Servant of the Most High God, Founder and Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, Nigeria, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has stressed the need for religious tolerance, harmony and peaceful coexistence in Nigeria.
Primate Ayodele made the call during the Eid-El-Kabir Service (Salat al-Eid) at the Alhaja (Dr) Abiba’tu Ashabi Mogaji Central Mosque at INRI, Ejigbo, Lagos State, Nigeria, on May 27, 2026.
Speaking during the service, Apostle Evang. Abegunde Olumide from INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, who represented the Primate, disclosed that what motivated him to attend the Eid El Kabir festival service despite being a Christian was to help propaganda religious tolerance.
He said, “It is to tell the doubting Thomases that we can as well propagate the faith of Islam vis a vis that of Christianity.
“And in the spirit of interreligious harmony which our father in the Lord, Primate Babatunde Elijah Ayodele, the Nostradamus of our time, has been preaching for long, that is to really give it support, to really give it reality, to tell people that it is true.
“You see, we don’t really believe this issue of religious riot, religious crisis, we don’t really need it in this country, and that is not what Jesus Christ preached, that is not what Prophet Muhammad preached.
“Look at it, we have a Mosque here beside a church, INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, I am a pastor there.
“And to really give it a stamp of authority, that is why I am here, to at lease show people that we are our brothers’ keepers, and we are one in unity, and we can showcase this unity, there is no need fighting ourselves, like what happened in Kano in those days, we don’t need it. We want a situation you can go to north and preach today, you can go to Port Harcourt and preach Islam, it does not really matter, your heart is there. When you look at it now, people are becoming religious bigots, religious fanatics, we don’t need all these things,” he stated.
On his message to the Moslem faithful, he said, “My message to my Moslem brothers and sisters, is that we should work in conjunction with our Christian brothers and sisters, we should behave in a way that will enhance unity, we should showcase the purpose, principles and teachings of Islam, vis a vis Christianity without recourse to religious bigotry and misunderstanding. Love, faith is very very important.”
He commended Primate Elijah Ayodele for what he stands for which is religious tolerance. “And I want to commend the man of God, Primate Elijah Ayodele. I think in the history of the annals of this country, I see him as a singular person faithfully preaching, establishing, investing and enhancing in this issue of inter religious harmony, that should be the bottom line and should be embedded in our heart,” he added.
Reverend Dr Diola Ayinde, one of the Parish Shepherds of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos. “We are trying to show that there is no tribalism in religion. We are one in Christ. Our father in the Lord, Primate Elijah Ayodele, taught us that there is no tribalism in religion. Anything moslems are doing, we should join them, anything Christians are doing, they should join us.
“My coming here is directed by my Primate, Elijah Ayodele, that I should be here. Even though I don’t know how to do what they are doing, but I am following them in the prayers, they have their rules and processes and I am following that, and that is how it should be.
“I can use this opportunity to tell anybody that is reading this that in anything you are doing, do it with faithfulness and truthfulness.
“My message to the Moslems is that they should do their religion in love and kindness because if you are worshipping God and you don’t have love, you are not kind, there is nothing you are doing,” he said
The Chief Iman of the INRI Mosque, in his message said he thanked God that he is alive to witness the day. “Our prayer for our father, Primate Elijah Ayodele, he is a better person, he is a good person, I pray for him to have long life, I pray God to make our father in the lord to grow well well,” he stated.
