The Akwa Ibom State Government has stopped a popular evangelist, Yinka Yusuf, from holding a scheduled “Uyo 1 Million Crusade” in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom capital.
The state government, through its agency that manages public facilities, wrote a letter to Mr Yusuf, informing him that an earlier approval to use a government hall, Ibom Hall, for the crusade has been withdrawn due to “security reasons” and the “prevailing security situation in the State”.
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The government letter, dated 27 January, was signed by Patrick Udomfang, the CEO of the Akwa Ibom Property and Investments Company Limited. The letter has gone viral on Facebook.
Mr Yusuf had paid the Akwa Ibom State Government for the use of the hall for his crusade, scheduled for 9 February at the Ibom Hall grounds.
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In a live video, the evangelist accused the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Akwa Ibom of being behind the plot to scuttle his crusade because of CAN and PFN’s invitation to a Kenyan prophet.
He said the programme by the Kenyan prophet was slated to take place a week before his own crusade.
Mr Yusuf said his crusade was scheduled to run from Monday to Sunday, while the programme by the Kenyan prophet was scheduled earlier, from Friday to Sunday, with no clash in dates.
He said he had already spent millions of naira on publicity and logistics, and that international guests had booked flights to Uyo, making any last-minute shift costly and disruptive.
Mr Yusuf claimed he had appealed to individuals close to the Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, but they advised him to postpone his programme by a week.
He said the Ibom Hall management later informed him that the state government had decided to cancel the crusade unless he agreed to the postponement.
The state government’s controversial action coincides with William Kumuyi’s well-publicised crusade in Uyo. Mr Kumuyi is the founder of Deeper Life Ministry, one of the largest churches in Nigeria.
Mr Udomfang, the government official who issued the letter to the evangelist, refused to comment on the matter when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him on Thursday.
“That is not your business. Get to do something better,” he said in a text message to our reporter.
Many Facebook users who commented on the controversy have condemned the government action as being embarrassing to the state.
“Whoever approved this statement owes Akwa Ibom people an explanation,” a journalist in Uyo, Ndifreke Enefiok, said of the government letter.
“You cannot repeatedly market Akwa Ibom as one of the safest states in Nigeria and, in the same breath, cite “security reasons” to discourage or cancel a visitor’s event. Which is it?
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“Is Akwa Ibom state safe, or is it not?” she wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Governor Eno is a pastor. He owns a medium-size church called All Nations Christian Ministry International in Eket, Akwa Ibom State.
Like his predecessors, Mr Eno administration has been spending millions of government funds to organise frequent religious programmes, including monthly prayer and fasting.
