Apostle Victor Oku, Senior Pastor, Divine Mercy Church International, Lagos, has criticised prophets that predicted that Bola Ahmed Tinubu would not be Nigeria’s president, insisting that they were false prophets and were never called by God.
Apostle Oku, who had maintained that Tinubu would win the February 25 2023 Presidential election, said the current administration was on the right path.
In an interview with DICKSON OKAFOR, the cleric warned that Nasir El-Rufai’s recent comments on Muslim-Muslim tickets were capable of causing a crisis in the country and called on the Northern elite and Muslim leaders to call him to order. He also spoke about other issues.
You prophesied that Bola Ahmed Tinubu would win the February 25 Presidential election and it came to pass. What should Nigerians expect from the new government?
Yes, God told me that Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu would win the last Presidential election and he won. I said the election result would shock many, that there would be uprising, but the result will stand.
Today, it has come to pass, as Tinubu is now the 16th President of Nigeria and that is the will of God for Nigeria. Man’s choice is not God’s choice and that is why He is omnipotent. You don’t criticise people in the name of prophecy as so many prophets did.
They prophesied that Tinubu wouldn’t win the election. They said he is too old, unhealthy and they said he was wearing pampers and wouldn’t last or be alive during the election.
They even prophesied that he wouldn’t be sworn in if he was alive on May 29. But I told Nigerians that Bola Tinubu would be sworn in as President of Nigeria on May 29 and God fulfilled His words.
Electoral matters are still in the Presidential election tribunal. Do you see Tinubu coming out victorious?
Yes, he will win at the election tribunal, and even at the Supreme Court. I don’t know President Bola Tinubu and I have never made effort to see him because I’m a man of God or an Apostle. God made me His Apostle.
Therefore, I’m not prophesying to get Tinubu’s recognition or any top government official’s attention. In my church, many prominent Nigerians and those from outside the country come to seek spiritual counselling from me because they see me as an instrument in God’s hand.
There are things the President needs to hear from me because God has drop spirituals words that will help his administration to succeed.
The Bible said that except the Lord builds the city, those that build, build in vain. Yes, many men and women of God prophesied that Tinubu wouldn’t win the Presidency.
But I want to correct these prophecies that are coming from every side. Tinubu is a good man just as I told you earlier, but I begin to imagine some prophecies coming against him and these turned out to be false prophecies.
Today, as it stands, these false prophets can see that God did not send them. The Bible said if anyone prophesied and it did not come to past, God said he did not send the person.
God is the owner of everybody and I advise the President to overlook these false prophets and face the task of nation building.
President Tinubu, in his inaugural speech, declared that fuel subsidy was gone. What do you make of decision?
That is to tell you that President Tinubu is proactive and decisive as he assumed office. Again, he is the only President in Nigeria since we got independence in 1960 that has no godfather.
You will agree with me that Nigerians have longed for a President or a leader that takes decisive actions on important national issues.
And because Nigerians have demanded the removal of fuel subsidy since 1999, but the past Presidents didn’t have the will power to remove it so that they won’t offend their political godfathers who are benefitting from the racket.
Even Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar in their campaigns promised that they would remove fuel subsidy if elected President. Therefore, what President Tinubu did is the best for Nigeria and he didn’t take permission from anybody or from the cabal before taking such crucial decision.
That is to tell you that this is the first time, like I said earlier, that Nigeria has a President that does not have sponsors.
If it were the past Presidents they would sit down with their sponsors and deliberate on the matter before taking a decision. The immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari said during his campaign in 2014, fuel subsidy is scam, but he was unable to remove it.
So, fuel subsidy removal is the best decision taken by President Tinubu and I urged Nigerians to accept it. Because I told Nigerians in my last interview that Tinubu administration will bring prosperity to the country and it has started.
There is agitation that government should have provided palliatives before removing fuel subsidy. What’s your take?
I repeat, they should just bear because God knows about what Nigerians are going through and very soon, these pains will be over.
Again, let me remind you, what will happen after the removal of fuel subsidy will make Nigerians to re-elect Tinubu for second term. Mark my word because I’m a mouthpiece of God. President Tinubu is an instrument in the hand of God to bless and transform the country.
What will Nigerians expect from the new administration that will attract God’s blessings?
This government will be a blessing from God to Nigerians. Mark my words, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will rule for eight years just as I told you. Nigerians will beg him to run for second term because of his achievements in four years.
It is clear if you look at the picture so far. It is falling in place. The few appointments Tinubu has made have given Nigerians hope that the APC government under former President Muhammadu Buhari is different from the present administration.
So, I advise Nigerians to be patient and see God’s glory in Nigeria. No doubt, so far, Tinubu has started well with the few appointments he has made and the suspension of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele and the sacking of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa.
They are being probed as I speak with you and this has gladdened the heart of Nigerians. Bawa is replaced by an Acting Chairman of EFCC, Abdulkarim Chukkol.
The cost of living is very high, but with the setting up of National Economic Council (NEC) headed by the Vice President, Kashim Shettima the standard of living of Nigerians will improve, as President Tinubu has mandated them to ensure they improve the nation’s economy through sustainable economic development.
I assure you the cost of living will improve. What he is doing is an agenda that God gave him which he is implementing. The reopening of the nation’s borders which were closed by the immediate past administration is commendable because that is one of the reasons the prices of essential commodities are high.
On education, President Tinubu has taken the right step in the right direction by signing into law an education loan for students in higher institution.
And I’m hopeful that unemployment will be drastically reduced as time goes on. And there are other revelations which God directed me to tell him in private which I should not say on air.
These are things he must do in order to carry out the mandate God gave to him so as to lead Nigeria right. You will agree with me that there were governments that started well, but along the line the President derailed and God immediately withdrew His glory from the person.
Let’s talk about the balance of power. With the refusal of the powers that be to support an Igbo Senator as President of the Senate, don’t you see this as sidelining the Igbo by the administration?
The Igbo are not sidelined in the present government because the Chief of Naval Staff, Real Admiral Ogalla is from Enugu Ezike, in Enugu State.
So, the South-East is accommodated in the present administration. On why South-East could not clinch the President of the 10th Senate, I told you before the election of the leadership of the National Assembly on June 13 that the former Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu would lose because his people and some prominent Igbo leaders would work against him. And it came to pass.
They went to President Tinubu and begged him to not give Kalu his support to become the President of Senate. These are mostly the people he helped that turned around and disappointed him.
It was not President Tinubu or the leaders of APC that stopped Kalu from being the President of the 10th Senate, not even his colleagues in the Red chamber. Rather, it was his people who prevailed on other Senators and the leadership of the ruling party to make Sen. Godswill Akpabio the Senate President and that was exactly what happened.
Igbo are their own problem, not people from the other sections of the country. The people working against Kalu’s political ambition since 2007 are the people he helped to become what they are today in Nigeria, but they chose to betray him.
For the period of the general election I have been praying for every contestant across political party line. And I got spiritual revelations mainly on President Bola Tinubu and Senator Orji Kalu where God told the outcome of the elections. But God asked me to tell Senator Kalu that he will be lifted up above being President of the Senate and it will come to pass.
What is your take on the appointments made so far by President Tinubu?
So far, President Tinubu has appointed men and women who are competent in administration. Even the Service Chiefs he appointed recently, including the Comptroller of Customs and others are trusted hands.
But the Bible said a man’s enemy is a member of his household. You don’t appoint people into sensitive positions because they are a member of your political party or religious affiliation neither because he or she is from your tribe, it is beyond that.
It has to be through spiritual declaration or else you find political appointees working outside the original precept. That was exactly what happened in the immediate past administration.
Because anyone that is given an appointment by the President, he or she is answerable not only to the President, but also to Nigerians.
The way men speak is different from what is in their hearts, hence President Tinubu needs divine guidance because his job is more spiritual than physical.
A recent video showed former Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State saying there was a plan to take the Muslim-Muslim ticket to all parts of Nigeria. How do you react?
Nasir El-Rufai, the immediate past governor of Kaduna State must be called to order by the northern elite and Muslim leaders because his comment in the video that went viral is an insult to Nigerians and Christians all over the world.
He tried to pair Nigeria along religious lines, which is against the constitution of the country. Let me once again remind El-Rufai and his cohorts: Nigeria is a secular state with three major religion, Christianity, Islam and traditional religion and no man or group will or can impose his religion on all Nigerians.
The message El-Rufai passed in the video was a plot to destabilise the country. In my last interview I told you that Nigerians should not be bothered by the Muslim/Mulim ticket before the election because we have and believe in one God. The same God that created Christians created Muslims and traditional worshippers.
This religious superiority should die in the minds of Nigerians because God is not religious. Religion has been the cause of problems in Nigeria as most of us always segregate based on religious belief. And because we are all created by one God, we should forget about religion and focus on God.
Right now, Tinubu is faced with the challenges of economic instability, high rate of unemployment, insecurity and hunger in the land. Do you see Tinubu fixing these problems within four years?
It takes an anointed leader by God to solve these problems you highlighted. That is why God sent me to prophesy what to expect. You may be competent and experienced, yet you can’t solve vital national issues.
We always put trust in man as we have in the past declared some past leaders as messiahs, but those that know their God will do exploit.
Yes, President Tinubu is an anointed leader by God and he will solve these problems to the astonishment of many within the shortest time. Anybody who doubts this government is among the people who put their belief in man and when man lifts you, he can leave you at any time.
But when God lifts you, He lifts and sustains you because God never works half way. So, Tinubu will fix the economy, reduce unemployment rate and with the appointment of new Service Chiefs, I tell you with trust in God, insecurity will be nipped in the bud.
