There has been an ongoing tussle between the presidency and Bishop David Oyedepo, the general overseer of Living Faith Bible Church, popularly called Winners Chapel over president Buhari’s style of leadership and the man of God has not spared him a bit in judging all his actions or castigate him when there is an issue of growing concern in the nation.
Many people believe Bishop Oyedepo is not in support of President Buhari’s regime, it further cemented their thoughts
There were rumours during President Buhari’s first term, when he got back from his medical trip abroad that he was cloned and he was not the real Buhari. Bishop Oyedepo attacked him on this again and another of such was when there were attacks by herdsmen in some northern states where Bishop Oyedepo spit fire and spoke against President Buhari. Let us take through all the issues Bishop Oyedepo have against president Buhari.
The Founder of Living Faith Church, popularly known as Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo, has explained the reason for his presence at the reconciliation meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his erstwhile deputy, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the just concluded 2019 election.
Speaking in a sermon during a Sunday service at the headquarters of the church in Ota, Ogun State, Oyedepo said his sole aim is for a peaceful country. He said: “Never be left in any doubt, I have never belonged to any political party and I will never belong to any. There is no political party where members of Winners are not, “Our goal is to secure the future of Nigeria.
We must talk about this and we have to appeal to people’s reasoning. We don’t want to see a war in Nigeria. I am called a peacemaker and I have done that at all levels in this country. I am anointed to be a mediator because the price of peace is cheaper than the cost of war. That is my involvement, I am invited and I don’t go anywhere I’m not called. People in every party, including the party in power, have been involved in such. It’s not theory. I don’t force myself on people, I am too busy”. While many feel it is an endorsement, Bishop David Oyedepo said, contrary to rumour, he didn’t endorsed anyone for 2019 presidency election.
Oyedepo said he visited former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s house because he was invited to broker peace between him and Atiku Abubakar. On the spate of killings in the country few years back, some school of thoughts believed the president should know how to put an end to the deadly acts but Bishop Oyedepo was one of the men of God who lamented and who accused that the power in authority
Some people claimed responsibility and nothing happened to them. “The effect of the 30 months’ civil war is still with us. We won’t see war again in Nigeria. Those who want to see it, will be cut down.” He also went further then asking President Muhammadu Buhari to resign over persistent Fulani militant herdsmen killings. In a YouTube video posted by the church’s official page, the cleric made the call during a Sunday service.
With the development, Oyedepo has joined other notable clerics – including the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan; and a former Archbishop of the Catholic Church in Lagos, Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie – who have asked Buhari to quit his position over failure to secure the lives of Nigerians. The cleric told his congregation that although he was not partisan, he would not be alive and not talk about the massacre of Nigerians, especially in the Middle Belt, by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
Speaking on the theme, “Enough is enough,” he said, “When I was talking in 2015, people were saying my own was too much, now everybody can see what’s happening. What has moved forward in anybody’s life? You don’t know it’s war. Why are they attacking the Christian communities? Why has nobody been arrested? I can tell you this, the authorities and the powers that be are behind them.
“I will never be partisan; Jesus got me out of it in 1984. But I will not be alive to see innocent people massacred. “We must wake up and push this evil back. Not one of those so-called herdsmen; they are jihadists – has been brought to book till date. Herdsmen don’t shoot; they have been here all along. They are just taking cover under the herdsmen to assault innocent citizens. They wake up in the night and slice innocent children to pieces. Yet, you have a government in place.
What!“The most honourable thing for any non-performing leader to do is to resign. The most honourable thing is to resign. That’s my own for Mr President. Resign! Get out of office! Even our Islamic friends in the North are calling on him (Buhari) to resign. Because that’s the noblest thing to do. Or are we going to look at one system destroy a whole nation?” Oyedepo also warned Nigerians against the ceding of land to the Fulani herdsmen for ranching, as proposed by the Federal Government.
He said, “I’m going to say this and I’m not going to be tired. This (Nigeria) will never be a Fulani republic. That is not our terms of agreement. It will remain a secular nation till Jesus returns. It’s not just (about) land, it’s (about) heritage.“Forever, I stand on the fact that no government has the authority to collect land from those who own it and transfer it to another person because on the other side (presumably the north), it never happens.”
On the issue of president Buhari’s rumored death and that he was cloned, Bishop Oyedepo also reacted on it. In a video which trended on social media, David Oyedepo was heard probing claims that President Muhammadu Buhari may have died in London 2017, and that Nigeria is being ruled by his double.
The clergy while quoting Olatunji Dare’s piece titled ‘Buhari’s Double’ on Nov 27, in The Nation newspaper, said the Presidency reached an agreement with Jubril’s Family in Sudan, stating that 50% of all Nigeria’s earnings, will be given to the family for 10 years to cover up the truth about Buhari’s death and replacement – And now, Nigeria is being recolonized, this time, by another African Nation.
However, Oyedepo didn’t state if he believed that the president had been cloned or not, but asked that the presidency immediately issues a statement to clear the air, on the very sensitive matter – while urging his congregation to pray against slavery in the country. In the presidency response, The Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi hit at Bishop David Oyedepo over his statement on President being dead and cloned as Jubril Sudan. He took to his Twitter page, describing Oyedepo as a hater of Buhari. He wondered why the cleric would go to a far length to discredit Buhari.
He said, “I know the Bishop has always detested PMB, but I don’t understand why he keeps going this far to peddle/amplify (from the pulpit) falsehood and disinformation about him. Really puzzling “. During the postponement of the 2019 elections. Bishop Oyedepo was quick to respond to the postponement. The Bishop, while decrying the state of the nation, said ‘Nigeria is gone’ and only surviving on prayers from the Church of Christ. Lamenting about the postponed election, Oyedepo said: “How long do we keep going on and off, forward and backward in this country.
Ordinary election we cannot manage in Nigeria. “A country you take one step forward and 20 steps backward, a country where they kill people for sacrifice so they can win the election. During the sermon, he rained curses on those causing crisis and killing Nigerians ahead of the 2019 presidential election. He pronounced ‘tribulation’ on those responsible for dragging Nigeria backward.
“Minus the Church of Christ praying Nigeria is gone, therefore any gang up against the settlement of Nigeria is destroyed.“Anyone that would not let Nigeria go forward will go down for Nigeria. any agent of the devil to bring Nigeria under siege is broken.“Nigeria is long overdue for settlement, On this day, I declare Nigeria must be supernaturally settled. You can’t tell how many people travelled to go and vote, how many had accidents due to this mistake.
“Is Nigeria not long overdue for settlement. May God recompense tribulation for those that trouble Nigerians. “All the troublers of this nation, I evoke tribulation on your life, all those that would not let this nation go forward shall go down for this nation. “But by all means, God will give peace to Nigeria, by whatever means let this nation not see war. “Lord, let your vengeance answer for the rescue of our nation today.”
Also on the just concluded presidential election which saw President Buhari emerged winner again, Bishop Oyedepo has once broken his silence, on the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly elections held across the country few weeks back. According to him, it was shameful that politicians were celebrating an election that was marred with widespread rigging.Addressing his congregants at the Church headquarters, the Bishop mocked the irregularities that riddled the exercise in some polling units.
However, he prayed Nigeria would not experience another war as a result of the remaining elections. Oyedepo said: “Other developed countries around the world had developed their mode of voting into a digital method.“But it’s a shame that in Nigeria, we still queue up to vote, and somebody would still be intimidated by thugs.
“With these, it’s a shame how politicians in this part of the world are proud of elections marred with rigging.“In Covenant University, any student caught indulging in examination malpractice, is gone. It does not matter if his or her father is the head of United Nations or not.”
Send Us News, Gist, more... to citypeopleng@gmail.com | Twitter: @CitypeopleMagz
