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A Journalist’s Account
As a journalist, it is not often that I stick my neck out to write about prophets or men of God that I barely know little or nothing about. Because I understand the sensitive nature of their job and how it can be so easy for them to trigger controversies in the course of speaking to the public, I try as much as I possibly can to keep a safe distance. This is because when the raging fire of their controversies begins, it can sometimes consume those who are also close them in the process. But not with Primate Ayodele Elijah, the founder and leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church. I trust him completely. I have no fears about getting embroiled in controversies with him. He is a confident and forthright man of God who will stand tall before any controversy and deal with it accordingly. He is fearless. He stands by his words. And he will never allow anyone or any group of people to pressure him to admit saying something he didn’t say.
Over the years, I have often received invitations to meet with Primate Ayodele. Our meetings usually held in his neat, expansive office tucked in the upper floor of the administrative building inside the church premises, a separate wing from the church auditorium. But this particular meeting was going to be different. I had requested for a brief meeting with the man currently regarded as one of the headline making prophets in the land. Primate Ayodele is becoming increasingly popular by the day on account of his staggering yet consistently accurate prophecies. This has earned him quite a handful of critics and detractors, but the man, in his usual element, will tell you he owes no one apologies for his growing popularity. He is not the least interested in the fame. It doesn’t faze him at all. His focus is to continue to reveal prophecies according to the dictates of God and speak truth to power, no matter whose ox is gored.
I needed to have a little interview session with the extremely busy primate. I was seeking to get his perception and prophecies regarding some of the horrendous incidents taking place in the country. But the man of God had sent words across to me to meet up with him on the prayer mountain where he had been in isolation for about two weeks. It was a strange response. I had never met with Primate outside of the confines of his church. And from my interaction with one of his aides, the said prayer mountain was located somewhere on the outskirts of Lagos. It was going to be quite a journey. But I remained undaunted. The necessary arrangement was made. I was to meet up with one of Primate’s aides, Dare, who would be waiting for me inside the church premises, and with a vehicle and driver ready, we would take off together.
On the day of the meeting, I was up early. Thankfully, traffic was light and in a less than two hours, I was already at Primate’s church in Oke-Afa, Ejigbo. Dare, the driver and the vehicle were all waiting. I sighted a new structure, the church’s new auditorium, nearing completion. I was told the new office building was ready and had since been commissioned for use. But the new auditorium will be a sight to behold when it’s ready. It is going to be an ultra modern building with state- of- the- art facilities. An inside source also revealed that the man of God has also began work on a big project, a 90 units of flats he intends to construct basically for the benefits of members of the church to enable them become house owners as well. The project, it was said, will be massive and will guIp millions of naira. I took pictures of the office building and noted in my book I was going to mention these projects to Primate.
We took off and embarked on a journey that was to last well over five hours. At some point, I was beginning to wonder if we would ever get there before dark and if there would be time for me to return home same day as I didn’t plan to stay till next day. But the driver, an elderly and extremely skilled man, told me to be patient, assuring me we would soon reach our destination. And indeed, we finally did. But there was still one small problem. We would have to walk a small distance because the road leading up to the prayer mountain was quite unmotorable. I hadn’t eaten all day so I stopped to take light snacks and a bottle of drink before we proceeded. I couldn’t risk undertaking such arduous task on empty tank. We parked the vehicle at a safe spot and began the final phase of our trip.
The road leading to the mountain was bumpy. It had been ravaged by erosion. There were huge and small stones everywhere, you had to be careful because a slip could earn you a broken arm or twisted ankle. Up on the prayer mountain was another scenario entirely. There were small bushes, swamps and several cleared spaces where prayer meetings had obviously taken place. There were all kinds rodents and reptiles crawling out from everywhere you turned to. Tiny cats and rabbits were not scarce occupants either. Eventually, we climbed up to a spot where we saw people in different groups praying vigorously as though the world was coming to an end. There were also several wooden sheds built to house some of the pastors and prayer warriors whom I was told practically lived there on the mountains. It was inside one of these sheds that Primate was staying in. I almost couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that Primate Ayodele Elijah, a man who could afford to lodge in any 7star hotel of his choice in the country, no matter how expensive it is, was actually staying inside one of these ‘shanties’!
We met a young man sitting outside the door. He and Dare exchanged greetings and he ushered us inside. The room was darkly lit. Dare opened the only window in the room for better illumination. There was nothing in the room except a bench, a flask and some bibles stacked in a corner of the room. Then, I saw a man lying on a mat on the floor at the far end of the room. I took one quick look at the figure dressed in white Jalamia, the face didn’t look familiar so I diverted my attention back to Dare.
“So, where is Primate, is he part of the group praying outside?” I asked him, expecting him to nod in the affirmative. But instead, he smiled and said to me, “But that’s Primate staring at you on the floor!”
I turned back to the gaunt looking figure on the mat that I’d dismissed moments ago. The man staring tiredly at me barely had any semblance to Primate. It was until the man extended his hand for a handshake and said, “Baba!” that was when I confirmed it was truly Primate. He was now sitting up on the floor. The voice was unmistakable. And Primate Ayodele is the only person that calls me ‘baba’. But the man had lost a whole lot of weight. His face had grown pale and his eyes had sunk deep into their sockets. He was unshaven. His beards had overgrown and he was looking so unkempt. Even his voice was barely audible. It was weak and it quivered when he talked.
“You couldn’t recognize me?” he asked. I promptly rose up from the bench where I sat and greeted him properly with a slight bow. I was staring at him in utter disbelief. He had emaciated greatly, almost beyond recognition. His good looks had totally disappeared. The intense fasting and prayers he had gone to do on the mountain had taken its toll on him. “Good afternoon, sir,” I said to him as I took his hand in mine. “Sit down, please,” he returned as he adjusted himself properly on the mat where he sat.
“Sir, you’re looking so different, I almost couldn’t recognize you,” I tried to explain why I couldn’t immediately tell he was the one lying on the floor when I first came him. The enigmatic man of God smiled. Then, he said, “When you’re on the mountain, without food, no light, no comfort, a lot will definitely change about you. Let us get down to business.”
That’s Primate Ayodele for you. A man of few words. Always focused. Has little or no time for frivolities. For him, he detests wasting of valuable time, it’s always straight to business. “You said you want me to look at some of the things happening right now and some of our prophecies that have come to pass, “the weak but not tired Primate began. “A lot of our prophecies are already coming to pass. Bad governance, increase in price of fuel, we await it all. We said there will be massive drop of electricity in the country, has that not been happening already? Has the situation in the country not gotten worse now? We have also been talking since last year about the kind of hardship Nigerians will face, is that not happening too? In fact, I do not want to scare anybody, but the truth is that, we have not even seen hardship yet with this government. There are already little protests coming up against the government because of this hardship people are facing, but the big protests will soon come again. By the time price of food commodities and cost of living continues to shoot through the roof, the economy will be shut down completely. Truth is that we have not seen anything yet. We need prayers in this country. Muslims and Christians need to come together and pray for Nigeria …”
We spoke for well over an hour. The man of God, despite his tired state, kept on releasing one prophecy after another and revealed what the Lord says about most of the happenings in the country. In due course, all of these shocking prophecies will be released and published for public consumption. At the end of my brief chat with the Primate, he got up and stepped outside the shed with me. And there, out there in the open, I got a clearer look at him. It was scary to see how much the two weeks of going without food had ravaged him so terribly. I wanted to take pictures of the surroundings, but the man outside the door insisted no pictures were allowed on the mountain. It’s some sort of standard rule on all prayer mountains. I was not even allowed to take Primate’s picture as well. I gave up but was consoled by the fact that I had seen things myself. And besides, the Primate has assured me that shortly after he’s back from the mountain, he would reach me and a few other selected journalists and reveal to us what his major prophecies for next year will be. I can’t wait.
– WALE LAWAL
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