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Bishop Francis Wale Oke is the National President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN).
In a recent interview with OLUSEYE OJO, he stated that Nigeria’s escalating insecurity, characterised by banditry and terrorism cannot be solved by cold statistics or routine military updates.
Instead, he asserts that true resolution will only come when President Bola Tinubu views the gruesome murder, torture, or abduction of any citizen through the agonising lens of a grieving parent, treating every single victim not as a collateral casualty of statehood, but as the heartbreaking loss of the President’s own child.
Speaking against the backdrop of heightened grassroots vulnerabilities, rural displacements, and an economy losing vital foreign investments to safer continental neighbours, the cleric delivers a prophetic, non-partisan charge to the nation’s political elite.
In this interview, Bishop Oke clarifies the structural limitations of the body of Christ, unmasks the sophisticated economic syndicates fuelling rural terror, and lifts the veil on the massive, multi-million-naira humanitarian relief interventions the church silently deploys across Nigeria’s worst-hit regions.
With the level of insecurity across the nation reaching a boiling point, what is the core message the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) is trying to pass across to the authorities at this moment?
We are burdened for Nigeria today because we have lost our sense of value for human life and its sanctity. The level of banditry, kidnapping, violence, insecurity, and savage killings all across the Nigerian landscape has risen to an intolerable height. It has reached a point where every single Nigerian should cry out against it, to God for divine intervention, and to our governments for immediate and effective action.
What is going on in Nigeria is more than just taking lives. It fractures our national unity, scares away vital foreign investors, drives our best minds abroad in a massive brain drain, and fatally weakens the bond between the citizens and the state. It has created a pervasive wave of insecurity and terror that ensures the Nigerian people no longer feel safe anywhere in their own country. We are deeply burdened because this intolerable violence is tragically becoming normalised in Nigeria.
You spoke about the loss of humanity. Could you paint a picture of the specific systemic failures and regional carnage that triggered this urgent cry from the PFN?
We are burdened for the loss of our very sense of humanity. Look at the unchecked rampaging of bandits and murderous herdsmen killing Nigerian farmers on their own farmlands. Look at the Boko Haram insurgents who are using the noble religion of Islam to perpetrate heinous violence against peaceful Nigerians, completely unchecked across our national landscape.
The historical and ongoing trajectory of this failure is devastating. Several Chibok girls are still languishing in captivity, years after being massively kidnapped by Boko Haram insurgents. Leah Sharibu remains shackled in bondage by religious kidnappers simply because she refused to renounce her Christian faith, and the Nigerian state did nothing. The student, Deborah Samuel, was brutally burnt to death in Sokoto by a murderous mob for mentioning the name of Jesus, and nothing happened to her killers.
Since then, Taraba, Plateau, Benue states, and Southern Kaduna have become daily killing fields. Edo, Kogi, and Ondo states have similarly not been spared.
As we speak today, several communities in Kwara State have been completely sacked by rampaging bandits wielding sophisticated guns and dangerous weapons.
Innocent people are being kidnapped, raped, and killed again and again in large numbers across Borno, Niger, Sokoto, Kaduna, and other states of the federation.
Oyo State has become the latest killing field. This culminated in the recent horrific abduction of several teachers and students, where one of the teachers, Mr. Michael Oyedokun, was gruesomely beheaded and another was shot dead.
While these satanic acts were going on, our political elite continued with business as usual, acting as though nothing was happening. These are unspeakable and despicable acts of terror.
You have noted that the President must look at every citizen as his child. How should that paternal responsibility reshape the government’s response to the current socioeconomic collapse and the flight of foreign investment?
Fundamentally, every citizen of Nigeria is a child of the president. The president is the father of all Nigeria; this is a foundational principle of leadership and governance. So, when one person is killed, one of his children has been killed. It should hit the leadership with that level of personal and painful weight. When a citizen is gruesomely beheaded, humiliated, tormented, and tortured, weeping as they cut off his head, it means one of the children of the president has been subjected to that horrific treatment.
It must never be viewed as just a regular news item. By the time that reality truly resonates in the hearts of our government leaders, and they feel the deep, personal pain of a father losing a child, they will rise up and deal with these situations decisively. That is exactly what Nigerians want. They want to see a government that hurts when its people are hurt, and a leadership that acts with absolute determination to protect its household.
Regarding farming, all this violence is definitely impacting not just the farming profession, it is impacting every profession.
When farmers cannot go to their fields because they fear being slaughtered, raped, or kidnapped, it triggers a catastrophic domino effect across the entire economic ecosystem. Food prices skyrocket, supply chains collapse, and hunger stares the nation in the face. It paralyzes markets and destroys livelihoods far beyond the agricultural sector.
Look at our international standing and our economy as a whole. Right now, there are investors from developed nations who were planning to come to Nigeria because of our strategic advantage as the largest black nation in the world, boasting a massive percentage of highly mobile and enterprising young men. We have an incredibly vibrant, energetic, and intelligent youth population, which makes Nigeria an exceptionally attractive market for global capital. They wanted to bring their investments here, but because there is no steady power and insecurity, they are diverting their capital to other nations like Ghana and South Africa, where they believe the business climate is safer and more predictable.
We are actively losing billions of dollars in potential investments, losing jobs for our teeming youth, and losing our competitive edge on the continent because we have failed to secure our territory.
Therefore, the Nigerian government must rise to the occasion and decisively deal with these criminals in our forests, on our farms, in our cities, and those attacking churches and mosques to slaughter citizens. No criminal should be given a free pass, regardless of where they operate or who they target.
The military has been deployed to many of these theatres of conflict, yet the killings persist. Where is the disconnect?
There is an apparent lack of a firm political will by our government to crush these horrible evils. They have allowed this cancer to spread unchecked, offering empty promises that have done absolutely no good.
Rather than crushing terrorism, banditry and the likes, our governments are busy rehabilitating so-called repentant Boko Haram killers and even drafting them into our security network! Hence, the Nigerian military is becoming demilitarised.
And this is why our valiant Generals and their gallant soldiers are being killed like chickens. Why? Because our security system has been heavily infiltrated and fatally compromised from within.
Nigerians are sick and tired of this evil. They are sick of the apparent, misplaced focus by the political class on winning elections by all means, rather than focusing the full weight of our law and federal might to crush the killers of Nigerians.
In response to this crisis, the PFN declared a three-day national fasting and prayer session from May 22 to 24, 2026. Can you detail the background, the strategic goals, and the true political stance of the PFN behind this exercise?
On the night of May 19, 2026, the National Executive Council of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria met for intense prayer and deliberations on the frightening situation in the country.
We resolved, as a Pentecostal community spread across every single state of Nigeria, to stand together in spiritual warfare, to fast and to pray to God our Almighty Father to arise and scatter the enemies of Nigeria.
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But we also resolved to speak out forcefully against this evil, with the hope that our government will finally give it the urgent attention it deserves. We have fasted. We have prayed. Now, we speak.
We are calling on the Federal Government to fulfil its primary constitutional and moral duty of protecting every citizen of Nigeria, irrespective of tribe or religion, so that we can truly be a nation where no one is oppressed.
This is the first, non-negotiable responsibility of governance. If the task is too overwhelming, we strongly urge our government to immediately seek help and strategic partnerships from the international community before it is too late.
We are only shouting the pain of the people at the grassroots in every part of the nation so that the government will know that Nigeria is in tears, pain, and sorrow because of these needless, mindless killings.
The government must become more decisive and far more focused. We are simply acting as a megaphone for the voiceless; the grieving widows, the orphaned children, and the displaced farmers, who have no way of making their cries heard in the corridors of power.
Let me clarify: we are not supporting any political party, nor are we canvassing for anyone. Our membership cuts across all political divides. We have members in almost all the political parties in Nigeria. So, we are not for any party; we are for the best of Nigeria.
We want a safe, prosperous, and peaceful nation where every single citizen can live without fear. Our voice is a moral cry against evil, not a political tool.
Our focus is on the security of human lives, not political games. We stand firmly against the total breakdown of law and order, regardless of who is in power.
Critics often tell religious bodies to pray and leave security to the state. Beyond prayers, what tangible role is the church playing to address this security situation and support the severely affected communities across the country?
This question has two distinct branches: what the PFN is doing on a macro level to assist the government in tackling this crisis, and how we are directly intervening to support those suffering on the ground. Let me address our structural role first.
We must bear in mind that the PFN does not have control over arms and ammunition. It is important to establish this reality so that everyone understands the framework within which we operate. We are ordinary citizens like any other Nigerian. We do not carry weapons.
The PFN does not control the police, nor do we control the military. We do not possess state instruments of coercion, nor do we command battalions or tactical units. The PFN can only influence the political class to rise up and perform their constitutional duties.
So, you must recognise our structural limitations. We are a spiritual and moral body, not a paramilitary organisation.
However, we are deeply in pain. Our members are dying. Our churches are being burnt down, and physically, we are incapacitated from fighting back.
In terms of physical enforcement or tactical defence, we can do nothing other than pray and speak directly to the powers that be so they can rise up and act.
And we are doing that very effectively, without fear or favour. We are praying constantly.
Let me tell you plainly: if not for the persistent prayers of the saints, Nigeria would be in a full-scale civil war by now. It is the restraining hand of God, moved by the brokenhearted intercessions of believers, that has kept this nation together despite all the forces ripping at its seams.
We want the government to move decisively to prevent total chaos. We are believers in the rule of law and scriptural order. We cannot and will not advise our people to carry illegal weapons. We do not engage in anything illegal.
While we do not control the security apparatus of the state, we heavily influence governance by speaking truth to power and lifting the nation up in prayers.
Now, to the second part of your question regarding our practical interventions on the ground: the church is spending immense amounts of money to provide relief materials, including food, clothing, and resources to rebuild houses and churches that have been razed.
The material burden the church is lifting silently is staggering. Personally, I have sent truckloads of relief materials to affected areas in Plateau, Kaduna, Benue, and Taraba states, among others.
We have sent heavy logistics into these troubled regions to ensure that survivors have food to eat and blankets for shelter.
Our member ministries are doing the same all over the country. For instance, the Lagos State chapter of the PFN recently sent about 13 trailer loads of food supplies to relief camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Benue State. Consider the immense logistics, the financial cost, and the sheer volume of driving 13 trailers of food into an unstable area to keep displaced Nigerians alive.
However, because of the core tenets of our faith, we do not make a public spectacle of these interventions. We follow the teachings of Christ; we do not do charity for public attraction, media handshakes, or political points. We do it quietly and consistently as our spiritual duty to God and as an expression of pure Christian love to our suffering neighbours.
One of our member denominations completely funded a massive IDP camp for an entire year, taking full responsibility for feeding, clothing, and providing financial aid to thousands of displaced persons so they wouldn’t fall into absolute despair.
So, we are working tirelessly on the ground, supporting the victims, and calling on the authorities to wake up. We believe God is hearing our cries, and we trust that our leaders will receive the divine wisdom necessary to bring an end to this relentless carnage.
What is your final charge to the body of Christ and the global Nigerian community as the nation navigates this dark period?
We call on the church in Nigeria to stand together in absolute unity. We must rise against the evil ravaging our country, cry out in deep repentance, and call on the God of heaven to intervene in the affairs of our nation.
The church must speak with one thunderous voice so loudly that governments at all levels can feel our pain and sorrows, moving them to act decisively to stop this evil, defend our faith, and protect our churches.
We fast and pray because we know, without a doubt, that God hears. We gather because unity strengthens our collective voice. And we speak out because silence only aids the killer and comforts their sponsors.
The blood of the innocent demands far more than political promises. It demands immediate and effective action. We firmly believe that God is able and will break these vicious cycles of violence, grant our prayers for the rescue of all captives, and restore true peace to our beloved country, Nigeria.
