Since Goodluck Jonathan ascended the
throne of Nigeria as President after the demise of Yaradua , one of his
favourite routine has been seeking the face of God in prayer. During the
constitutional crisis leading to the death of Yaradua President
Goodluck was made so uncomfortable
by different power plays that he had course to receive prayers from
different Christian groups genuinely concerned about the precarious fate
of Nigeria. Thus one of the first things he did as Acting President was
to call on Jasper Akinola, then Primate of the Anglican Communion to
suggest names of those to guide him spiritually and oversee the
chaplaincy of State House Chapel. Primate Akinola gave him three names
from which he appointed a chaplain. On the 9th of May , 2010,days after
the demise of Yaradua, president Goodluck walked into the presidential
wing of his office for the first time in the company of close aides like
Yayale Ahmed, then Secretary to the Federal Government, Ima Niboro,
presidential spokesman, Mike Oghadiome, his principal secretary and the
Chaplain of Aso Villa ,Venerable Obioma Onwuzurumba who offered prayers
to God for the peace and progress of the nation before the President
performed his first official assignment .
President
Goodluck Jonathan kneeling before Pastor Enoch Adeboye at the Holy
Ghost Congress one Friday night, last year. Photo: State House -
Pastor Adeboye Who Prayed For Obasanjo, Ibori, Fayose, Tinubu, Ibru, Erastus Akingbola (all crooks), also Prays For Jonathan
The attempt by President Goodluck to
seek divine guidance in the handling of the affairs of Nigeria was
hijacked by different groups of religious leaders especially from the
different Orthodox and Pentecostal denominations who turned the exercise
into a multibillion naira business.
Immediately president Goodluck
signified his intention to contest for the Presidency, coupled with the
threat of PDP northern elders on zoning, a financial breakthrough came
for those spiritual leaders. All manners of prophecies on how Babangida,
Atiku and others wanted to kill the President was making rounds. They
so much frightened the president with such theories and convinced him of
the need to release hundreds of millions of naira to different prayer
projects to secure his presidency.
The Christian Association of
Nigeria, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria and some groups under the
Anglican Communion made brisk business out of the situation. Money
ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of naira was
released numerous times for this prayer project. Some conferences were
sponsored by the presidency.
Unknown to the President, he has
become a source of mega financial breakthrough for some people. These
religious leaders usually organise minister’s conference or pastors
meetings and request all attendees to put down their names for onward
transmission to the president. They baited the impoverished and
unsuspecting pastors and church workers that the President wants to be
paying them monthly for prayers for Nigeria. These undiscerning pastors
will then struggle to put down their detail which is later forwarded to
the presidential prayer coordinators as evidence of a standing prayer
squad. Some collected the names of their church workers during workers
meetings and forwarded to the prayer coordinators in the State House as
evidence of a standing prayer group. They used this tactics to collect
money running into billions of naira from the president’s inner campaign
fund.
These some of these pastors
prophesied to Babangida before the Ciroma Concensus Committee rejected
him and preferred Atiku to run on behalf of the north. They then
switched over to Atiku and when he was manipulated out of the PDP
primaries, they switched over to Goodluck Jonathan. The only person they
did not carry the prayer project to was Buhari because they know that
only a ‘thank you’ greeting will come out of there. When one of the
prophets had a brush with the then governor Ibro of Kogi over the
looting of state treasury and the former governor was harassing him with
police and security agents, it took a phone call from Nigeria’s evil
genius from Minna before the governor withdrew his venom.
When the PDP convention was fast
approaching President Goodluck personally visited some mega churches
around the Lagos-Ogun axis for political prayers and sent high powered
emissaries to others for prayer support. Those privies to those meetings
and private discussions noted that there was no attempt by these
religious leaders to equally convince the president of the need for a
free and fair elections; neither did they impress it upon him to fight
corruption, which is Nigeria’s biggest problem. They also failed to
encourage him to muster the will to break the various cabals holding
Nigeria hostage. They only anointed him with oil; some gave him special
Bible, special oil and special handkerchief to use to defeat his
electoral enemies. They delivered the message of triumph to him and
failed to include the message of service to humanity.
The presidential prayer project was
elevated to another proportion when some religious leaders with
prophetic anointing were brought into the picture. This group led by a
young prophet based in Port Harcourt but who frequents Abuja for special
programme at the Women Development Centre, mesmerized the president and
his inner caucus with prophecies, calling people by their names, phone
numbers, account numbers and other family secrets. By the time he was
over he collected his share of the national cake in hundreds of millions
of naira which he used to buy a house in Maitama, Abuja. This young
prophet confirmed the speculation making rounds in pastoral circles in
the nation’s capital that he was given N500 million naira ($3.3million
dollars) as National Breakthrough Offering.
His equally young friend and prophet
based in Abuja who married a pretty lady with a lavish, celebrity laden
wedding reception at Thisday Dome in 2011 was reported to have
collected up to N450 million naira ($3million dollars) as prayer
offering. Another Abuja based Pentecostal Bishop from Taraba State was
accused of collecting hundreds of millions of naira for a section of the
prayer project. He was also rewarded with a brand new Toyota Land
Cruiser Jeep by the President. He has finished a stately designed
compact cathedral in the outskirts of Abuja. When some pastors who
mobilized their members to constantly pray for the peace of the nation
out of patriotism confirmed that indeed billions of naira flowed for
prayer project without their knowledge, it created disaffection and some
cried foul. The same prayer business that took place in Abuja was
replicated all over the country. Religious leaders of all denominations
used various styles to benefit from the prayer national cake through
links to the president The funds used to sponsor all these prayers were
drawn from the inflated subsidy bills which released abundant resources
to prosecute the elections.
Weeks before the removal of fuel
subsidy, these prayer tycoons saw another opportunity to take their
already enhanced financial status to the Bill Gates level. They
frightened the presidency with prophecies of how Buhari, Bakare,
Babangida, Atiku, Tinubu and Fashola wanted to sponsor fuel subsidy
protests and how God wants to deliver him from these evil men. They
prescribed prayer and fasting for the president and his inner caucus
before the removal of fuel subsidy. President Goodluck and his inner
caucus observed days of fasting and prayers between the 26th and 31stof
December, 2011. The principal purpose of the fast was to frustrate the
intended fuel subsidy removal protest. When these prayer machines gave
enough signals that God have taken control, the announcement of subsidy
removal was effected
President Goodluck was shocked at
the level of resistance to the fuel subsidy removal. He was equally
frightened at the security reports that a continuation of this protest
into the second week could precipitate a revolution with unpredictable
consequences for the thieving elites. When Nigerian Labour Congress
capitulated under controversial circumstances and suspended the mass
protests, the prayer groups praised their prayer prowess for labor’s
sudden volte-face. They were handsomely rewarded again for averting the
popular Occupy Nigeria protest and a possible revolution. For some that
managed to scramble a sort of prayer, the focus was on how God should
deal mercilessly with Pastor Tunde Bakare and his group of rascals from
the kingdom of darkness. Some of them were rewarded with some board
appointments especially the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment
Programme Board in their various states of origin and zones. Others got
their cronies into choice appointments in various boards of government
parastatals.
The constant harassment of the
nation by Boko Haram has become another spiritual money spinner. Various
groups are receiving prayer money running into billions of naira in the
name of securing the President against Boko Haram attacks. They failed
to impress on the president to expose his fellow party men linked to
Boko Haram. This spiritual stance of pampering Boko Haram sponsors while
the nation is on fire is a source of disagreement between the
national leadership of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some
of the prayer tycoons. CAN leadership believe that the President is too
timid in his handling of terrorism while the merchants believe that the
president’s security is of paramount importance. God is yet to give
these prayer merchants answer on how the nation can overcome Boko Haram
but they have insightful revelations on how the president can escape
Boko Haram attacks.
This prayer business has become a
multi billion naira breakthrough from the time President Goodluck
signified interest in contesting for the presidency. They failed to give
Jonathan the much needed spiritual guidance on how to bring about a
transformed Nigeria, devoid of corruption, mediocrity, lawlessness and
injustice. They failed to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as
illustrated by Apostle Paul in Romans Chapter 8 verse 9 which says that
‘’ For the earnest expectation of creation awaits the manifestation of
the sons of God’’ implying that impoverished Nigerians believed that
probably President Goodluck is the much awaited God sent leader who will
pull down the cabal that had feasted on the collective commonwealth of
Nigerians. They see divine visions on how all the enemies of Goodluck
will be crushed but no vision yet on how to bring peace to the troubled
nation. This is indeed a season of breakthrough for these servants of
God.
