It was a warm and humid Friday night on October 25, 2024, and the monthly vigil of a popular Ikeja, Lagos State-based church (names withheld), had begun in earnest at 11pm.
And usually with this type of religious gathering, the atmosphere in the church’s packed auditorium, which can hold about 1,500 members, was electric, with worshippers exuding an air of anticipation, and rightfully so.
Men and women, with hearts full of gratitude, gathered in the church to “enjoy” the presence of God. And to demonstrate this, they gyrated, during the praise and worship session, to the sound of delightful music, courtesy of the choir, that blared from loudspeakers strategically placed in the church premises.
After the congregation had danced and sang for nearly 40 minutes, and their faces heavily beaded with sweat, the pastor of the church – a prophetess who doubled as the General Overseer – told the congregation that she had an “important message” from God.
“You see the presidential election that will be held in a few days’ time in America?” she said, making reference to the recently conducted November 5 presidential election in the United States.
“The woman candidate (Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party) will beat Donald Trump (Republican candidate). And for the first time, America will have a female President,” she added, before declaring, “This is the word of God to His people.”
Obviously, the “prophecy” failed spectacularly as Trump, against all odds, recorded a historic political victory by beating Harris both in the popular vote and the Electoral College vote. It was a landslide.
Be that as it may, it is pertinent to note that the US is thousands of kilometers away from Nigeria, and that its political amphitheater, quite interestingly, also fascinates many Nigerians.
It also seems that the catchphrase, God’s own country, which Nigerians hear time and time again about the US, is the allure for many prominent pastors in Nigeria who work themselves into a frenzy as they dish prophecies out whenever there is an election in America.
“Nigerians don’t have to listen to men of God who make these election prophecies. The electorate can also follow their hearts and vote for the candidates of their choice”
One such pastor who also sticks his neck out by making prophecies about US presidential elections is Johnson Suleman, the founder of the Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide, headquartered in Auchi, Edo State.
Suleman, who is often criticised for making prophetic forays into would-be outcome of elections in Nigeria, said in 2020 that Joe Biden would win the 2020 US presidential election but that he would later be impeached.
Suleman added that Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, would then be sworn-in as President.
Biden eventually won that election, beating a second-term seeking Trump, and it led Suleman to reiterate during another programme, “The person that won now (Biden) will be impeached.
“The person I see ruling America is a woman. The person that is Vice President will become President. Write it down,” he declared.
Although Biden was asked to step aside during the course of the 2024 presidential race and Harris coming in his stead, the impeachment of the former, who has a little over 60 days before he hands over to Trump on January 20, has still not come to pass.
Elections in Nigeria have also had its fair share of prophetic brouhahas. During last year’s presidential election, which Bola Tinubu won, not a few pastors disclosed that God told them that Peter Obi, the then candidate of the Labour Party, would win the election.
Obi himself had ridden on the platforms he was given by some of Nigeria’s megachurches to sell his presidential ambition to the Church. He was loved by many in the Christian faith and to some degree, his hopes were valid.
Christians make up nearly half the population in Nigeria, however, when the results of the election were announced, Obi narrowly lost the hotly contested election to both Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party.
Many Nigerians, especially those in the South, wondered why the prophecies and the church’s approval of Obi’s candidacy did not flip defeat for the former Anambra State Governor.
Those who pondered this did not wait long to know why. The electoral map released by Nigeria’s electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, showed that Obi had a poor showing in the North.
Some Nigerian even made Obi and his followers, the Obidient movement, the butt of their jokes as they alleged that the prophecies could not “penetrate” the North in Obi’s favour.
There is now a debate in the polity whether Obi in 2027 would be given the sort of endorsement he enjoyed from the church, and this is because he went on a popular podcast, The Honest Bunch, to assert that “church vigils be converted into night shifts.”
In the midst of the backlash that ensued, Obi elucidated his views, explaining that he was merely underscoring what Apostle James said in ‘faith without works is unhelpful,’ and thus, his emphasis on the importance of worshipping God through work.
But some men of God are yet to cut the presidential hopeful some slack or let go of the grudges they hold because of Obi’s “blatant disrespect” for the church, and observers say their “annoyance” could reflect on their 2027 election prophecies, or “predictions,” as some Nigerians are wont to classify them.
A political commentator and Chartered Accountant, Ifeoma Ogbonna, told The Point, “It is a no-brainer, the political and the prophetic should be strange bedfellows. From experience, it is very clear that pastors have no business foretelling election results or outcomes.
“That job should be the exclusive preserve of INEC. This is why we established INEC, to count the votes for us and then announce the results, accordingly.
“Do you even remember what happened to a certain man of God (Feyi Daniels) who predicted that Tinubu would be arrested on his inauguration day?
“Sadly, it was the pastor that was arrested. He was accused of raping his church member. And he was sentenced to life imprisonment. My question now is: why didn’t he see his own arrest and downfall. We have to be careful.
“So, politics, in my opinion, should be separated from the church. And I may be wrong and stand to be corrected, but I don’t think there is anywhere in the Bible where Jesus predicted election results.
“For crying out loud, let men of God focus more on ensuring that the gospel reaches every part of the world, instead of stirring controversy with their prophecies and predictions that God does not approve of.”
However, a current affairs analyst, Ben Njoku, holds the view that prophecies are not entirely bad and can actually help some voters to make their minds up about who to vote for during elections.
Njoku also said that Nigerians should not attack men of God for making prophecies because, according to him, they, too, can be somewhat prone to mistakes.
“If it is not abused and charlatans are exposed, I believe strongly that making predictions before elections would not be entirely bad.
“Predictions by respected pastors and men of God can actually help some voters to determine who to vote for during elections.
“That is why I advocate for genuine pastors not being attacked when they make predictions or prophecies. Yes, I agree that they can be somewhat prone to mistakes, but let us not forget that they are humans.
“All in all, Nigerians don’t have to listen to men of God who make these election prophecies. The electorate can also follow their hearts and vote for the candidates of their choice,”
Njoku said.
