Generally known for his accurate predictions, Prophet Elijah Babatunde Ayodele, has said that Nigeria would soon experience a new dawn.
The man of God, who spoke recently with The Point at the Oke- Afa ,Isolo Lagos, headquarters of his INRI Spiritual and Evangelical Church, revealed how a lot of positive changes would also be experienced in the country between now and 2019.
According to him, “Nigerians need prayers because it is the master-key to success. The Bible enjoins us to pray without ceasing. It means that there is spiritualism in prayers. It means that, being prayerful has its own potency and rewards .All we need do then is to remain steadfast, in the belief that it is only God Almighty that can answer prayers. And when God answers your prayers, He turns things around. He changes bad things to good things. Our country has been experiencing bad things due to lack of proper planning, lack of good governance, and even absence of good men and women to run the affairs of this great country.
“We should all pray fervently for God to change a bad situation to a good situation because, He is the only unchangeable changer. God is unchangeable. He has the powers to change situations
“Before President Buhari came to power, I told the Nation that he [Buhari] shall face some challenges. Today, the challenges are confronting us as a Nation. The beauty of it all is that, we shall overcome these challenges if only we are patient and supportive of his agenda. Honestly, I see him as God- chosen leader -the one that could do it better. It is God that puts him there. He needs my support and your support, too. If he fails, we all fail.
“This is why he must, on his own part look for people with track records of achievements and not necessarily those who worked for him to become the President of the country. He needs to work with credible people and not discredited individuals.”
Responding to a question, the Ekiti State-born clergyman noted that President Muhammadu Buhari had surrounded himself with some persons who have become political liability to his government because they could not key into his vision.
“Sure, Mr. President has some unfit people occupying sensitive positions; sure, the miasma in which we lately found ourselves was predicted long ago. I told the nation that the price of fuel would go astronomical, between N200 and N250 per litre. Has it not come to pass? I told those who cared to listen that the Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh would swim in some troubled waters; and that he needed prayers to ward-off the problems! Today, any sane person can tell better.
“I prophesied that some states of the Federation would find it very hard to survive the self-inflicted economic strangulations that have today eclipsed their development. How many states in the country today can pay their workers? Just few of them. Let us seek the face of God. It means that God is very key to our lives. The Bible tells us that we should seek the Kingdom of God first and all other things shall be added.“Therefore, for this country to move forward, our President should, as a matter of necessity, do away with some bench warmers, who do not key into his mission and vision. These political charlatans do not have anything to deliver but to cause distractions. Our President needs people that have the will-power and political sagacity to bring the country out of the economic woods so that we can swiftly come back to the path of economic recovery. We need to go back to those days that hardwork goes with rewards; we should now begin to bring the country back to those days that service was rewarded over self. What we have on ground now is for people to be self-serving and this would not take us anywhere,” he said.
On the travails of the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, softspoken Ayodele declared, “Again, I can recall what I told the Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, over what has today become his travails. I warned him not to face the Code of Conduct Tribunal [CCT], maybe he was wrongly advised. What I am trying to say in essence is nothing short of effect of conduct on reputation. .I am talking about integrity because, a man is nothing without integrity.”
Asked why he is neither a member of the Christian Association of Nigeria nor that of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, the cleric said, “It is all a question of choice. I am looking forward to seeing leadership in action. There should be a convincing spiritual cardinals in place, which would be backed up with a principled and sophisticated leadership that would give spiritual direction to the followers. In the absence of this, I do not follow and organization because it is an organization. You could recall when we decided to call together heads of spiritual churches in the country. The idea was to come together to find long-lasting spiritual solution to some of the problems plaguing the country”.
On the possibility of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party coming back to power in 2020, Primate Ayodele declared, “The broom that members of the ruling political party holds is very spiritual. The broom has been sweeping many bad things and people away. If the party holds on to what the broom connotes in the spiritual realm, it will be very difficult for the opposition party to defeat them, come 2019; otherwise, I think the APC should not allow their success at the polls to go into their head by ignoring those things they promised the electorate. The leaders should know that they are dealing with hunger-driven and fickle-minded electorate. Beyond this, God shall decide”.
