Prophet Chukwuemeka Ohanaemere, better known as Odumeje, has publicly pushed back after Redeemed Christian Church of God leader Pastor Enoch Adeboye defended President Bola Tinubu’s handling of Nigeria’s security crisis.
At a U.S.-Nigeria Faith Heroes Award Gala on June 23, Adeboye said Tinubu had fulfilled his constitutional duty by ordering the military to tackle insecurity and that the president could not be expected to pick up a gun and fight himself.
Odumeje, founder of the Mountain of Holy Ghost Intervention and Deliverance Ministry in Onitsha, gave a very different sermon. He was blunt about pastors and power.
“I don’t want to talk to Adeboye; I don’t want to talk to that man. Do you know what they call a pastor? Go to the Bible, a pastor must rebuke a bad government. They shouldn’t look to benefit from it. We are fathers in the Lord. It is God who makes my voice heard in the world,” he said.
He told Nigerians to stop applauding leaders for spending public money.
“People are managing our resources and lavishing our resources, and we are praising them for managing resources that we sent them to look after for us. Governors, senators, presidents, or whatever you want to call them, they are there as your representatives. They are there to serve every citizen of Nigeria, and they owe you accountability for the job you sent them to do,” he stated.
Odumeje slammed the lack of real development. “There has never been anything the government has done for this country. There is no development. Nothing is happening. These are people who don’t know what the development of a country means. The only thing they know how to do is embezzle and share money,” he said.
He even invoked late Biafran leader Ojukwu: “Ojukwu was 31 years old when he realised that what these people call the government of Nigeria was a deceit against the Igbo people. And this young man, at the age of 31, started fighting for the rights of everybody,” he noted.
Odumeje also mentioned Nnamdi Kanu and conflicts in the north, saying many Nigerians don’t see how deep the political deception runs. A video of his sermon is circulating.
Life coach Solomon Buchi has also rejected Adeboye’s defence, saying leadership is more than issuing orders and that the president must be held accountable when security fails.
