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From Isaac Job, Uyo
“Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble” Proverbs 21 verse 23.
This aptly explains the predicament of the Kogi State-born Pastor Yinka Yusuf now in deep trouble with fellow pastors, Akwa Ibom indigenes, social media influencers in the state and the state government threatening legal action against him.
Pastor Yusuf had planned to storm the southern region with his one-million-man crusade scheduled to begin in Akwa Ibom State next week and run through Cross River, Rivers and Delta states, among others.
To perfect this plan, Ibom Hall ground in Uyo, capital of the state, was booked and paid for as venue for the crusade waiting for the D-Day.
Fellow pastors from Christian platforms such as Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria ( PFN) were mobilized while flyers, jingles from local radio stations in Uyo city were already on air to receive the revered man of God to the Land of Promise.
As preparations for the crusade were in top gear, Pastor Yusuf was trending in the social media where he was abusing the people of the state, saying they were houseboys in Lagos, poverty-stricken people despite huge monthly allocations from the Federation Account, with emphasis on what he called the slavery disposition of the people. He alleged that the state was under a spell, adding that he was coming to liberate it during the crusade.
In the trending video monitored by our reporter in Uyo, Pastor Yusuf said: “Akwa Ibom and Calabar are social problem areas. Akwa Ibom…is the richest…collecting from oil…derivation millions of millions…You have money, yet you are poor.
“It is the ancestral demon that controls Calabar and Uyo. Go there, you will see poverty on the people. You know why? It’s not the government. The government cannot handle it. Ancestral demons hold the people in spell.
“Think of Okon…you are thinking about a gateman, a cook. They have made them to believe that they are slaves. You will see pride…The most proud people…proud for nothing.
“Lock them in a room, not one will escape. They are like crabs, one pulls another down. These people cannot succeed.”
However, Akwa Ibom indigenes and residents of the state did not find the trending video funny. Social media influencers, pastors and the state government called Yusuf to order in his vituperations against the state and its people. The pastor is now standing social media trial as he is trending in the internet for his comments on Akwa Ibom people.
The state government immediately asked Akwa Ibom State Investment Council, managing the Ibom Hall ground, to refund all the payment made by Pastor Yusuf for the crusade and also stopped him from coming to the state.
Speaking to our reporter in Uyo, Mrs. Anthonia Udoh, said that the controversial pastor raised issues that previous administrations of ex-Governors Victor Attah and Godswill Akpabio fought to erase: “house boy” syndrome and lower status ascribed to Akwa Ibom sons and daughters in the past.
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“Yusuf is still living in the past. Thank God, the crusade did not hold. How can you stay in your comfort zone and discredit us? Is that a man of God?
“This means that, if someone has a problem and confides in him during counselling, he would expose the person outrightly.”
The founder of Power City Church in Uyo, Dr. Abel Damina, while reacting to Yusuf’s comments, condemned him totally.
Damina recalled several utterances of Yusuf in the past and described him as a materialistic pastor who had earlier said that “poverty took Jesus to the cross as he would have escaped the shameful death on the cross, if he (Jesus) was rich.”
“This same man labelled all of us in Akwa Ibom as cooks and gatemen. He said we are crabs, using the crab as a metaphor to describe us.
“He said we are suffering from ancestral and generational curses and planned to come to deliver us.
“The gospel of Christ does not demean people in order to save them. So, the sensibility of 7.9 million people in the state have been rubbished by a pastor who claimed to come to save them.
“Akwa Ibom people are very smart, intelligent, wealthy and supportive; they are scattered all over the world, in places like America, UK, and they have excelled in science and technology, including other sensitive areas as banking, law, journalism, oil and gas as well as other sectors of the world economy.
“Yusuf is using reverse psychology against Akwa Ibom people just to manipulate them to make them feel disadvantaged.”
In his apology to Akwa Ibom people, Yusuf said the people misunderstood his online message, adding that he loves the state and its people. According to his spiritual son, Kenneth Oluwale, who published the apology, Yusuf loves Akwa Ibom and meant well for them.
“If he did not love the people of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, he would not have invested N43 million to win souls, and the crusade has not even started yet. I want us to understand that this is a satanic strategy to manipulate and turn the hearts of the people against him.”
Meanwhile, Akwa Ibom State government said it has halted legal proceedings against the controversial Rev. Yinka Yusuf. Earlier, the government had threatened to institute legal action against Yusuf for reportedly making unguarded utterances and inflammatory comments against Akwa Ibom State and its people.
Governor Umo Eno announced the withdrawal of the legal action and appealed to citizens of the state to accept the apology from Yusuf. Speaking at the February edition of the Government House Covenant Service held at Banquet Hall, Government House, Uyo, Eno said since Rev. Yinka has apologized, Akwa Ibom people should accept and put the entire incident behind them.
He noted that Akwa Ibom people are very hospitable and accommodating, hence it should accommodate Rev. Yusuf, and not hold his unfair utterances against him: “As a state, we have put this behind us. We have accepted the apologies.”
