the deceased to sympathise with them. Leaders in the western world would not have treated such incident lightly.
Is there any hope of possible ceasefire by the Insurgent groups and restoration of peace and stability to the nation?
Nigeria needs divine intervention; so government should invite credible prophets and pastors for a national prayer confab where they can genuinely seek the face of God for help. I know God will hear us if we pray genuinely and in unity. Government should also overhaul the security agencies.
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