By IKEDDY ISIGUZO

THE prominent person in the N150m demand to import Chinese trumpets is not even a member of Primate Elijah Ayodele’s INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church located in Oke-Afa, Lagos. Please note this moot point on the expansive reaches of the religion enterprise.

In fact, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who is the complainant in the matter, before the Department of State Service (DSS) is a devout Muslim who incidentally was in a mosque while on pilgrimage in Mecca, when Ayodele allegedly pestered him with calls and text messages last April.

Though Adelabu told the Primate that he was in a mosque in Mecca, Ayodele advised the complainant on what Muslim prayer to say and how to render the supplications to the Almighty, “recite almu nasira 200 times”. This should be noted as cross-cutting industry expertise, and it should count.

In messages that are in the public space, the Primate told Adelabu that he had been a person of peculiar interest to him, since his days as Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, a position Adelabu held from 2014-2018.

Ayodele detailed attempts he made to reach Adelabu, a grandson of prominent First Republic politician, Adegoke Adelabu.

The Primate’s proposal was clear and direct. He would help Adelabu to victory in the 2027 Oyo State governorship election. Adelabu’s two previous efforts failed.

Bolaji Tunji, Adelabu’s Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations, in a 13 October 2025 petition to the Director-General of the Department of State Services, DSS, stated: “I write to formally draw the attention of the Department of State Services (DSS) to the extortive, deceitful, and inciting activities of one self-acclaimed pastor known as Primate Elijah Ayodele, of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, whose actions have become not only personally distressing to the Honourable Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, but also capable of disturbing public peace and undermining the integrity of the political process in Oyo State.

“Since his tenure as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and particularly in the period leading up to his current aspiration to serve as the Governor of Oyo State, this individual had persistently approached him with unsolicited offers of “spiritual intercession,” to guarantee Adelabu’s success at the polls.

The Primate asked for 24 APC flags and 1,000 pieces of saxophones/trumpets for the prayer. The fairly used Nigerian-grade musical instruments would cost N50m, and the imported grade-one from China costing N130 million. Nobody needed to be advised that the Almighty could be best worshipped with first grade instruments.

“Sir, I don’t do this, but because of the love I have for you,” the Primate’s text message read. “I have divine advice for you sir, which can help a lot sir, kindly pick my call.”

When the Minister did not patronise him, the Primate, according to the petition, told his congregation that Adelabu would not become Oyo Governor.

Continued the petition, under the guise of procuring spiritual favour for the Minister, the Primate “had on several occasions demanded huge sums of money and expensive spiritual items, cumulatively amounting to over N150 million (one hundred and fifty million naira), as purported prerequisites for divine favour.

“Following the Honourable Minister’s refusal to accede to his extortionate demands, Primate Ayodele has embarked on a campaign of malicious and false prophecies targeted at discrediting him publicly. He has gone as far as declaring through various media channels that ‘God told him he will not win the election’ and has recently made more provocative and inciting statements suggesting that he would fail because of his association with the ‘Èmi Lòkan’ slogan (“It’s my turn”).

“I therefore urge the Department of State Services to kindly investigate the activities of the said Pastor Ayodele for extortion, blackmail, and deliberate dissemination of false and inciting information; compel him to retract his false prophecies and issue a formal written apology; and bring him under the force of the law, in accordance with relevant provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and Criminal Code, to deter similar fraudulent religious practices in the future,” the petition concluded.

“I didn’t blackmail him. We didn’t have any transaction. Again, no money was exchanged between us,” the Primate countered.

“I discussed some terms with him, which he didn’t agree with. I didn’t make any attempt to extort him. I can sell my services for any amount. I can value it at N1 billion as much as I provide the value he wants. It’s nobody’s business. Why did you come to me in the first place if you didn’t believe in me? What are you doing with someone you claim is dishing out fake prophesies? He should say anything he likes.”

“I’m big. I’m not poor. I take care of vulnerable people. I’m blessed in the Lord,” Ayodele told TheCable.

Ayodele has severally been accused of merchandising his predictions that deal mostly with politicians.

“See, I have seen money; God has blessed me there is nothing I want again in life; I have cars, I have driven different cars, and I think the only thing I want is a helicopter or a plane. I feel for the needy but instead of me to use that money to buy a plane, I would rather use the money to take care of the widows, orphans, and vulnerable children,” Ayodele said, in a September 2024 interview with The Punch, while reacting to insinuations that his predictions were for sale.

With prophets and primates directing the electoral space, where would the will of the people count? Our lean foreign exchange earnings are also dispersed in importing spiritual materials from China. We cannot manufacture “spiritual materials”.

DSS will be tasked to use this petition to “deter” other practitioners of spiritual businesses that plan schemes to discomfort innocent people like the Minister.

Could the Primate’s distraction have impacted the pathetic situation with electricity supply? This aspect of the investigation would interest the public who the Minister is supposed to serve.

Finally…

ALIKO Dangote does not know how to fight. Rather, the richest man in Africa is a rough fight – no concealed punches, a thrower of round houses that can leave his flanks bare. He does not care if he breaks an arm delivering a knock-out. Two oil and gas sector regulatory chiefs have lost their jobs over Dangote’s allegations against them. The more striking of these was about expenditure of more than $5m spent as schools fees abroad. Unless Dangote has more in his gloves, he must, he could wear himself out in what would be a long-drawn battle in a sector where corruption is expected, if not accepted. The public appears to be massively on Dangote’s side who they see as a saviour, no longer a monopolist, because of his refinery that has stabilised the price of fuel.

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fallen into a habit of starting small fights, stirring controversies as covers for bigger matter that are yearning for his attention. What did his ADC Colonel Nurudeen Alowonle Yusuf do in less than one year to merit a promotion to Brigadier-General? He was decorated as a Colonel only on 9 January 2025. The military hierarchy is said to have in many words told their Commander-in-Chief that the promotion should be cancelled. In fairness to Tinubu, Nigerians did not understand what he meant when the ADC was decorated in January. “He is worthy of the promotion, and I am very happy for him. Nurudeen is a diligent and reliable officer with the right temperament. I believe he will go farther and farther in his profession,” Tinubu had said at the event.

ARE the abducted students of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State still “doing fine and will be back soon”, as the National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu described their plight in the early days of their kidnap? The children have reportedly been released “after intense negotiations”, 28 days after they were taken away.

SENATOR Ireti Kingibe’s motion to call Nyesom Wike's attention to the deteriorating sanitary conditions of the Federal Capital Territory was declared technically flawed at the Senate and had to be withdrawn. Wike, his supporters say, is doing well, whatever he is doing, however he is doing it.

•ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues.

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