By Babatunde Ayedoju

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Finally, the long awaited and much talked about 2023 presidential election has come and gone. According to the results released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, won with 8,805,655 votes. He was followed by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) who polled 6,984,520 and 6,098,798 votes respectively.

Worthy of note about the election is that, before it was held, a lot of clerics gave predictions or prophecies about it. In those predictions, such prophets tried to foretell who would win the election, with a few of them even insinuating that there would be no election.

Ukrainian-based Nigerian pastor, Sunday Adelaja, who presides over Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for all Nations in Kiev, Pastor David Alamu of Christ Apostolic Church (CAC) Abule Egba in Lagos, and Reverend Dr David Oyediran, the General Superintendent of Glorious Vision World Outreach Ministries in Lagos all prophesied that the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu also known as BAT, would win.

Pastor Adelaja gave his prophecy in a lengthy Facebook post titled NIGERIA, BEHOLD YOUR NEXT PRESIDENT; Pastor Alamu said that Tinubu’s emergence was revealed to him in 2008; Reverend Oyediran also stated that Tinubu “will rule Nigeria constitutionally.”

While one may say that the prophecy of these clerics came to pass, it is noteworthy that some pastors also prophesied that another candidate would win the same presidential election where Tinubu emerged winner.

For instance, Prophet Emmanuel Chukwudi of King of Kings Deliverance Ministry, Gbonum Ntezi, Enonyi State and Pastor Adewale Giwa of Awaiting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ Ministry, Akure, Ondo State both prophesied that Atiku of PDP would win the presidential election. Primate Elijah Ayodele of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church said that the election would be a straight battle between Obi, Atiku and Tinubu but tipped Atiku to win the election

The Labour Party candidate also had prophets who prophesied in his favour. One of them was Reverend Shalom Kelvin Akinbo of Doers Nation International Church, Akure, who said that Obi would be the successor of President Muhammadu Buhari but warned that there must be intense prayer to avert confusion in the land.

There were some other clerics who gave more detailed prophecies than the ones that have been identified above. One of them was Prophet Joshua Iginla of the Champions Royal Assembly who stated that God would make the most criticized and hated candidate win the presidential election.

In his series of prophecies, Iginla said: “Concerning the presidential election, I see the most criticised and hated candidate emerging winner under the permissive will of God.”

He equally warned political parties against underrating the Labour Party, LP. He said,

“Don’t underestimate the Labour party. I will mention these states and won’t elaborate but we should just pray along as the election is underway- Kaduna state, Benue State, Plateau state, Enugu state, Abia State, Cross River and Oyo State. As the election goes, the parties holding those states should be prepared and not be overconfident so that we won’t have surprises.”

While there was hardly any major candidate who was not criticised heavily or even given a nickname before the election, the APC candidate seemed to be the worst hit. As for the aforementioned states putting up surprises, it was not 100 percent.

Even in faraway Zimbabwe, a cleric called Passion Java said that God revealed the result of the election to him in a vision. He said, ”In Nigeria, we already saw the elections. When I prophesied on International Day of Prophecy, I saw this man with glasses, whose name was like T. I saw him walking into power this February. We live in the future. We are prophetic. Prophets are scared to say it. We know what happened, so we say it. But this one is working in power and is guaranteed.”

While some people assumed that he was referring to Tinubu, it must be noted that Atiku’s name also contains letters TI and Atiku wears glasses as well. So, the prophecy was not clear.

Before giving his prophecies, Reverend Apostle Samson D. Albert, the Primate of St. Peter’s Cherubim and Seraphim Band, Iwopin, Ogun Waterside, first explained that visions do change such that what God revealed some months earlier would have changed, to the extent that whoever ran away with it without going back to verify could be misled.

Concerning the APC candidate, Prophet Albert said, “The Lord said he would not even emerge because they will scatter everything. And he told me further that if care is not taken they will frustrate him to the extent of committing suicide.

“God said he will want to commit suicide because he will feel so humiliated. But I could see that before the year runs out many things would have happened and the man would have crossed that road.”

The prophet added, “The Lord told me I should not be expecting somebody like Jagaban. I replied God that, but the man is good. To me I see some goodness in him when it comes to politics. He’s a politician par excellence.”

We also had some prophets who prophesied that there might be no election at all in 2023. One of them was Apostle Paul Okikijesu of Christ Apostolic Miracle Ministry.

He said, “Thus says the Lord: No Election will take place; if the presidential aspirants refuse to stop bloodshed, if they refuse to cater for the poor and honour the religious advisers. If they refuse to cease seeking the lives of others, and stop seeking the downfall of each other; because these activities will increase from June 2021 until January 2022.

“Thus says the Lord: There will be no Election in 2023, if the presidential aspirants do not stop taking a swipe at one another. If they continue to investigate each other, in order to ruin one another’s reputation; because these activities will lead to various mysterious events that will not make the Election take place,” he added.

Whether this prophecy came to pass or not is obvious.

Also, a cleric of The Last Day Church of God, known as Prophet Coming of the Lord, called on Nigerians to pray against revolution in the country.

The Warri-based prophet emphasised the need for genuine Christians to embark on serious prayers to avert a revolution that would be worse than the #EndSARS protest, adding that many people would die as a result of “that mother of revolution that will come before, during or immediately after the 2023 elections.

“Nigerians, I am not seeing any election taking place, I am seeing a revolution not election. This revolution, the Lord said it would start like crisis and snowballed into war. They will burn police stations, and it will look like the continuation of #EndSARS protest. And this will be more than that protest. Vehicle will not move for more than one month.”

He said that he was seeing a revolution, not an election, but an election has taken place.

Also not left out was the founder of Joyous Miracle Gospel Church and Ministry, Apostle Dr. J.O Afolabi, popularly known as Okoto-Jesu, who declared that God told him the proposed 2023 election would not hold in Nigeria.

He stated this while dishing out prophecies for the year 2023 to his church members earlier in the year where he said, “Our dearest people in the entire universe. It is God’s word. That’s how I was shown by God. It changeth not. There won’t be election in 2023.”

Meanwhile, a former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, had said that the many prophecies released by clerics concerning the 2023 presidential election might not be correct, saying that the only correct prophecy would come from Nigerian citizens who were ready to vote.

According to Omokri, who served in the administration of Goodluck Jonathan that was voted out by Nigerians in 2015, the only correct prophecy of who will be the next President of Nigeria will not come from any pastor or imam.

“The only correct prophecy of who will be the next President of Nigeria won’t be given by any pastor or imam, prophet or ustaz, bishop or sheikh. You, the Nigerian citizen, are the prophet of your destiny. Go out and vote for the candidate of your choice during #NigeriaElections2023,” he wrote on Twitter.