The General Overseer of the Inri Evangelical Spiritual Church, Lagos, Elijah Ayodele, has said Nigeria will breakup into five entities by 2035. He also claimed that Nnamdi Kanu will not actualise Biafra and the 2019 presidential elections will spring some surprises.

The cleric announced the prophesies at the press presentation of his book of prophesies titled ‘Warnings to the Nations’ in Lagos on Friday.

PREMIUM TIMES took him up on some of the controversial claims

PT: In your book, you warned President Buhari against running for a second term.

Primate Ayodele: The point is that Buhari’s health is in a terrible situation and if he decides to play politics it with his health, it will affect him at the end of the day. Buhari needs to step down in 2019. Anybody can criticise this prophecy, as they like. This is a message from God and if Buhari contests in the 2019 election, he will not finish his term. The country will not go on right.

PT: So, who will be the next president of Nigeria?

Primate Ayodele: The next president will come from the north. Atiku cannot make it and neither can El-Rufai make it. They won’t give it to Osinbajo, so let’s wait till then.

PT: Will the next president emerge from APC or PDP?

Primate Ayodele: The APC can retain the presidential seat if they settle their in-house discrepancies. If they don’t get that right, PDP may take it from them but I still see a northern president ruling Nigeria in 2019.

PT: How long will the next president rule Nigeria for?

Primate Ayodele: Nigeria will be no more from 2035; she will be divided into five nations as from 2035. Two of them will be greater than the other three. Nnamdi Kanu will not actualise Biafra but Biafra will be part of the entities that will lead to the breakup of Nigeria towards 2035. This clamour for restructuring by APC won’t work but the people agitating for restructuring will take it up. There will be a big referendum and the results will determine what will happen in Nigeria. After the referendum, everyone will go his or her own separate ways and there will be no bloodshed. However, the army and IPOB clash will still cause a lot and if the government sleeps they will destabilise the country.

PT: and Nigeria’s economy?

Primate Ayodele: Nigeria is not out of recession; we are still in recession. By November, December and January 2018, you will see how much the food prices will skyrocket. Ambode got it wrong; the Lake Rice that is being sold for N12,000; it should be sold for N2000. When you sell a 50kg of rice for N12000 it means the government is even adding to the sufferings of the people and plunging us into recession.

PT: Do you see an end to the Boko Haram insurgency?

Primate Ayodele: Boko Haram is not yet over in Nigeria and in fact, it is far from being over. It may take the army another four years and even if they kill Shekau another group of territories are currently regrouping outside Africa and planning to come to Nigeria. The Fulani herdsmen are another form of Boko Haram but it is politically motivated. I’m telling you that we need a lot of prayers in Nigeria before we can see peace.

PT: You didn’t spare Nigerian religious leaders in your book. Why did you come hard on them, as you are also one of them?

Primate Ayodele: Anyone who isn’t spiritually sound should not be allowed to lead a church. Many Nigerian church leaders only celebrate the rich. They don’t want to see the poor. They want to ride limousines and build houses in Banana Island. They want to fly first class flights simply because they want to live flamboyant lifestyle. When we had Ayo Oritsejafor as CAN president, during his tenure Christianity was zero.  Now, we have another Ayokunle leading CAN and I have not seen the impact of his government. CAN dances to the tune of the government and they don’t ask what the followers want from their elected leaders. They don’t visit churches in the hinterlands. Church leaders will go to church and begin to pack money for their selfish use; where are the widows, orphans. Meanwhile they collect a lot of money from tithes and offerings. What do they use it for?

PT: Aren’t you also guilty in this regard?

Primate Ayodele: I can tell you how I use my tithe. I pay my pastors and the widows. CAN president has never visited any of this ‘poor’ parishes because it’s not big church.

PT: Is this a ploy to gain access to the president?

Primate Ayodele: I am not ready to meet the president except God says otherwise. If God instructs me, I will write the president and if he says come, I will go. But, I will not go on own volition. My advice for the president is the reason why I wrote this book. If, I have been publishing a book of prophesies since 1994, then you should know it’s a serious matter.

PT: and the anti-corruption war?

Primate Ayodele: A lot is wrong and Buhari cannot fight corruption because corrupt people surround him. He may not be corrupt directly but he is a part of it. I am not afraid of anything because this is what the lord said. The best way to treat politics in Nigeria is an open ballot system. Atiku, Buhari is not the answer to Nigeria’s problem.

PT: Going by your book, there appears to be a glimmer of hope for sports.

Primate Ayodele: Yes, there is and we will qualify for Nations Cup. We can win Nations Cup if we take the right steps. For now, let’s go and fight it out and qualify first. We will also qualify for the World Cup and we will get to quarterfinal or elimination stage if we get the right person in charge of our sports ministry.  Winning is luck, and football is spiritual.