‘’If Nigerians vote for APC in 2023, the country will sink, we will swim in poverty, and the economy will be in shambles. If APC wins, Nigeria will suffer extraordinarily. We have not yet seen hardship; if APC wins, the real hardship will come. The economy will be sick.’’
These were the words of a popular Nigerian prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church in October 2022 before the Nigerian presidential election was held in 2023.
‘’Subsidy is gone’’, it’s been one year since Mr. President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu made this statement that would later lead to a rocky beginning of his administration. It was his first major statement as the democratically elected President of Nigeria and as the nation marks the first anniversary of Mr. Tinubu’s administration today May 29, 2024, it is discernable that the ripple effect of his statement still lingers on account of the inexplicable catastrophe that continues to face a larger percentage of the country’s population.
Anatomizing the prophecy of Primate Ayodele and President Tinubu’s statement, it can’t be gainsaid that the prophecy of Primate Ayodele began to come to pass with the first public statement of the Grand Commander of The Federal Republic (GCFR) of Nigeria. Maybe the president’s intention wasn’t to cause economic woes but the blowback of his announcement initiated a renewed economic turmoil, bringing to fruition Primate Ayodele’s prophetic description of another APC government and Tinubu’s administration.
‘’I’m not saying anyone should not insult me; I am not scared of any human being. If Nigeria votes for APC in 2023, things will be tougher. We will see human beings and want to eat them like food. This is how God told me. I am not saying you should not criticize me or say anything against me even as an APC member, I warned you in 2015 too. If you want to vote for lies in 2023, if you vote for the party that has a broom as their symbol, I pity churches. I am not against anybody and I don’t vote, Nigeria will be tough. If you vote and Tinubu enters, there will be serious problems.’’
Immediately President Tinubu made the statement about removing fuel subsidies, there and then, fuel skyrocketed to N617/Litre and exponentially, every essential commodity became adversely affected, leading to more than 100% increase in the prices of food items, household items, electronics, to mention but a few.
Another early decision taken by the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration was the floating of Nigerian currency, Naira, in an attempt to curb the incessant increase in foreign exchange rate. Unfortunately, Naira rose to N890/$ in the first week of the policy and later exceeded N1,500 as a result of Naira floating. There were several attempts to bring it down; the government declared war on BDC operators, stopped cryptocurrency platforms from operating in the country yet the currency is still performing woefully in the foreign exchange market.
These were executions of Primate Ayodele’s prophecy where he warned Nigerians against voting for a wrong candidate before the election.
‘’If Nigeria vote for a wrong candidate, dollar will rise to N1,500, diesel will rise to N1,500 or N2,000, bread of N200 will be N800, cost of living will be high, and I am telling you terrorism will be high, prepaid meter bill will be high and the rate of poverty will be high. This will affect both the rich and the poor, we may get it wrong the way we are going about it, we are getting it wrong.’’
‘’Let God direct us to get the right president in 2023, if we get the wrong president, our economy will fail. I am afraid of the country. This is a sensitive time in our country, making noise will not solve anything at this moment’’
The government has made efforts to save the country which appears to be on a tailspin but there have been no improvement, rather, it’s been significant calamities and unequivocal torture on the good people of Nigeria with taxes and tariffs. To further demonstrate the quagmire Nigerians found themselves in, inflation rate has increased to 33.69 from 22.41 within one year, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, still fulfilling the prophecy of Primate Ayodele.
‘’I am seeing a new government of sorrow, hardship, failure, economic disappointment, there will be more hardship because God never approved another APC government for Nigerians.’’
“Under this new government, Nigeria will not be regarded internationally, this government will not make it better than what we experienced in the outgoing government.’’
‘’I foresee there will be a high cost of living as tariffs on goods and services will be raised and taxes will be too high despite the fact that the goods are not contraband. The spirit of God says the economy will still be very difficult to manage. The government needs to do something good for the people and seek the face of the Lord for divine direction.’’
On Security, President Tinubu’s administration has performed deplorably in securing the nation as expected. 85 Civil Society Organizations CSOs asserted that 4,416 Nigerians were killed while 4,334 abducted in the last one year. According to the leadership of the various CSOs including Global Rights Nigeria, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre CISLAC, and others, Nigeria ranked 144th out of 163 countries on the Global Peace Index in 2024, sandwiched between countries inactive warfare, and 5th on the Global Conflict Index, ranking as being extremely vulnerable to conflict.
Primate Ayodele’s prognostications about President Tinubu’s ability to secure the nation were indeed a reflection of all that is happening in the country’s security sector. The enigmatic prophet specifically mentioned that kidnapping would be an issue in the present administration and until the security operatives woke up from their slumber, there were reports of kidnapping daily especially in Abuja.
“Kidnap: I foresee that a Commissioner and an aide in a Governor’s convoy will be kidnapped. The spirit of God says kidnapping will take another dimension. Let us pray for all governors in Nigeria that none of them will be bedridden.’’
Additionally, Primate Ayodele revealed several other things including corruption in the government which came to pass with the indefinite suspension of Betta Edu as minister, the unreliability of cash palliative which was later suspended, to mention but a few.
“Corruption will hit this government hard except the government is ready to fight corruption from the root,”
‘’The N8,000 palliative is corruption, I see nothing in the palliative and it will not reach out to the poor masses. Despite the fact that Mr President has signed it, it will not make any impact. The governors will use it for their selfish needs. The poor will not enjoy it at all.
In the first year of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his administration has fulfilled the prophetic revelation of Primate Ayodele especially in the economy and security aspects of the country. Conversely, Primate Ayodele has proffered solutions to the unending crisis facing the country but sadly, the administration is yet to take actions on them.
“If Tinubu doesn’t get to work immediately and find a way to solve our economic issues, there will be massive protests. The people are crying already, salary earners are not satisfied and it will get to a state where governors will not be able to pay salaries again.
“Government of Nigeria must work on five things in 2024 which can make the country to be great: Stable light, Improve security and buy more weapons, Development of infrastructural facilities, Agriculture (plenty of food) and Create employment.’’
Going forward, there is an urgent need for the government to take deliberate steps to bring about significant improvement in the country’s economy and security. As the President begins his second year in office, it is imperative that he follows counsels like that of Primate Ayodele who foretold all that has happened and simultaneously provided solutions to Nigeria’s predicament.
