Former President Muhammadu Buhari faced strong opposition from influential pastors, as detailed in a new book by his former Special Adviser, Femi Adesina.
The book sheds light on how pastors campaigned against Buhari in the 2015 election and continued to pray against his government even after he assumed office.
Adesina highlights the intense rhetoric and hate campaigns orchestrated by these religious leaders, tracing the origins of the hostility back to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s efforts to mobilize churches against Buhari before the 2015 election.
“Before the 2015 presidential poll, the then President Jonathan went church-hopping. He visited most major congregations, secretly campaigning for votes and generating hatred for the APC candidate. In fact, there is one Pastor Emmanuel who recorded a widely circulated audio tape, describing the APC as a Muslim/Jihadist party, and its candidate a precursor of the anti-Christ. Horrendous!” the writer notes.
“Buhari still won the election, but a disgruntled army had been mobilised against him. Another mass of Armageddon. Prejudiced preachers and congregations with scant knowledge of the word of God. They just follow their leaders unquestioningly, not like the Bereans Christians as mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in Chapter 17.
“A good number of preachers displayed blatant hostility against the Buhari government. Even when they went prophetic, and hit the crossbar, they still continued to parade themselves as somebody, instead of suiting in sackcloth and ashes.
“Bishop… had arrayed himself against Buhari before the election. Indeed, he was on tape as instructing members to kill any Fulani they saw near the church. Jesus sure wouldn’t say that, would He?
“There is a story, on good authority, of a meeting convened of top Christian leaders by Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye at the Redeemed Christian Church of God Campground, off Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. It was shortly before the 2015 presidential poll.
“A renowned pastor at the meeting told me that Pastor Adeboye asked the preachers if any of them had a word from God on the forthcoming election. Bishop O… was said to have stood up, and pontifically declared that God told him President Goodluck Jonathan would win. Another pastor was said to have indicated support for the then President Jonathan, as government was going to do bid rounds for oil blocs soon, and he needed one for works of the kingdom. Fine. The election held, and you know the rest of the story. The pro-Jonathan pastors never forgave Buhari and the APC.
The book recounts instances of pastors openly expressing animosity towards Buhari, with one even instructing members to harm Fulani individuals, a sentiment contradicted by the pastor’s later alignment with Atiku Abubakar, another Fulani, during the 2019 election.
Despite the pastors’ opposition, Buhari won both the 2015 and 2019 elections, completing his second term.
The book reveals instances where prominent pastors cursed the president and declared his time as over, yet Buhari prevailed.
“Many times, one of the most prominent pastors reportedly cursed President Buhari and his government. In fact, there was a time in the first term that he declared Buhari’s time as over, that God had rejected him.
“The President not only won re-election in 2019, he also completed his second term. So much was the top pastor’s antipathy toward Buhari, that he publicly identified with former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the PDP in the 2019 election. He forgot that Atiku was also Fulani, the breed he had asked his members to lynch, if they saw any near the church. Of course, Buhari trounced them all together.
“In June 2022, he declared the Buhari government as the most wicked and corrupt in the history of the country. Without any shred of evidence. In the process, he mixed up his facts. Months earlier, he had proclaimed seven days of fasting and prayers for the fall of Buhari, in which had been joined by two of his acolytes of Dunamis Church and Salvation Ministries. They failed because God was not in the enterprise.
“In August 2020 Bishop O had publicly rained curses on the president of his own country. He said judgment was closer than ever. None of malediction came to pass. In December 2018 Bishop O deeply embarrassed himself, when he said the Buhari that returned to the country after the health challenge of 2017 was a clone. He didn’t understand satire, and was gleefully reading a piece done by Dr. Olatunji Dare in The Nation Newspaper.
“He did not know that the piece was a caricature of those who had sold the story of Jubril of Sudan, as the man occupying Aso Rock Villa. In April 2018, he said God was angry with Buhari, and that his days were numbered. But the Almighty smiled at the man till he handed over power on May 29, 2023”.
Adesina also shares his personal experience of leaving his church temporarily due to the pastor’s attempts to denigrate Buhari and his administration from the pulpit.
In Chapter Six, the book delves into the challenges faced by Christians in the Buhari administration, emphasizing the unfair demonization of those working with a Muslim Fulani leader.
Adesina argues that, despite differences, Christians and Muslims coexist in Nigeria without wishing each other away.
Credit: Vanguard
