Bishop S.T.V ADEGBITE Drops Bombshell
Reveals What To Expect
Bishop S.T.V. Adegbite is the Lagos CAN Chairman. He is seen as a tough man by so many. He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. And he will always tell you his mind no matter whose ox is gored.
He is one of the high ranking Ministers of Methodist Church Nigeria. He is also an activist Minister of God.
During the last 2023 presidential elections he came out boldy to say Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will win the Presidential elections. He was so definitive about it. He was not afraid of the backlash that could come for saying so. He simply told anyone who cared to listen that from what the Lord told him, Tinubu would win. And he did.
Since Tinubu’s victory, Bishop has made a case for all his fellow Ministers in all the denominations. He has made a case for the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in all the 36 States. He believes the government should support all the Ministers of God, both Christians & Muslims.
On Friday, City People Publisher SEYE KEHINDE & GIFT drilled him for 1 hour and we found him a hard nut to crack.
Below are excerpts of the interview.
Let me start by asking you to share with us your thoughts about this season. What is your message to people out there who are looking forward to better times?
This season is a Season of Grace. It’s a season of the best gift given to the world in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. At a period like this, the message of Christmas, the message of restoration is a message of hope. It’s a message of reassurance. As children of God we believe all will be well, and we have critically examined the policies of Mr. President and his statements and his Renewed hope agenda. I was extremely happy when he recently presented the budget. I tagged it “THE BUDGET OF RESTORATION”, and that was what I chose for next year, as my watch word, both at the Nigerian and in the Christian Pilgrim Commission and also for Christian Association of Nigeria and in the Diocese of Ikeja. So it means the Spirit of God is one. And for me, in John Chapter 2 Verse 23, The Bible says, I will restore your past glory. The years that the locust have eaten and the caterpillar.
Nigeria has gone through a terrible state in the hands of former leaders in this nation, including people that are making noise around, they never examine what happened under their watch when they were in government, but they thought people will forget. But history doesn’t forget. Books don’t lie. We have it on record, go and look at the proposed budget for 2025 Mr President is going to borrow only $6 billion, whereas before now, they used to borrow 30 something billion dollars. They used to borrow much more. But for him, he’s going to fund the budget from IGR. So that is what we want in our nation. Mister President, has equipped local governments. He has given them Autonomy. He’s equipping zones and regions, and everyone is expected to go and develop their regions, and that is why you have commissions for all the geopolitical zones. So if you don’t develop your zone, you will be left behind, You and I know what happened with local government when we were growing up. They have department for Works. They have department for Health. They have department for Sanitation. Who will not clean his environment? This is because the people know you, you can’t run away, unlike now who knows who?
So next year is a Year of grace, it’s a year of spiritual fulfillment, it’s a year of spiritual impartation, and it’s a year of major breakthrough. It’s a year of glorification, and it’s a year of our unending grace. So there is hope for Nigeria. Nigeria will come out of the quagmire, and Nigeria will rise again in the name of Jesus.
Sir, many people do not seem to see anything good coming out of this government, I don’t know if it is because of the years of bad experiences and all that. They just keep doubting every move.
That is because of their long expectations, and year in and year out, their hope has been dashed. But it will come to a time when somebody will be able to have the boldness to fix it. And some of the things that Mister president has been able to do, none of the past leaders have ever attempted to do them, talkless of doing it. But if you are called by God, you will not be afraid of man, and whatever you want to do, you do it under the fear of God. And that is what he expects everyone of us who are in this government to do. We must bring the fear of the Lord to bear in our administration and our little corner. That is what we are doing. And people see that our government has human face. We care for people, we love them, but we demand accountability. We demand sanctity, and we demand openess. And once you can do it, you do your part and I do my beat, Nigeria will be great. But you cannot come to office and you don’t do anything Or I give you an assignment to do, and after failing to do it, you want me to give you something that you have done your job. How? But when you have done your job, definitely, you will be rewarded at the end of the day. Everyone that works with me, got 13 month and because I was very, very prudent in managing the funds. That is why we’re able to save for that purpose and many other things we are going to do. So let people have Hope and believe in this administration.
I can talk of this one, I can’t talk of any other one but this one, because I’ve seen him in the past. He did it in Lagos, and today, after he might have even gone to be with his maker, Lagos cannot forget him. Because he is the one that delivered Lagos from the wolves. And today, Lagos is rejoicing. The economy of Lagos is better than the economy of some nations, and four or five states put together in Nigeria, Lagos will just sign off their budget. So he is going to fix Nigeria by the special grace of God, not by His own power, but by the special grace of God, Nigeria will appreciate what he is doing, very soon.
When he was in Lagos State as governor, what were your impressions of him at that time?
Asiwaju Tinubu came into government of Lagos, and he was able to transform the narrative. He changed the narrative. Lagos was below 1 billion IGR but he got there, he raised the bar to almost 10 billion, 25 billion, 50 billion. Today, you can imagine the billions that Lagos is generating and he was the brain behind it. With the support of the current minister of finance for the Alpha beta they established. A lot of people can tell you stories about Alpha Beta. But Alpha beta got us out of the woods in Lagos. And up till now, nobody can change it. There was support for Christians and Muslims by his administration. I went to the holy land for the first time in 1999 and they called us Millennium Pilgrims. He supported it. And now he is the President, he has supported hajj. He has supported the Christian pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He believes in Prayer. Anytime he wants to do anything, you will see him go to Umrah. He went to Umrah four times before he contested for the Presidency. So God is with him and if God has destined somebody to do something, no human being can change it. So I believe strongly and he is generous to a fault, including the wife. If you go to them crying, you will smile when you are leaving. That is the kind of people they are. And they have changed the lives of so many people, and they have transformed their lives forever. And I cannot but believe in such individual. He believes in the philosophy of Awolowo. I believe in the philosophy of Awolowo, and Awolowo prepared me for greatness. I enjoyed the free education and because of that, any political party that tilts towards that I will easily fall for it, and that is what I’ve seen in Asiwaju, and he has become one of the greatest in Yorubaland whether anybody likes it or not. So it’s not noise, it is what you can deliver, and people will see it. He has gotten us out of the mess that we put ourselves with the AETA. We are no longer owing. So they removed our name, and that is what we want. So, more will still happen. External debt is being reduced every month. I’m aware of that. So Nigeria will be great again and I know he’s going to deliver by the special grace of God.
At the last presidential election, did you have any doubts in your mind that he was going to win that election?
I cannot doubt, because God has confirmed him, and that is why I came out with that boldness. You know, I dared a lot of people, even the Christian community, They fought with me at the national level. They threatened to removed me as the chairman of CAN in Lagos. They threatened me with so many things. And I told them, it’s not possible, because I am an individual and I have my independent opinion about issues. So I have the right to say my mind, whether I’m the Chairman of CAN or I am the Bishop, it does not matter. Every human being is a political animal, says, Augustine, and everybody knows that even those who are talking, they belong to one party either secretly or openly, and you cannot force me to join somebody I don’t believe in his philosophy. And I told them, sentimentally he is a Yoruba man. An Igbo man is up, an hausa man is up and you want me to go for an Igbo man? Or an Hausa man? I will not do that because I’m a proper Yoruba boy. And apart from being Yoruba, I have seen this man do this in Lagos. Lagos is now a mega city, mega state. Why can’t we now support such to happen? So under his administration, and you can see the allocations, he is giving to people. He does not care whether you are PDP state or APC state. Once you are doing good, he will associate with you, he will encourage you, and we must appreciate that in him. So let us know that God is the one that appoints people. He is the one that elects people. Once I was convinced that he was going to win, I spoke fearlessly, and today I’m not regretting it. The church is proud of me now, because they see me as the door for them to enter. And I never shut the door, and I would never shut the door, because it’s Grace. So once election is over, Governance has started, it has to be open to everybody. My office, as the Executive Secretary of NCPC is church office not my office. It belongs to the Christendom. And from what Mr. President has done, I have extended that hands of fellowship to all in Nigeria. There is no state that will tell me I don’t partake in their activities and support them, and I have records, and they all know it. So why can we not give glory to God, including all Nigerians, they enjoyed from that. And more will still happen. As long as God gives us life, we will do our best with the vision of Mister President. We know him, and that’s why he asked me go to beyond pilgrimage, to bring people together, to bring Nigerians together, to see that we can move Nigeria forward. United we stand, divided we fall. We shall do that every time.
