Unknown to many, especially the younger generation, the art of prophesying or seeing into the future did not start today. They may be familiar with many of the dashing looking and flamboyant pastors and prophets today who strut our landscape claiming to be seers, prophets, General Overseers or simply, men of God gifted with the ability to see into the future and foretell what will happen even before it begins to show the faintest sign of the possibility of it happening. Dating back over three decades, from the glorious era of the 70s, 80s and the 90s, the Nigerian socio-political landscape fell under the pervasive influence of seers, who dominated the scene with their acclaimed paranormal ability to foresee the future.
These people, back then, held people, nay the entire country, spellbound with their astonishing prophecies. And it didn’t matter which class you belonged to, whether it was the high and mighty or the people in the lower rung of the ladder, everyone, including those in government, were held in awe of these strange men with strange mystical or spiritual powers.
Their utterances and pronouncements sent thousands of hearts beating hard against their chests. Once they spoke, everyone stopped to listen. Very few could dismiss them, neither could they throw their prophecies and pronouncements out of the window. They had a legion of followers who read them and followed them religiously. In the sight of these ones, they could do no wrong. In the same vein, they had those who were cynical of their prophetic or predictive claims as the case may be. There were often heated debates between their followers and those o the other side of the divide. The issue as to whether they were real or not was always on the front burner. Some believed totally in the genuineness of their claims, believing they indeed got their messages from the Supreme Being or wherever it is some of them claim they got theirs from. But for many others, no matter how much the seers tried, they just couold not get them converted.
Foremost within this bracket of prophets and star-gazers, were Professor Godspower Oyewole, Dr. Gabriel Okunzua, a notable parapsychologist, Prophet Samuel Adewole of the Celestial Church of Christ, Primate Theophilus Oluwasanu Olabayo of the Evangelical Church of Yahweh and Primate Rufus Ositelu of The Church of the Lord. Much later, the likes of Primate Ayodele Elijah, Sat Guru Maharaji, Bishop Obi Okeke and a few others began to emerge as well. And quite a large chunk of these notable men have given us some incredibly staggering prophecies and predictions that have remained with us to date.
Let us begin with the revered DR. GABRIEL OKUNZUA. In the 70s during the Gowon era, when the idea of the Ajaokuta steel industry was launched by the government of the day, with every glee, glamour and funfair, as an anticipated cornerstone to Nigeria’s arrival at strategic industrial and technological breakthrough, it remains a tribute to the memory of the elderly parapsychologist and university lecturer, Dr. Gabriel Okunzua – who deploying his much-vaunted power of the mental art – insisted that the laudable and highly popular scheme, was destined for failure. Of course, at that time, many disbelieved him. Shockingly as it turned out – several years after Okunzua’s death, and over four decades after its birth, the project has remained nothing but a national embarrassment and a monumental failure.
It must also be noted that in 1999, following high optimism of the world of limitless possibilities that Obasanjo’s presidency seemed to offer, towards the realization of an egalitarian Nigeria, Okunzua saw things differently. He stood out as the lone voice who insisted that nothing good could emerge from the Bethlehem of Obasanjo’s sojourn in the presidency. The rest today, as the saying goes, is history. One of Dr. Okunzua’s biggest criticism till he died though, was the fact that, according to his critics, he could not see his wife’s death coming, despite claiming to have seen a lot of things many didn’t see coming. The renowned parapsychologist himself is no more and he did not see his death coming either. He died on September 4, 2006.
Prophet Samuel Adewole of the Celestial Church of Christ will be remembered as the one man who foretold accurately and with apt precision, the death of General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua. He also foretold the eventual annulment of June 12 and which marked the beginning of the end of the historic presidential bid of Chief M.K.O Abiola – the billionaire business mogul and acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 election. And thanks to the active connivance of the Ibrahim Babangida-led cabal of top military chiefs, that historic election stayed dead and buried.
As for Primate T. O. Olabayo, his fame was huge. It was such that it spread across the vast global space, including the revered portals of the United Nations, where no less a personality of such exalted placing as the then U.N. Secretary-General not only received him in audience. The globally respected man also took a photograph with Primate Olabayo and his beloved wife within the magnificent confines of the United Nations headquarters. Primate Olabayo is still well and alive, though age has slowed him down greatly.
We cannot possibly forget Professor Godspower Oyewole, the Indian trained parapsychologist and seer. He was an enigmatic personality. He was such an articulate gentleman. Back then, he maintained a regular page in the Lagos Weekend of those days in which he treated the public to all the dramatic fancy stuff of parapsychology.
Many will still remember in those days, how the Indian-trained stargazer had dramatized the event of Awo’s death. He did this using his supposed paranormal communication with Awo in the invisible world of the spirits and his step by step account of the departure of the spirit of the great sage immediately after his fateful fall in the private closet of his bathroom.
Another prophet of old who excited the populace with his confounding prophecies was Primate Rufus Ositelu. He remains one of the most respected men of God to come from this part of the continent. He has also had some great prophecies in his heydays that generated lots of reactions and placed him on a high pedestal as far as the rating of Nigerian prophets were concerned.
From the aforementioned generation of old prophets and seers, the likes of Sat Guru Maharaji, Primate Ayodele Elijah, late Prophet TB Joshua, Bishop Obi Okeke, began to emerge. And then the new generation prophets such as Prophet Olagunju, Joshua Iginla, Apostle Johnson Suleiman also started to get into the consciousness of the public after a while. Sat Guru Maharaji, real name Mohammed Ajirobatan Ibrahim, is a spiritual leader. He is the self styled ‘Perfect Living Master.’ He has also been around for a while. He also occasionally makes predictions about events yet to happen. Guru Maharaji runs his sect in a manner that is often likened to that of a secret confraternity. This, to a large extent, has not helped increase his followership.
Many won’t forget the late Prophet Tb Joshua in a hurry. The man who founded and led the Synagogue Church of All Nations until his untimely death last year, was first renowned for his healing prowess. It was much later he also ventured into the art of prophesying. He recorded a few groundbreaking prophecies with some ending up as controversial. Bishop Obi Okeke of God’s Pentecostal Mission was also renowned for some significant prophecies especially in the late 90s. He had a large following and commanded quite some respect among his peers.
Not many will forget Prophet Olagunju, the man who says he has refused to take his bath. He is a strong prophet based in Ibadan. He has also made some staggering prophecies. But one man that has remained constant in the public glare for close to three decades running is Primate Ayodele Elijah. He is the bridge between the old breed such as Primate Olabayo, Primate Ositelu and the new generation of prophets. The founder and leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church first broke into the media space and got the attention of the public as far back as the early 90s. A prophecy by Primate Ayodele published in the Weekend Times of old and written by Paul Ogwa generated quite some amount of heated reactions from the public. In the story, Primate Ayodele had foretold Nigerians that the country’s national football team, the Super Eagles, would do well in the Africa Nations Cup but will fail to progress beyond the second round at the World Cup held in the United States. Many Nigerians, particularly football buffs, felt the man of God was saying nonsense.
The Super Eagles had the strongest team in Africa with many of its players plying their trade in some of the biggest clubs in Europe. It was unthinkable to unimaginable to think they would not do well at the World Cup. In the end, it turned out the exact way Primate Ayodele foretold it, the Super Eagles won the Nations Cup but failed to go beyond the second round at the World Cup. Then, in 1995 and 1996, he shocked Nigerians when he foretold the death of Kudirat Abiola. He specifically said she would be killed and indeed, Kudirat Abiola was shot dead in 1996. This sent shock waves through the length and breadth of the country. He also accurately predicted the death of Nnamdi Azikiwe. It was from this point that his fame began to soar. Everybody started to pay him attention. It will be recalled that Primate Ayodele also foretold that Abacha would not actualize his vision 2020 programme and that he would die in office. From that time till now, it has been one groundbreaking prophecy after another consistently for close to three decades. Primate Ayodele has continued to stun many with his accurate prophecies and has even gone on to package his book, a compendium of 10,000 prophecies, never before seen in any part of the world. His church has grown astronomically in the last three decades, running three big services every Sunday, each service filled to capacity. The man has become an enigma. He warned us about the Buhari administration and the hardship it would bring upon Nigerians. He also warned us about Covid-19 even before it broke out. He also foretold that Russia will go to war with Ukraine. What perhaps stands Primate Ayodele out is his consistency in reeling out prophecies and the rate of the accuracy of his prophecies are nothing short of astonishing. This explains why he has gradually and steadily become publicized as perhaps the most consistently accurate prophet of this generation.
Many will still recall Primate’s accurate prophecy on the United States’ last presidential election which saw former President Trump kicked out of the White House for Joe Biden. Primate had warned the Democrats to pick Joe Biden as their flag bearer for the presidential election as he was the one the Lord had showed him could win the election for them. They must have heard him for they did exactly as he had warned and the rest is history. Interestingly, even after Joe Biden had been picked, Primate Ayodele went on to advice Joe Biden to pick Kamala Harris as deputy for she was the one the Lord revealed to him would work well with him and give him victory. It will be difficult if not impossible to list out all of Primate Ayodele’s most staggering prophecies in one article, but the fact is, the man remains without a doubt, one of the most outstanding prophets of his time. And, surely, hundreds of his most enduring prophecies will linger in our memories for a long to come.
-WALE LAWAL
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