He certainly needs no introduction. In a society where prophets come a dime a dozen these days, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, founder, INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, stands out like a million stars. Where many other prophets have been embarrassed several times by their own incorrect prophecies that have often gone way off target, Primate Ayodele’s reputation remains intact as his consistently accurate prophecies continue to speak for him. Little wonder why he remains one of Nigeria’s most sought-after and revered man of God, despite having been around a lot longer than most of the new generation prophets who strut their stuff around these days. Last week, the City People team led by the Publisher, SEYE KEHINDE, Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL and ADEOLA FAGBIYE, paid the very warm and humble man of God a visit and of course, he had a whole lot to tell us, ranging from the state of the nation, to shocking prophecies of 2018 involving prominent Nigerians.
It was indeed an enriching and revealing session, which by the way, is only a tip of the ice berg as the respected prophet is set to release the full compilation of his prophecies for the coming year 2018 in the next couple of weeks. Please watch out for this in subsequent editions of City People Weekly. Enjoy excerpts of the interview.
Let us begin, sir, with the death of the former vice president, Alex Ekwueme, how do you see his death? I don’t know whether you once predicted about it or maybe you saw it coming..
If you check the last publication of my prophecies in City People, you will find where I specifically warned Alex Ekwueme that he should pray, but sometimes I wonder how people interpret our prophecies. May be they believe that sooner or later the inevitable would happen and perhaps fail to heed to our advice.
But the truth is, the man could’ve lived longer. How about Queen Elizabeth, she is over 90 years old. We have been warning Alex Ekwueme since 2016 till this vey year, that he should pray for protection and longevity of life. It’s all in this book (holds booklet in his hand) on page 13. Apart from Alex Ekwueme, we also warned Tinubu to pray against bereavement, this was also published in your magazine, and it’s just unfortunate that this has also happened with the sad loss of his son.
How about the Anambra elections?
Well, about the Anambra elections, it has been foretold that Obiano would retain his seat. Your paper and several others picked it from my release of prophecies, permit me to quote from Tribune, 27th September, 2017, and it reads: “if Obiano is focused and takes the right steps, he will retain the seat, but not PDP. PDP cannot take over that state, there’s even more hope for APC than PDP.” And it happened that way. APGA came first, and APC second. And it has been foretold, even in my new book, that if Obiano wants to be re-elected, he should not change from APGA to another party. Let me also remind us that we warned Mimiko, not to ever leave his former party, the Labour Party, but he refused. You can see the result when he failed to heed the warnings of the Lord. Please, cross check this in your publication and other publications who published this prophecy at the time.
Obiano listened to the warnings of God, that is why he got re-elected for a second term. The truth is that many politicians do not believe they can win elections through God, they believe they have the money, they believe that people love them and they believe that they can rig. These are the areas where some of our politicians are missing it. If they can turn to God, Nigeria is a blessed country, but we have people who are satanic ruling us, people who don’t fear God, people who hate God. They believe in worshipping idol because of what they want to gain.
How do you see the recent resignation of former Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe?
I will take that from somewhere because when we talk about prophecy, it’s not when something is about to happen, one will now be guessing that this is going to be what’s going to happen. It shouldn’t be that way. This is a 2016-2017 edition of Warnings To The Nation, let me read the part dedicated specifically to Zimbabwe (shows us the page and section dedicated to Zimbabwe among other African nations) and I quote: “Zimbabwe will run into crisis as I foresee a new president.
I foresee that there’ll be a new election in the country. The spirit of God says President Mugabe will not continue in office, the coming elections will be free and fair and I see that Mugabe and his corrupt practices and conduct will be exposed. I foresee protest to remove Mugabe from office,” that’s on page 126.
So, this is a prophecy that’s been made long before now. And that’s what prophecies are about, to tell you about an impending danger or event several months before it will come to pass. Some people believe that you can guess prophecy, that you can do some permutations and guess that, okay, this is what will come out in the coming elections, but it doesn’t work that way. That is not prophecy.
Do you see PDP playing big in the 2019 elections?
If they pick the right person to chairman them, why not? Remember, since 2011, I had been shouting about Jonathan, telling him he shouldn’t do this, he shouldn’t do that. Prophecy will tell you, you shouldn’t do this, if you do, this will be consequence. In one of my prophecies published in your magazine, we said if Jonathan wanted to win in 2015, he should checkmate the wife, do a lot of things for the northerners and also beg Obasanjo, and that Obasanjo will not even listen to him if he fails to do this. It’s a sequence, we didn’t just say there will be no light tomorrow, you have to explain how. You must expatiate on it.
What’s the difference between prophecy and predictions?
Thank you. Prediction is about permutations. Prophecy is when you make prophecy that this is what is going to happen, so says the Lord. In this book, there are prophecies and not predictions. The English football club, West Ham, recently sacked their coach, it’s already here.
Bayern Munich replacing their coach is already published in this book (holds book up). And this book was published in, March 2017, so this is what is called a prophecy. Not when you begin to make permutations when the event is already drawing close and people can see it coming. Long before the elections in America, we have been saying it since last year that the Republicans will take over from the democrats and Donald Trump will win, end of story. So, prophecy is when the Lord speaks to you, that is, He prophesies. But often times the media use the word ‘predictions’ to describe my prophecies, but it is wrong. I prophecy, I don’t predict. The bible says, for those that God loves, He warns. We have kings in the bible that would consult prophets and ask then, what will be the outcome if we go to this war?
And the prophet will say, this is what the Lord of Hosts says, if you want to win this war, fight from this direction. That was why I was merely laughing when people were shouting Nnamdi Kanu, Nnamdi Kanu! I knew that Nnamdi Kanu was going nowhere. I published it then that even if the Igbos will finally actualize Biafra, it is not going to happen now and it’s not Nnamdi Kanu that will actualize it. And that is exactly what has happened now. This was published everywhere.
So, that’s what they call prophecy. When Nigeria lost hope about making it to the World Cup after losing to South Africa 2-0, we were the first to encourage them after the loss to South Africa. The Nigeria Supporters Club were here to seek God’s face on behalf of the Super Eagles of Nigeria. We told them clearly that they should have no fear, that they will qualify. This coming Sunday, they will be here for their thanks giving, to show appreciation to God for answering their prayers.
Sometimes, if you have the wrong person as your prophet, things might not go on right. I may not be your prophet, yet I may have a big church. And let me quickly say this, these days, people don’t go to church because they want to go and celebrate God, they go to church because of the fancy look of the church. They go to church because of the caliber of people that surrounds the minister of God in the church. People no longer go to church because they want to go and serve God.
Please permit me for digressing. It’s like when you’re talking about tithing, it’s in the bible that you should pay your tithe, and there’s a certain quotation that says, ‘test me with this if I will not open the door of blessings for you.’ If anybody accuses me of any of these, I will not reply. There are some things that are best ignored. I’m not replying anybody, I’m not supporting anybody. In my own church, I essentially use my own tithes to help the needy. Every first Sunday of the month, we use our tithes to buy food for the needy, numbering up to 2000 people. This is why I am very conversant with the prices of food commodities in the market.
I know how much they’re selling yam, garri, or rice. I’m not talking about the local rice they’re promoting, because if you ask me, Governor Ambode should be selling that Lake Rice for N2000. It’s too much for N12,000, there’s hunger in the land, people are hungry. Back to tithting, it is supposed to help the less privileged people and take care of them. But pastors have changed the scope now. They say pay your tithe otherwise you will not be pastor’s friend. Some people actually take it that way. Some people don’t even pay their tithes to the church, they meet with the pastor privately and hand over their big tithe to him. Personally, if you give me N100 million or you give me a car of N100 million, I will sell it because all is vanity.
These days, people are serving pastors rather than serving God. Why would you be kneeling down and bowing your head because your pastor is coming? It’s nonsense! And they are all crazy about titles now. I have been telling my members, don’t call me Primate, simply call me by my name. Title is not important to me, what is important is the number of lives I have been able to touch.
Let’s take you back to the prophecies, sir, what do you think are the chances of president Buhari in the coming elections?
President Buhari has to be extremely careful about his second term, if he goes for a second term, he may not finish it. I don’t know what will happen, but they must not toy with Buhari’s life going for a second term. They must not. I’m not against President Buhari, I love him, he’s doing well. But his government is weak.
I was one of the first individuals who first came out to say Buhari cannot fight corruption. When I said it back then, a lot of critics came out to question me. I don’t care about critics. When you’re talking about real prophets, I am not one of these new generation prophets. I have been doing this since the days of Primate Olabayo, Okunzua, late Adewole, Godspower, these are my contemporaries. Thank God City People was part of those who started promoting our prophecies in 1995. If we have not been consistent in what we’re doing, we will not be here. Nobody wants to celebrate a failure. You only celebrate successful people. So, in the world of prophecies, within and outside Nigeria, I am a successful person. That is my line. Miracles happen only through the grace of God.
But the person that started this line of prophecy is Primate Olabayo and I respect him so much. I doff my hat for him. Then, there’s also Prophet Olagunju in Ibadan. Olagunju is not our own contemporary, but he is a real prophet. We also have Church of the Lord, headed by Ositelu. These are the people who have a compendium and notes on prophecies. Mark my words, if Buhari struggles to win election for a second term, he won’t complete that term.
He needs prayers and he must have really wide consultations before contesting for the 2019 elections. Likewise, Atiku, he mustn’t just go into it, he must consult God. For people like El Rufai, it’s not yet time. Rabiu Kwankaso should consult God, same with Attahiru Bafarawa, they both must consult God before going for the presidency. Sule Lamido cannot be president, and same with Peter Fayose, he cannot be President. Makarfi would’ve been another person that could have some chance, but let him seek the face of God before going ahead. Aminu Tambuwal is a potential president, Bukola Saraki is a potential president but he will have so many challenges along the way.
2017 will soon be coming to an end in a few weeks time, Nigerians are eager to know what the next year, 2018, has in store for Nigeria.
For 2018, I will only give you a tip of the iceberg because I will release my full list by the second week of December, but let me just reveal a few prophecies before then. One, Nigerians are still going through a lot of hardship, we’re still in recession, so the government have to do the right thing. Buhari must not take a wrong step that could affect his second term politically, if he does, it will affect him greatly. Let him be very focused.
He must be prayerful for his health. Buhari’s health problems are not yet over. Let us pray not to lose a onetime governor and also a onetime president in the year 2018. Let us also pray against the court martial of a General and I can also see some explosions coming out of Nigeria Customs. But we’re not talking about 2018 now, we’re just doing review. Let’s pray against killing, let’s pray against the outbreak of a serious epidemic, like the Monkey Pox problem we just experienced. Then, Sule Lamido will have challenges. Let’s also pray we don’t lose a very prominent Oba in south-west. Lets pray we don’t lose Niger Emir and Bauchi Emir, we should pray seriously for their health. Sule Gambari, the Emir of Ilorin, too should pray very well.
Then, the Obong of Calabar also should pray for good health. Obi should be prayerful too so that his palace should not be attacked. Some governors who are in PDP should be careful going to APC. APC will have challenges, there will be factions in the party. And I’m still telling you, CPC agenda is still in APC, when the time comes you’re going to see it. And Nigeria is still sitting on a time-bomb and I’m still seeing a referendum in the future. Not Biafra referendum oh. And there will be a lot of agitations about this.
Also, there will be a large influx of illegal fire arms into the country. I also see changes in the Service Chiefs. Before the indictment of Idris, we said it would happen. More rot will be exposed in the Nigeria Police Force in 2018. Let’s pray against flood in Lagos, in Kogi, in Benue, in Plateau and even in some parts of Abuja. We also have to pray that no governor should have health challenges. If the Imo state governor is not careful, PDP may capture the state. So, let’s watch all of these in 2018, soon, the details of all I just told you would be published and released to the public.
What are your impressions of Gov. Ambode.? How strong is he for a second term in office?
How strong is he for a second term?
Well, God has not shown me anything about him, I’m just waiting on the Lord for direction. Anything that God says is what I’m going to say. But what I will just appeal at the moment is, there’s hunger in Lagos. That rice of N12,000, Gov. Ambode should reduce it to N2000, He has the capacity. Let him just do something on that. Stomach infrastructure is needed in Lagos and I know he can do it.
He’s a listening governor. I’m not praising him oh, not at all. He knows I will not praise him. But I beg him in the name of God, that rice, he should reduce it to N2000 for the benefit of the less privileged. This will go a long way because Christmas is approaching now. In fact, if he is able to do this, he will not even need to campaign again for second term. This will keep everybody’s mouth shut. What he’s doing in Lagos we all appreciate it. You know, that’s what we said to Obiano, they should follow up on these instructions and see if they won’t get the desired results. In 2018, I see some changes in the DSS, and I see some indicting documents coming out of the Villa which is going to be scandalous to Buhari’s government.
And if the president is not careful, the cabal in his government will be stronger by the day and they would eventually mislead him. His government might be very weak in 2018 so Buhari must seek the face of God. Terrorism is not yet over in Nigeria until 2022. Let us pray against religious crisis and in the world at large. This can happen anytime. In 2018, Agriculture will receive a major boost from the government and international bodies. Let us also pray that mysterious things don’t happen in Nigeria next year. President Buhari should be very careful of the cabals in his government because they will seize his government and make things fall apart within the government for a while.
(Watch out for full and comprehensive list of prophecies for 2018 in subsequent editions)
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