BY OSHO OLUWATOSIN
When Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church is mentioned, what primarily comes to mind is prophecy. Primate Ayodele personifies prophecy. Whether you appreciate him or not, you will inevitably encounter his prophecies daily. Either he releases a new one, or the ones he previously shared are unfolding. In any case, his prophetic side is a daily experience.
Still on his prophetic prowess, Primate Ayodele accurately foresaw Nigeria’s economic situation before the 2023 presidential election. The video where he predicted current events in Nigeria keeps going viral on the internet. He extends his prophecies to various sectors—sports, education, governance, corporate organizations, and more. A few months ago, he trended on Twitter (Now X) after revealing scores of some matches, ceasing only when punters started using his prophecies for betting. In essence, Primate Ayodele is synonymous with prophecy.
For those keen on the man behind the prophecies, they acknowledge him as a philanthropist. Even Mr. Femi Adesina, the spokesman for Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari, a critic of his prophecies, admires Primate Ayodele’s philanthropic gestures. Adesina attested to the prophet’s massive philanthropy. Primate Ayodele is known as both a prophet and philanthropist. His philanthropic gestures know no bound; Primate Ayodele has given out several vehicles, has thousands of students on scholarships, pays accommodation fee, gives transportation fee to church members who are stranded, empowers the widows, youths and less privileged, support churches with funds, provide financial assistance for the medical bills of church members, support the Muslim communities with food items during Ramadan period, and many more. He is known majorly as a prophet and philanthropists.
For those who believe these are all Primate Ayodele is all about, well, they may be right based on their relationship with the man of God but I am privileged to be a little closer to him than those in the public and in my daily encounter with him, I can attest that there is a whole lot more about Primate Ayodele than being a prophet and a philanthropist.
However, beyond what the public knows, Primate Ayodele has dimensions beyond being a prophet and philanthropist. Contrary to perception, he doesn’t seek publicity for his prophetic warnings on social media or the internet. Despite prophecies being online, Primate Ayodele is not an attention seeker. He prefers to personally reach recipients but turns to the media when other means fail.
What many don’t know is that Primate Ayodele goes to great lengths, even utilizing personal resources, to deliver prophetic messages. Fuji maestro Wasiu Ayinde revealed that Primate Ayodele used to send hand-written prophecies to him, even without a personal relationship.
As his media aide, I have travelled to several countries especially within Africa to deliver hand –written prophecies to personalities just because Primate Ayodele is passionate about his ministry. I remember Primate Ayodele sent me to Kenya in 2021 before the presidential election to deliver a letter to President William Ruto, who was a deputy president then and Raila Odinga who is the opposition leader. The letter was to give them prophetic directions and revelations about how their presidential election would look like. He doesn’t know any of these people and wasn’t looking for a way to start a relationship with them, He only wanted to do the will of God. Unfortunately, none of them acknowledged the letters and this made Primate Ayodele start talking about the election and the chances of the two presidential candidate in the media. At the end of the day, top Kenya news websites applauded Primate Ayodele for being the only prophet to accurately foretell the outcome of the presidential election even before campaign started.
Primate Ayodele doesn’t believe in approaching the media when you have prophecies for certain individuals; the media is always his last resort after trying other means of contacting them personally.
I haven’t seen any prophet who wishes his prophecies don’t come to pass apart from Primate Ayodele. He was at a press conference some years ago and was asked about how he feels whenever his prophetic warnings, especially the negative ones come to pass and his response was that he always feel terrible. Some people call him ‘a prophet of doom’ because all his negative prophecies come to pass but this man doesn’t even feel happy when they do. As a prophet, it is his duty to warn ahead of time so those involved can quickly make amends to avert trouble from happening but when they don’t listen, the words of the prophet will definitely come to pass.
Beyond ministry, Primate Ayodele possesses one of the best personalities. If not a prophet, he would be celebrated as the best man alive due to his genuine goodness.
One thing that struck me is the fact that he is a very compassionate person, he may appear tough and rigid but really, he is too compassionate and has a soft spot for everyone around him at any given point. I remember last year when a journalist who had sight problems attended his annual thanksgiving programme. He had planned to empower him with about N200,000 cash to support his career and didn’t know about his sight issues; apparently, he had been speaking with him just over the phone. Primate Ayodele immediately noticed the sight issue when the journalist, who was assisted by his wife, stepped out from the crowd to claim his cash gift. He gave him the cash and asked from his wife about the sight issues. In her explanation, it was deduced that they needed some certain amount to carry out an operation in order to enable the journalist see properly. Immediately, Primate Ayodele asked them to meet him later for the funds needed to run the operation. It was an emotional moment for everyone present and I was surprised to see other journalists shedding tears in acknowledgment of the distinguished compassion Primate Ayodele has for mankind.
Another salient information people don’t have about Primate Ayodele is that he is a very jovial person, I don’t think any of our comedians can make one laugh as hard as this man of God would make everyone laugh. He is naturally a happy person that loves to make people happy. You won’t see him around any boring person because he doesn’t exude such energy, he loves to laugh and make people laugh. Have you seen Primate Ayodele dance? He has different steps even the best dancers don’t have. I remember asking him some time ago on the inspiration behind his never-seen-before dance steps and he jokingly said they come from the spiritual realm. Truthfully, I haven’t seen them in the physical realm before.
What about his love for football? Despite his busy schedule, Primate Ayodele will always find time to watch football especially when Chelsea FC and Nigeria play. I don’t think there is any AFCON match that he missed because of his love for football. He loves football to a fault but only stops watching when it gets to penalty shootout due to the tension that surrounds that aspect. If I call to ask if he is watching especially during penalty shootout, he would say ‘I am watching with one side of my eyes’.
I have also come to understand that his love for football is borne out of patriotism. He fell in love with Chelsea FC when the club started signing black players from Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Chelsea FC signed Mikel Obi, Victor Moses, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Malouda, and several other Africans and this made him fall in love with the club up till date.
When Primate Ayodele prophesy sometimes about Nigeria, people feel he hates the country and doesn’t want progress for the nation but little do they know that this man even loves Nigeria more than they do. He wants the nation to be better at all cost and that’s why he is always speaking truth to those in authority so they can make amends. I haven’t met anyone as patriotic as Primate Ayodele when it comes to Nigeria. Primate Ayodele’s love for the country is so much that he doesn’t go on trips that will make him spend more than three days outside the country. I am aware of the Visas, international invitations he has gotten from different continents but declined them because he doesn’t want to spend days out of the country. This isn’t because of his church because INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church has a strong structure, Primate Ayodele doesn’t even minister everytime, he has series of pastors that can stand in gap if he is not around but he just loves Nigeria too much despite the criticisms.
Furthermore, this may shock you but Primate Ayodele loves President Bola Ahmed Tinubu so much. It’s difficult to believe because he was one of those who stood against this government during election period due to all what God showed him and are happening presently but truth is he loves Tinubu. He advised him to take care of his health before thinking about becoming president and some months after this statement, Tinubu was flown out of the country for more than three months for medical purposes. You would notice that since Tinubu won the election, Primate Ayodele has been offering solutions to economic problems all because he loves the president. Although, his stance against Muslim-Muslim presidency remains valid, Primate Ayodele will always stand by what is right at all times but regardless, he loves the president of Nigeria.
There’s more to Primate Ayodele than meets the eye, but to keep it brief, I’ll conclude here. And by the way, Primate Ayodele’s birthday is today, Wednesday, 14th of February 2024. Please, wish him well.
· Osho Oluwatosin is an award-winning journalist, the publisher of www.trixxng.com and the media aide to Primate Elijah Ayodele.