Primate Ayodele’s 1,000 Trumpets Fail To Blow N150m

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO—

The prominent individual involved in the N150 million demand to import Chinese trumpets is not even a member of Primate Elijah Ayodele’s INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, located in Oke-Afa, Lagos. Please note this moot point concerning the expansive reach of the religious enterprise.

In fact, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, who is the complainant in the matter before the Department of State Service (DSS), is a devout Muslim. Incidentally, he was in a mosque performing his pilgrimage in Mecca when Ayodele allegedly pestered him with calls and text messages last April.

Although Adelabu informed the Primate that he was in a mosque in Mecca, Ayodele advised the complainant on which Muslim prayer to recite and how to offer the supplications to the Almighty, stating, “recite almu nasira 200 times.” This should be noted as cross-cutting industry expertise, and it should count.

In messages that are in the public domain, the Primate told Adelabu that he had been a person of peculiar interest to him since his days as Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, a position Adelabu held from 2014 to 2018.

Ayodele detailed the attempts he made to reach Adelabu, a grandson of the prominent First Republic politician, Adegoke Adelabu.

The Primate’s proposal was clear and direct: he would help Adelabu achieve victory in the 2027 Oyo State governorship election. Adelabu’s two previous attempts had failed.

Bolaji Tunji, Adelabu’s Special Adviser on Strategic Communications and Media Relations, stated in a petition dated 13 October 2025 to the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS): “I write to formally draw the attention of the Department of State Services (DSS) to the extortive, deceitful, and inciting activities of one self-acclaimed pastor known as Primate Elijah Ayodele, of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church.

“His actions have become not only personally distressing to the Honourable Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, but also capable of disturbing public peace and undermining the integrity of the political process in Oyo State.

“Since his tenure as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and particularly in the period leading up to his current aspiration to serve as the Governor of Oyo State, this individual has persistently approached him with unsolicited offers of “spiritual intercession” to guarantee Adelabu’s success at the polls.”

The Primate asked for 24 APC flags and 1,000 pieces of saxophones/trumpets for the prayers. The used, Nigerian-grade musical instruments would cost N50 million, and the imported, grade-one instruments from China would cost N130 million. Nobody needed to be advised that the Almighty could be best worshipped with first-grade instruments.

“Sir, I don’t do this, but because of the love I have for you,” the Primate’s text message read. “I have divine advice for you, sir, which can help a lot, sir. Kindly pick up my call.”

When the Minister did not patronise him, the Primate, according to the petition, told his congregation that Adelabu would not become Oyo Governor.

Continuing the petition, it states that under the guise of procuring spiritual favour for the Minister, the Primate “had on several occasions demanded huge sums of money and expensive spiritual items, cumulatively amounting to over N150 million (one hundred and fifty million naira), as purported prerequisites for divine favour.

“Following the Honourable Minister’s refusal to accede to his extortionate demands, Primate Ayodele has embarked on a campaign of malicious and false prophecies targeted at discrediting him publicly. He has gone as far as declaring through various media channels that ‘God told him he will not win the election’ and has recently made more provocative and inciting statements suggesting that he would fail because of his association with the ‘Èmi Lòkan’ slogan (“It’s my turn”).

“I therefore urge the Department of State Services to kindly investigate the activities of the said Pastor Ayodele for extortion, blackmail, and deliberate dissemination of false and inciting information; compel him to retract his false prophecies and issue a formal written apology; and bring him under the force of the law, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and Criminal Code, to deter similar fraudulent religious practices in the future,” the petition concluded.

“I did not blackmail him. We did not have any transactions. Again, no money was exchanged between us,” the Primate countered.

“I discussed some terms with him, which he did not agree with. I did not make any attempt to extort him. I can sell my services for any amount. I can value it at N1 billion, as much as I provide the value he wants. It’s nobody’s business. Why did you come to me in the first place if you didn’t believe in me? What are you doing with someone you claim is dishing out fake prophecies? He can say anything he likes.”

“I’m big. I’m not poor. I take care of vulnerable people. I’m blessed in the Lord,” Ayodele told TheCable. Ayodele has been severally accused of merchandising his predictions, which deal mostly with politicians.

“See, I have seen money; God has blessed me; there is nothing I want again in life; I have cars; I have driven different cars, and I think the only thing I want is a helicopter or a plane. I feel for the needy, but instead of me using that money to buy a plane, I would rather use the money to take care of the widows, orphans, and vulnerable children,” Ayodele said in a September 2024 interview with The Punch, while reacting to insinuations that his predictions were for sale.

With prophets and primates directing the electoral space, where would the will of the people count? Our lean foreign exchange earnings are also dispersed in importing spiritual materials from China. We cannot manufacture “spiritual materials.”

The DSS will be tasked to use this petition to “deter” other practitioners of spiritual businesses that plan schemes to discomfort innocent people like the Minister.

Could the Primate’s distraction have impacted the pathetic situation with the electricity supply? This aspect of the investigation would interest the public, whom the Minister is supposed to serve.

Finally…

ALIKO DANGOTE does not know how to fight. Rather, the richest man in Africa is a rough fighter – no concealed punches, a thrower of roundhouses that can leave his flanks bare. He does not care if he breaks an arm delivering a knockout.

Two oil and gas sector regulatory chiefs have lost their jobs over Dangote’s allegations against them. The most striking of these was the expenditure of more than $5 million spent on school fees abroad. Unless Dangote has more in his gloves, he must; he could wear himself out in what would be a long-drawn battle in a sector where corruption is expected, if not accepted. The public appears to be massively on Dangote’s side, who they see as a saviour, no longer a monopolist, because of his refinery that has stabilised the price of fuel.

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu has fallen into a habit of starting small fights, stirring controversies as covers for bigger matters that are yearning for his attention. What did his ADC, Colonel Nurudeen Alowonle Yusuf, do in less than one year to merit a promotion to Brigadier-General?

He was decorated as a Colonel only on 9 January 2025. The military hierarchy is said to have, in many words, told their Commander-in-Chief that the promotion should be cancelled. In fairness to Tinubu, Nigerians did not understand what he meant when the ADC was decorated in January.

“He is worthy of the promotion, and I am very happy for him. Nurudeen is a diligent and reliable officer with the right temperament. I believe he will go farther and farther in his profession,” Tinubu had said at the event.

ARE the abducted students of St. Mary’s Catholic School, Papiri, Niger State, still “doing fine and will be back soon,” as the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, described their plight in the early days of their kidnap? The children have reportedly been released “after intense negotiations,” 28 days after they were taken away.

SENATOR Ireti Kingibe’s motion to call Nyesom Wike’s attention to the deteriorating sanitary conditions of the Federal Capital Territory was declared technically flawed in the Senate and had to be withdrawn. Wike, his supporters say, is doing well, whatever he is doing, however he is doing it.

• ISIGUZO is a major commentator on minor issues