How top pastors prayed against Buhari’s government, book reveals

A new book on former President Muhammadu Buhari has chronicled how some prominent men of God led a hate campaign against the administration of the former President.

The book, written by Buhari’s former Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed that these pastors vigorously campaigned and prayed for him to lose the 2015 election and progressed from there to pray against him and his government after he won the poll and assumed office as Nigeria’s leader.

The memoir partly read, “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 as 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.”

It continued, “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.”

The book further reveals: “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 when he declared Buhari’s time as over, that God had rejected him”

Adesina also recalled in the book how one of those pastors rained curses on Buhari publicly and called his government the most wicked in the history of the country

“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 August 2020 Bishop O had publicly rained curses on the president of his own country. He said judgment was closer than ever. None of the 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”.

In another chapter of the book, Adesina revealed why Buhari didn’t sack the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, despite speculations surrounding his (Emefiele) presidential ambition during the 2023 elections.

The Daura-born ex-head of state in the chapter also defended the naira redesign policy under his administration, saying the policy wasn’t intended to punish Nigerians who had suffered to gain access to new naira notes as directed by the CBN under Emefile’s leadership.