INSIDE CHURCH THIS SUNDAY: The man Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele: The fulfillment of a dream

By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor

By being exceptional as Servant of the Most High God, Ayodele is one prophet that is concerned whenever the negative aspect of his prophecies come to past due to lack of heed on the part of the people concerned.  Whereas his soft mind for humanity vividly shows in the way and manner he gives his all-in-all so long it will alleviate the sufferings of the poor, be they members of his church or they are of other denomination or of other faith as he clearly does in giving out to Muslim widows and generality of people.

There has always been man but there can always be man. The man in Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, JP, Founder and Spiritual Leader of INRI Evangelical and Spiritual Church, Oke Afa, Isolo, Lagos is not only exceptional by the fact of a Servant of the Most High God in the Lord’s Vineyard but also, he notably stands out for his soft mind for humanity.

By being exceptional as Servant of the Most High God, Ayodele is one prophet that is concerned whenever the negative aspect of his prophecies come to past due to lack of heed on the part of the people concerned.  Whereas his soft mind for humanity vividly shows in the way and manner he gives his all-in-all so long it will alleviate the sufferings of the poor, be they members of his church or they are of other denomination or of other faith as he clearly does in giving out to Muslim widows and generality of people.

Ayodele is the only Nigerian Church leader of Goodluck Ebele Jonathan era, after Cardinal Anthony Onaiyekan, that has worked hard on achieving religious peace in the country.  He invited Sultan of Sokoto and leader of Muslims of Nigeria and some West African countries, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, to his Church as a mark of love and Sultan was represented and that representative happily gave N2 million to INRI as a mark of appreciation of religious peace and love displaced by the Ikere-Ekiti, Ekiti State-born Primate.

Ayodele he is that built units of self-contain apartments in the Oke Afa Isolo that is heart of Lagos and who gave them out to people at N1,000 per month making N12,000 per year.  He is one that gave out plots of land to people at almost free price, a BMW car worth N800,000 at some point for N30,000 and gave a N450,000 worth Tricycle, Marwa, out to a widow who trained in its operation at no pay-down arrangement and make it easy and simple for her to pay up until she is able to pay all.

Like Governor Rochas Okorocha, the INRI leader, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, can comfortably be called father of many graduates and undergraduates due to the fact that he has sponsored the university education of many young Nigerians while also picking up youths from being the poorest of the poorest through sponsoring their WAEC, GCE, NECO examinations to enablement of their JAMB exams and move from there to giving some of them scholarships to university.

In the end, when he was asked, the man of God simply said, “It is not me.  It is God.”

If it is possible to move a man of God from the Lord’s Vineyard into the political arena to manage the resources of a given nation, Nigeria as a case study, to better the lots of the masses, Primate Ayodele would probably be one of first to be contacted for this great job.  But this is a man who does not seem to like the face of any politicians talkless that he would be interested in their job.

On October 30, 2015 Vanguard Newspaper’s Bashir Adefaka, at that time, did a work on him titled, “Primate Ayodele’s prophecies: The fulfillment, the pains” and that work was meant to mainly separate Ayodele clearly away from the category of people a section of society had called prophets of doom that, according to them, not only gave prophecies which are negative but also are mostly fake.

The Vanguard report opened with a preamble: “NIGERIA knew, knows and is still knowing about prophets in the Lord’s Vineyard. The prophethood exhibited by the founder and head of Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, according to investigations, appears to be one on the side of development that must be taken serious.”

It then moved on to once more introduce Primate Ayodele and it said, “This is a prophet who told this reporter before jetting out to Enugu enroute Achalla on Monday October 12, 2015, among many other prophecies that a young man would emerge as Ooni of Ife and that his emergence would not only come to pass but that it will bring prosperity to Yoruba race. This triggered this follow-up that has deliberately been embarked upon as a way of critically looking into how religious leaders can actually positively partner the state in matter of growth and development.”

What is more was that when contacted over the most recent prophecy the Primate said, “My prophecies coming to pass is not for me to celebrate. I tell the government and peoples of the world especially of my home country, Nigeria, whatever I am asked to tell them. I give thanks to God, however, whenever my positive prophecies come to past but feel so pained whenever the negative ones warned against but unheeded come to past due to nonchalance on the part of the affected people.”

Primate Ayodele had said that the PDP would not survive its March 28, 2015 collapse and that even the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) would be split as some of the leaders would team up with one another to form a new party out of the APC. He also said that President Buhari might in the light of that eventually have reason to bring back his rested Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). All of these came to past but the APC was saved particularly in the last few days when President Muhammadu Buhari appeared to have done what the Primate advised “If they are not careful”.  Because Buhari became careful, he took the bull by the horns and took up the responsibility of providing leadership for the party just like he has been for Nigeria and he achieved peace and cooperation that have now permeated the space of the party.

Records show that at a time in the past, Primate Ayodele had closely and directly warned Mr. Buruji Kashamu over his fate in politics, which he failed to heed. If that warning was true, the possible question now is who bears the brunt of the disobedience? The Ikere, Ekiti State-born prophet, had in Vanguard edition published on April 26, 2015 said there was nothing he said in his book, “Warnings to the Nations” about the elections and the two major contenders that did not come to pass.

In Saturday Vanguard of December 28, 2013 he said: “President Goodluck Jonathan’s second term is dicey. He will start some political abracadabra in order to gain his second term which will be characterised by so much of negotiations. He will have to cajole and beg a lot of people; he will also beg Obasanjo. What Nigerians see now is only a tip of an iceberg of the clash that will come between Obasanjo and Jonathan. Jonathan might be the last president of PDP to rule this country, anyway.”

The prophet said he, however, had a message for the APC in that same publication in 2013 that, “If they (APC) really want to rule, they have to struggle and pray very well to get the right candidate. They must be careful so that their party is not used for negotiation.”

The Inri Church leader’s prophecies are also contained in Sunday Vanguard of November 2, 2014 interview that Jonathan’s visit to Jerusalem was a waste of time but that if he really desired to win the 2015 election, he should fast for 14 days, a call he said he did not heed.

In The Guardian of Saturday, July 13, 2013, Ayodele specifically referred to what he said about 2015 as laying the foundation for the disintegration of Nigeria “except we pray and Jonathan listens to the words of God.” Although Jonathan and his PDP cohorts continue to “brag” today about how APC came to power by “deceit and propaganda”.  The fact that he was pushed by nature that is one of the ways God achieves His purposes on the surface of the earth to by not resisting the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC’s victory of March 28, 2015 stands out to that the prophecy by Ayodele was fulfilled whether Jonathan or PDP liked it or not.  And in the end, Jonathan truly became the last PDP president to rule Nigeria.

The publication revealed the primate as prophesying that “Jonathan will not win in 2015,” citing many other warnings of the past that he did including the one published by Daily Champion of Wednesday February 29, 2012 on page 43 where he said, “I am not against President Jonathan or his government but let him not contest in 2015.  He should relax else he will break the country.”

In Weekend Champion of June 16 – 17, 2012 on page 12, he said, ‘The governors will gang up against Jonathan and the PDP will lose the central government in 2015.”

In Global Excellence of Tuesday, September 25 –Monday October 1, 2012 on page 5, he said “President Jonathan’s 2015 ambition will break the governors into factions” and that Governor Mimiko should not leave the Labour Party for the PDP.

He however said that, “We have defeated Boko Haram but we should work more against non-Boko Haram terrorists,” which has now been construed to mean the economic terrorists that came in the making of Niger Delta Avengers who bombed oil facilities that were the leftovers of the looters of Nigeria’s wealth to the extent that the nation had no choice than to be declared by President Muhammadu Buhari Administration as “now a State in Recession” until it successfully move the nation out of recession recently as part of the achieves of the new solid foundation that he had laid for an enduring economy of Nigeria.  Recall there was also the IPOB which was not only classified by the Nigerian Armed Forces as a “Militants Terrorist Organisation” but was further proscribed by the Federal Government through the Court.

The Primate spoke on the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, prophesying dumping APGA.   He warned that Obiano’s dumping APGA will plunge him into trouble.   “Obiano may dump APGA but it will be problem for him like Mimiko’s dumping of Labour Party for PDP failing to listen to the warnings.” Mimiko’s failing to heed the prophecy which led to his disgraceful political end might have been a good learning that made Obiano stay put in APGA and today, he is the consensus candidate, although through primary election, that the party has produced to face the Federal Might of APC and the dwindling PDP in the November 18, 2017 governorship election in Anambra State.

The prophet said the electricity supply in Nigeria will be stable but that its stability will begin from 2017. He said this as far back as 2015.

Experience has shown that words of men of God are not to be thrown away without looking at the substance that is inherent in them for the love of country, especially when such words come from men of integrity like Primate Elijah Babatunde Ayodele.

Primate Ayodele had wanted to be one of lawyer, journalist or military officers but fate put him where he is and he says, “Would I have been able to better like I am doing today, if I had been in any of those professions?”  Ayodele is quite fulfilled that his dream of being able to touch the lives of people positively and contribute to the good of the nations is today a reality.