Extortion war: N150m can’t buy my shoe, Primate Ayodele replies Power Minister

The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has bragged that N150 million is not enough to buy his shoes.

Ayodele made the claims on Sunday during a service at his church in Lagos. Ayodele was reacting to the recent allegations of extortion levelled against him by the Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu.

According to him, Adelabu is angry because he knows he will lose another attempt to become the governor of Oyo.

Adelabu had petitioned the Department of State Services, DSS, accusing the preacher of blackmail and attempting to extort N150 million from him for “spiritual intercession” to make him governor of Oyo State.

The minister had accused the primate of demanding 1,000 pieces of saxophones/trumpets, with the least expensive, fairly used Nigerian-grade costing a total of N50 million, and the imported grade-one from China costing N130 million.

According to Adelabu, his refusal to yield to Ayodele’s demands led the cleric to make false prophecies intended to malign his reputation and his political ambition.

During the church service, the primate described Adelabu as a boy who doesn’t understand what he is saying and dismissed the N150 million claims quoted in the petition, saying, “The shoe I wear, can N150 million buy it?”

“I can’t disappoint you. I can only disappoint you when you are not a good person. I carry something bigger than me.

“I am not doing prophecies to impress you or invite you to me. I don’t do prophecies for you to come and do enquiries. Take it, or you leave it,” he said.

The case between the minister and the cleric has thrown up issues of morality among clerics.

Adelabu, who served as a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and was the 2019 governorship candidate of the Accord Party before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023.