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As Nigerians gradually warm up for the 2023 general election, the president and founder of World Evangelism Bible Church (WEBIC), Prophet Samson Ayorinde, has advised the older generation politicians to give the youths more opportunities to hold public office.
What is your advice for politicians, voters and INEC as we approach 2023 election?
My advice to the politicians is that they should not engage in politics by all means particularly that will involve shedding of blood. They should know that it is only God that place people in authority. Using hoodlums and other unacceptable ways to win election will always have a counter effect on the outcome. The blood of human being is too thick. When you shed blood it continues to cry on the land just as it is recorded in the Bible when Cain slaughtered Abel.
We should know that when there is an election, there’ll be one winner and the rest will be losers. Whatever it is, whatever it is, let’s follow the example of the past president, Goodluck Jonathan who said his re-election was not worth the shedding of the blood of any Nigerian.
We should learn how to play politics without bitterness.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should do their work and maintain integrity so that people continue to have confidence in our election process.
And to the people, we should vote according to our conscious knowing that whatever we do now is going to affect our children, children’s children. Nigeria belongs to God and to us. We will come out of this tough corner.
Do you think Nigeria has fared well in terms of leadership particularly since 1999?”
Yes, we can do better. You know that there is nothing you can do about the past. The past is already history, and you can look towards the future. So, we should be much more concerned about getting good people into governance. If you look globally now, young men and middle aged are the people that will be in authorities that can really make things happen. As a leader, you need that sound mindset and that strength to be able to lead the people in the right direction.
So, we need to develop the youths that are coming up and give them opportunity to take position and to give them the button to run the race of leadership in this country. That is my candid opinion.
Are you not worried about the growing crime rate among the youths in Nigeria?
This particular generation calls for great concern. A lot of youths are on hard drugs such as weed and others. There are all kinds of ritual killings have become rampant among the youths. It is as a result of one of these end time rebellious spirit. We’ve been praying and arresting spirit. A lot of them are coming back to their senses, confessing their sins and making changes. One of the things I want to tell all our parents is to make sure that our youths are engaged in communication, we should not leave them on their own but to give attention to them. We should give them opportunity to open up on whatever they are passing through. The youths should be engaged positively.
They should be given equal attention because they might have issues that they are battling with. Many of them home and abroad have really opened up to me. The challenges they face today are different from what we faced while at their age.
If your people call upon you to vie for public office, will you yield to the call?
The office of a prophet supersedes the office of coming t to do politics. By virtue of office, I cannot because a prophet can bury a king the king but have you have seen a king burying a prophet? So the office that I occupy is not politically intonated. I can lead people to go into politics. I pray for politicians. In fact, I’m a bad politician because I am focused on what I am doing as a religious leader. I cannot descend so low to begin to contest for public office. I can always ask the president or the governor to kneel while I pray for them.
The economy is in a bad shape, how should we come out of this?
It is very simple. We should re-engineer finances. We are blessed in Nigeria with over 200 million people in a space that is not even as big as Texas in the US. This is a very vast economy. All we need is good restructuring and management. This is why I believe that we are coming out o this tough corner. The government should just do that which is right.
We can’t continue to borrow to service debts and acquiring more debts o for the children that are coming behind when we have such resources in our hand. The government should put our money where it will be felt.
Look at what is happening now. They want to increase the fuel price and remove subsidy. You look at what they’re putting in it. I look at what they’re putting on education and our lecturers on strike. These are dynamics that will propel the nation forward or not. Once the youths are back on the streets, it will be horrible. We should not lose more academic years looking at what we lost during COVID-19 lockdown.
What is the role of the church in nation building?
The Bible says that we are the salt of the earth. The salt cannot stop something from decaying but it can slow down the process. So we need to warn the people to avoid evil and do right thing. The church is light and when the light comes darkness vanishes. The church should be ready to tell the truth always and advise politicians to avoid all forms of fraud.
Some sections in the country are saying that they are no longer interested in one Nigeria. What is your take?
Yes. Nigeria will continue to be united. We can’t break now. People are disappointed but we are still one Nigeria. We are too interwoven as a people. And our strength lies in our diversity. Since we have survived the 100 years anniversary, I don’t foresee any breakup again. Whatever it is, we’ll just sit down and resolve it. There are too many Hausa in the South and too many southerners in the North.
Will the church continue to hold crusades and intercede for Nigeria?
Absolutely, we have never stopped big and small crusades for the people and Nigeria. I believe that there are souls in every church that will make heaven. I believe that the God that we serve is universal God who wants people to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
It has been salvation galore. The blind see, the deaf hear, lame walk and dumb speak.
And all our parishes are involved in palliative evangelism because the people are hungry. So we provide foods, drinks and clothing for the needy. In the Bible, Jesus fed the 5000 men with bread and fish.
Should the church accept donation from people with questionable sources of income?
Really when people bring a sacrifice as an offering to the house of God it is usually anonymous except in some cases. It is very wrong for any leader of a church to begin to question people’s sources of money they bring for church work.
But there are different occasions in my ministry that the Lord revealed to me that I should not have anything to do with offering from particular people. I have rejected a property worth billions of naira from someone I prayed for. The source of his money was questionable, but I used wisdom and preached salvation to him.
