In Nigeria today, it is not an exaggeration to say that the country is blessed with thousands of men of God scattered across the length and breadth of its landscape. They are all commonly referred to as Pastors or men of God. But, those who know understand that, amongst the thousands of men of God the country is blessed with, there are a very select few of them that are strictly prophets. There is a distinct difference. These prophets know the Bible inside out, but are not mere teachers of the word. They are not motivational speakers. They are raw and divinely chosen prophets. They are men God uses to see things through vision, long before they happen. Quite a handful of these prophets are known and are popular amongst the people. A lot of them make conscious efforts to get recognition. They flirt with politicians and seek favours from the government of the day. But others choose to do their things quietly. They do not make noise. They do not blow their own trumpet. They focus on God’s work and only speak out once in a while when they feel they have a pressing need to do so. One of such few and rare prophets is the highly respected Reverend Adetunji Adeonigbagbe, the founder and leader of the Celica Church of God world wide.
Unknown to many, Reverend Adetunji Adeonigbagbe is one prophet whom God has used in more ways than one to intercede for the country and help the nation avert some serious incidents that would have set the country back. He has gone out of his way to organise prayer sessions for the country and also interacted via correspondence with a handful of past Nigerian leaders. And his dealings with them have been strictly on governance and offering spiritual guidance towards helping to determine which direction is approved by God for the country. But he rarely talks about these encounters. He believes its all about doing God’s work, though he sometimes feels sad that Nigerian leaders do not take the words and instructions from prophets seriously, preferring only to pay attention to academic pastors who are not prophets.
In the first part of this conversation with the Publisher of The Prime Citizens, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) this very deep and highly spiritual leader of one of the fastest rising spiritual churches in the land opened up on his past dealings with Nigerian leaders such as former military heads of states, Ibrahim Babangida and the late Gen. Sani Abacha.
As a spiritual leader
and renowned prophet of God, what are some of the things that you have done in
the past to help the Nigerian government guide the country in the right
direction and govern in a way that meets the expectations of the people?
Thank you. Let me start from way back in 1992 when we organised a prayer session for the nation. We were all gathered in our headquarters. The mission was to seek the face of God for the progress of Nigeria. I will be honest with you, there's not been another organised prayer gathering for the nation that is as powerful as the one I'm talking about. There were so many powerful prophets in attendance.
We had lots of tents built with bamboo because we couldn't afford to buy the expensive fancy tents. But we were all comfortable and committed to the task at hand. Sufficient food was organised for those who were going to break their fast. By the time we done praying after some days, we came together to reveal what God showed each one us individually regarding the country. At that time, Professor Sesan Ayodele was my personal secretary. He volunteered to be my personal secretary then. He was the one putting out messages that came out from the church and sent them to politicians and people in government through the appropriate channels. So, he was the one that conveyed my message to the government then, which was that we had to restructure Nigeria and the first step would be to ensure we change the system of government. The instruction was that, between 1992 to 1996, there must be no presidential election and that there should only be head of government. The documents we put together then are still in our archives although some of them were affected in a fire incident that occurred in my office. The entire office was razed by fire. The books were not completely burnt, they are still readable. The plan was to have me burn to death inside the inferno but God spared my life.
In fact, that fire incident experience is another powerful reminder of the fact that it is always rewarding when you do good unto others. What happened was that, usually, I often slept in that office and many people knew that. It was no secret. So, on my way to the office from home that fateful evening, I saw a woman and her sick child by the road side, crying for help. She wanted someone to take them to the hospital but nobody was willing to help. Her child was a sickle cell patient and she was having a crisis. I couldn't just look away and drive off, I turned and took both mother and child to the hospital. And I waited till about 1am after the child had been attended to and was in stable condition before leaving. That was when my office was set on fire. In fact, I met the fire fighters trying to put out the fire while some people were frantically trying to get into my office to rescue me, thinking I was trapped inside the fire. It was God that showed me mercy, if I had not stopped to help the mother and her child, I would've been burnt to death. Sometimes, when we do good, it is also for our own benefit.
Then the other part of the ruling system was also not implemented. It was stated in the document that traditional rulers selected from across the country should be appointed by the government. They will be holding their own meetings and then go back to meet the government and convey to them the agitations of their people because the people have access to their traditional rulers than the government. The idea was that the traditional rulers would be appointed at the federal, state and local government levels.
We also asked that spiritual leaders should be appointed and it would consist of 12 Islamic leaders and 12 Christian leaders. And they would all be appointed at the federal, state and local government levels as well. This was also necessary so that people can have access to their traditional rulers, make demands and offer ideas that could benefit the people and the traditional rulers in turn will take their demands to the government at the top. We also stated clearly in the document that the spiritual leaders that would be appointed must not be academicians but those prophets truly called by God. They must choose real prophets. In fact, they didn't have to choose me, but those chosen must be real prophets, not ordinary learned pastors. According to the instruction given by God, we said the spiritual leaders must not be paid salaries but only sitting allowances when they come together for meetings. But they never involved me again in the execution of the document, they just went ahead and appointed Shonekan as head of government.
For reasons best known to them, they failed to carry out the recommendations stated in the document as divinely instructed by God.
Another positive feature of the traditional and spiritual councils is that it would've given those in the council the opportunity to contribute their own quota to governance. And of course, the spiritual leaders were there to pray fervently against powers that might want to work against the successful implementation of government policies. But they failed to implement these things. They only appointed Shonekan and then, shortly after, Abacha came in. And as we all know, Nigeria has not known peace since that 1992, it has been from one bad government to another, one trouble to another.
(To be concluded)
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