Founder of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Babatunde Ayodele, speaks with AJIBADE OMAPE on the circumstances surrounding his prophecies and how he told then-Governor Bola Tinubu in 2001 that he would be elected president of Nigeria

How did you become a man of God and Founder of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church?

My name is Primate Ayodele, how I became a man of God; I have started this mission as God directed; I’ve been to celestial, Cherubim and Seraphim, I’ve joined SU, I’ve been in the gospel church before God sent me a message to start the mission in 1994; and I was picked with other disciples because I did not want to do it. I wanted to become a military personnel, I wanted to be a lawyer or a mass communicator, but all these did not come to reality, so we started in 1994 till date, and God said that this was going to be my church; and that it was going to be evangelical and ever since then we have been seeing the hands of God.

In September 2023, you made a prophecy about states being in debt, was there an inspiration behind the prophecy, or was it due to the economic crisis in the country?

Well, I need to set the record straight, all my prophecies occur years before they come to manifestation.

In 2001, I had a personal encounter with the sitting president who was then a governor at his office called Roundhouse; and I told him that he would still become the president of Nigeria. One of his commissioners took me to the Roundhouse in Alausa, Ikeja to go and pray for him; and I told him, “Sir, I don’t know when it would come to pass but you will rule Nigeria and you will not understand how you will get there”.

So you see, this is not speculations and predictions, I have passed that level.

See I started prophesying in 1988 and I have prophesied not just for individuals but also for nations. I’ve given prophesies all over the world; so I am not a noisemaker. I act as God directs.

I want to be very humble, and this economic crisis is not news to me because I have known that it would happen and I know what is going to happen from beginning to the end, so whatever I’m saying I’m not saying it to go against anybody, and I’m not saying it because of money. 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 to use that money to buy a plane, I would rather use the money to take care of the widows, orphans, and vulnerable children.

I started taking care of widows in 2002, and people supporting me then are still supporting me. They include people like Jimoh Ibrahim.

So when I say any prophecy, people tag it to be as if I’m favouring people; if it favours labour, they will say I am a labour prophet and I have collected money from them if it favours APC they will say I am an APC prophet. So I have been given different names in the course of my prophecy. If I make a prophecy, I will ask God correctly, whether it favours you or it does not, it’s not my business. I do not make prophecies because of money or because I want to scare anybody. So anything I say is to the glory of God and if it does not come to pass now it will come to pass later.

For crying out loud, I pray against my prophecies, asking God not to let them come to fulfilment, yes, if it doesn’t come to fulfilment , it’s my joy I owe nobody any explanation because I am answerable to God alone. So there is nothing behind it. I just said it the way God revealed it.

Before the dollar went up I said it was going to go up to N1,200, N1,300. Go and check there are records. When I said that we would not see a bread of 200 naira again, it happened.

Tinubu has not seen what is coming ahead of him. What he is seeing is just a preamble of what is to come. Let me be quiet because people claim that I do not like this government, but it’s a lie. I am only acting as God directs and I’m not saying anybody should like me. If they want to kill me let them kill me, I will continue to tell the truth. So I’m not saying anything for anybody to love me and I’m not saying it to gather any momentum or for anybody to give me accolades for what I’m saying.

Before the death of Yar’adua, I was the first prophet to say that he would not finish his term. it was published in Global Excellence magazine in December 2006. I even said that he would spend 67 days in office.

Some people say you only look at trends to arrive at what you call prophecy, Is there a truth to it?

See, it is only those who hate God who will hate me. Those who don’t want to hear from God will not want to hear the truth. Before Ali Bongo was removed from office, I said that his time had come to an end and he would be taken out of office through a coup. Anything I’m saying here is not for you to defend me or write anything good about me. It happened in 2023; before the coup in Niger, I warned the president that a coup was coming. I have it on record.

Also, before the emergence of this government, I warned Nigerians that if they voted for this government, they would see what would happen. People were fighting me and saying that I had collected money from Atiku Abubakar. I had never met Atiku in my life. I’m one of those people who has been called names on the internet and I’m not bothered.

Before petrol went to #650, I told Nigerians that they would buy petrol for #400, people were bashing me, there is nothing they did not say about me. So, I’m not making prophecies around the trends of what is happening. I say my own ahead of time.

In 2023, I said that cement would increase in price, how much is cement now?

Before Joe Biden emerged in 2020, I was the first to say he was the best candidate to win the election. Before the emergence of Rotimi Akeredolu as governor in Ondo, I was one of the first people to say that he was the candidate that would win in Ondo state. And before Akeredolu fell sick, I warned him of his sickness, but he did not listen to me.

In 2005, before Fashola emerged, I was saying that a greenhorn would emerge in Lagos state and it happened.

Some people call me a political prophet, but by the time you give a prophecy about a nation you become a political prophet; this is not my perspective, it’s what the Lord says.

Before the emergence of Obaseki’s second term, I warned Oshiomole that Obaseki would emerge. So that is just it.

Your prophecies are not usually specific. Sometimes you say people should pray that traditional rulers won’t die and so forth. Why is it always like that? What stops you from mentioning names?

I can tell you this straight, that is not correct. There was an earthquake in America recently, I mentioned some countries that will witness that earthquake, but let them pray. Remember I said I pray against my prophecies. One of my saddest days is when a bad prophecy comes to pass.

I must tell you this, in 2020, I met Herbert Wigwe and I told him to pray against an accident that would happen to him that could claim his life. Since I had his contact then, why would I go and publish it? It’s not anybody’s business because I have discussed with him if he likes it or not he should pray. Wigwe was so scared of my prophecy that he stopped talking to me. He said my prophecy was too scary.

So when I say pray against the death of traditional rulers, is it not a good recommendation? When God says I should mention a name, I do, and when he doesn’t instruct me to mention a name I don’t because I’m not in charge of the prophecy. Sometimes when I mention names people still say I am fake, maybe because the person is old; so I am not saying anything to satisfy anybody.

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I love my critics because they make me more prepared; I started talking to journalists in 1994 and my first prophecy was published in Lagos Weekend Times when I said the Super Eagles would win the Tunis 1994 and it is on record. So, is it now that I will say I’m afraid to say specifically what would happen?

I’m the first to say that King Charles will have an ailment and I mentioned his name based on instructions, Sometimes God will instruct me to keep the prophecy but contact the person and tell him/her to pray.

I met Oba Isolo and told him ‘Kabiyesi pray for your health and long life’ but he did not listen to me, I even invited him, but am I supposed to publish that as well, I won’t. So, that is it. And more Obas and Emirs are still going to die mysterious deaths this year.

Before the assassination of two Obas in Ekiti state, I said it. I have documents on that and you can go online to verify. So when God says I should mention a name, I do and when he instructs me not to mention a name, I don’t and that’s the truth. So if I say something that is not favourable to some parties, they begin to hate me. All I say is as God says.

There are a lot of Tinubu ministers who won’t finish their terms. When Betty was removed, some people said I didn’t mention her name. Do I have to mention her name; the prophecy has already been laid. You go and do your own if you know better. Before Nigeria went to the Nations Cup, I warned the NFF president that Nigeria would see the cup but their hands wouldn’t touch it. But I won’t tell you about everybody I speak with. My words are for wise people.

If God sends me to you I will come, but it’s your decision if you will listen to me or not.

I warned Emefiele last year in February and I gave him a final warning in April but they said I was fake and they did not mind me. who is paying for it now? He is paying dearly for it; I said it specifically.

You likened the killing of sixteen Nigerian Army personnel in Delta State to a “civilian coup” against the military, what prompted that statement?

Let me say it this way; I don’t talk anyhow and I don’t talk when God does not ask me to. I salute the appointment of the service chiefs by the President. I salute him for picking the right people.

When it comes to security, on my page on Facebook and the rest, I do give warnings to states to be careful. Before that time God revealed to me that they would lay an ambush on military men and it would cost them their lives. I didn’t have a place to send the message, so I posted it on my page. If you go to my page you will still see that I warned military personnel. Now it has come to pass and what prompted that was a prophecy from the Lord. It was a warning from the Lord to the military personnel, but nobody yielded to it.

Another big king will die in Lagos state. There is more trouble for kings but I don’t want to mention anybody’s name. It will happen from the top. So back to the killing of military personnel, it was a warning from God; and it’s just what the Lord told me that it’s a coup.

See, some people are coming together to frustrate Tinubus’s government, to make his government unstable, and in less than a few months you will begin to see it. So Tinubu must watch out against a political coup towards 2027, quote my words. So this thing that happened in Delta is also a civilian coup against the military, and I still tell you that the military facilities will need to be careful because any attack can come again.

The following states also need to be watchful Yobe, Maiduguri, Borno, Kano, Kaduna, Sokoto, Anambra, Ebonyi, Niger and Taraba. They need to be very watchful because they will be threatened.

So that is why I am saying this now because these service chiefs are wonderful and I want them to prepare and be ready for battle from late June/July. Also, we don’t want any military personnel to be killed or kidnapped, now I have said this beforehand.

You advised that the government shouldn’t give anyone money for palliative purposes because it will amount to corruption, how will you say the government agencies took the advice?

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You see the government did not get the palliative well. In December, we tested it in our church with about 10,000 people where I sold a bag of rice for 20,000 and it’s on record.

I will be in Ekiti state on the 26th and I will do the same thing there. A bag of rice will go for 20,000 and a half bag will go for 10,000. We are the first to do it and I’m sorry to say this before they say I am too proud but that’s what happens when God inspires you as the first person to do such a thing. The government failed in the palliatives. They failed because they were not supposed to give the money to politicians but to technocrats, religious leaders, and traditional rulers; they would have identified the people who needed it better. Even with the market they go for the items, it’s a simple thing because we don’t need dollars. What we need is to have mechanised farming. We can produce rice mills, there are a lot of rice mills in Nigeria that the government can build and support to reduce the price of rice. And for petrol, it’s only when we begin to process our crude in Nigeria that we will not have problems. Dangote refinery cannot help the Nigerian economy at all. I’m not saying this for anybody to like me, but time will tell.

So for the palliatives, instead of sending money to individuals, let them use the money to buy more food. Get a government market and reduce the price of food. If I can sell a bag of rice for N20,000 as an individual, the government should sell for seven thousand. If I can sell half a bag for N10,000, the government can sell for two thousand. You will see it online in Ekiti state, I will reduce the price of food. I may not be able to reach the 1,000 mark, but I will make sure I reach 200 to 250 people because that is my capacity. Nobody is sending me, it’s God that is sending me. So I am not doing it for anybody to hail me.

Like student loans, the government has not gotten it right because it will still cause corruption. It’s a good idea but it will not last, except if the government does it in a better way, there will be corruption.

There are insinuations that you are a member of the PDP that’s why you said people should not vote for the APC in 2023.

Please, I belong to who? Is it not what I saw that I said? Not even Peter Obi can do it better. I have never met Atiku Abubakar in my Life. If I’m in the midst of people putting on ordinary clothes, it is just my face that people may know. I have seven million followers online. It’s open to people anywhere in the world.

Let me say this, in Niger, Idris will win the coming election. Now check this out, before the fall of George Weah, I warned him about the elections. I had the opportunity to speak with his deputy, a woman who said that I couldn’t see the president but I could talk to her. She sent a plane to pick me but I told her God sent me to the president and not her so I didn’t go. I said voting for this man for president, Liberia will face a lot of challenges. I also sent a warning to the Liberian president to pray for his health. So I guess the people will say I have collected money from George Weah right?

Also, in the Benin Republic, you will see that the president wanted to take many steps politically and the opposition will deal with him by coalition.

In Cameroon, the coalition will send away Paul Biya in the next election. In South Africa, the president will lose the majority in the House. Ramaphosa will lose the majority in the house, so that seat is shaking; so when I say this, I’m talking outside the country. Now they have not done their elections.

I warned John Mahama that they were going to lose this election if they were not careful and he is my friend.

I have never voted because I don’t have anybody to vote for. So if I were Atiku’s person, I would have enjoyed it. I was building a church worth billions of naira, and Atiku did not give me any money. At least if I belonged to his party he would have supported me. No politician has ever supported me, it’s only God. People just hate the truth, and when I said so I did not deny it. I don’t belong to those prophets who will deny what they said. If any prophet heals and wakes up people from the dead, then it means that nobody must die in their family again.

Before the Israel and Gaza war, I was the first to say it. When I talk, I should now say they should go and delete it, no. You can use it against me if it is the wish of God.

Now I have warned Mali. They want to frustrate the democracy in Mali. In South Sudan, the election would change and if the president goes for election if he wins, he will not last; like in Equatorial Guinea now, the president’s life is shaking. I’m only telling you all of this now so that you will know that I am not talking about Nigeria and our politics alone and I’m not talking about who becomes what.

I talk about everything, climate, education, security name it. Before the earthquake in the US, God had spoken to me since last year concerning it. I’m not a public person or a social or flamboyant pastor; you can’t just see me anywhere except a place where God instructs me to go; that is why I did not join the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN because they are political and there’s no constructive ideology in CAN.

The allegation against me is just that maybe I have collected money from politicians. You can’t blackmail me. Go and quote me anywhere, I don’t go out. If at all you call me for a church programme, I will ask God about it and follow his instructions on whether to go or not. And if I don’t go I will send a representative.

I am very prominent in the newspapers because of my prophecies. If you mention five prophets today in Nigeria, not pastors now, I mean prophets, if you don’t mention me first, you will mention me second or third. God has given me fame on his own not by a human. I have taken my prophecy beyond Nigeria.

Before the coronavirus outbreak, I said that a disease was coming from China. The prophecy was publicised, but nobody took it seriously until it started spreading.

When Buhari was brought in, I said Nigeria would not gain anything from his administration. Did we gain anything?

The economy will not be better until 2026. So I tell you this, Nigerians must help the president with prayers because the people he believes in so much will not help but condemn him.

The hunger issue you talked about then is almost a worldwide issue. Why did you talk about it in Nigeria alone?

I have a video where I said there would be a global famine and drought. If we talk about hunger, not everywhere will see hunger o, but I’m most concerned about Nigeria; Nigeria will witness not just hunger but anger. We have not finished, another phase of hunger is still coming if the government refuses to listen and that phase of hunger will lead to economic protest.

Some banks are shaking and I’m sure you’re expecting me to mention names but I will just leave it that way.

I warned Emefiele but he didn’t take it seriously. Besides, IMF advice and policy will kill Nigeria’s economy, I don’t know anything about the economy, I’m a novice. So I’m sure people will say I’m satanic or call me a doom prophet. They can call me any name, and I’m not bothered. Coups is not yet over in Africa, another coup is coming.

Has God told you who will win the Ondo and Edo governorship elections?

In Ondo state, the pendulum is swinging towards the present governor to win the primaries. In the Edo state election that is coming now, in a free and fair election with no rigging, APC will win.

In the Ondo state election, the PDP, Labour, and NPP, are wasting their time, APC will win unless God changes it.

Since I’m an APC prophet, some people will not like me. When I warned Adams Oshiomole that time, I was supporting Godwin Obaseki but nobody saw that one; I was given day-to-day updates, but for now, except God changes it, that election is going for APC.

Does God actually speak with you?

I don’t want to be a pastor who says he sees God face to face, or he sees God driving a Range Rover. One pastor says he drank tea with God. That is blasphemy. I see some pastors are making miracle money, but all these are fake. I don’t know them, so it’s not like I am afraid. That being said; the Lord speaks to me through his angels or clairvoyance. I close my eyes and I see it. I’m a prophet. I don’t have anything to think about. I have time to talk to God 24/7, and I fast for 200 days in a year every year, so that is just it.

Have you spoken with the President on how to turn the economy around and also stop the killings in the country?

So, on how to stop killings in the country, I don’t think that is the work of the president, it is the work of the service chiefs. If I have the opportunity to speak with any of the service chiefs, I will tell them a way out because I don’t feel that is appropriate for public consumption. Then to turn the economy around isn’t the work of the president, but the work of the people in charge. In this case, the people may not want to listen. For instance, when God revealed himself to Pharaoh when he was going to have a crisis, seven years of famine, and seven years of abundance, the solution was shown to him and someone interpreted the solution and he listened. Still, in this case, they may not want to listen because they believe I’m fake.

Tell Nigerians, who will win the US presidential election?

I have been talking much about that if the Democrats don’t hold Donald Trump through legal means which I said earlier before he left office in 2019, he would win. Sincerely, Trump is not the best candidate, and some people prefer Trump to Biden. Joe Biden’s economy will kill the world. So like I said, if Trump is not held down by any legal means, He will win the election.

The Kaduna state government recently decried the state of the treasury, will you say your prophecy has been fulfilled or are there more states to follow?

More states will not be able to pay salaries, and they will cry out that one of Kaduna’s states is just the tip of the iceberg. When we are talking about salary restructuring, they have to sit down to get it right otherwise the salary restructuring will not help at all. It will take the government one and half years to put the salary restructuring in order; and for the governors, let them pray not to be ambushed, they should pray against attacks and accidents, all the governors need to pray about that.

As a result of your prophecy in 2023, have you received any forms of threats to your life?

Well, when it was even difficult during the time of Abacha, there was no threat to my life; my prophecies helped the government to stand on its feet. There have been no threats to my life. You can call me any name on the internet, but I have not received any threats to my life since 1994. To the glory of God almighty, there have not been any threats to my life.

Are there any new prophecies we should expect within the next few months?

The present Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC chairman will do a lot. The moment he is doing what is right we will see it. EFCC will bring out a lot of hidden people who are corrupt in the country. Nigeria is going to France, I mean the Super Falcons, but they won’t go far and these are wonderful players. Except they do something immediately to come up.

We are going to see flooding and this herdsmen matter, if the government doesn’t get it right, it will affect Nigeria a lot.

More so, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas, and the M23, are coming up to attack African counties like Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad. Let us pray not to see the death of a sitting president or the removal of a sitting president. Mali needs to be careful so another coup doesn’t happen. In Cameroon, only a coalition will defeat Paul Biya

In a time where the prophetic ministry has been constantly attacked and polluted by unbelievers and fake prophets, how have you managed to stay consistent over the years?

I am able to stay consistent because I follow God’s instructions. I do what he says I should do and I don’t do what he doesn’t ask me to do. If God sends me somewhere, I will make sure I find my way there. I will look for your contact and if I don’t get the contact I will use social media to share the message. If the person sees it, fine if he/she doesn’t, it’s still fine. I have done what God asked me to do; So that is it, I do what God asks me to do.