Primate Elijah Ayodele, the leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church who famously warned that Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman would struggle to provide meaningful help to the Nigerian national team throughout the AFCON tournament, has turned his prophetic gaze toward the corridors of national security with a series of startling allegations.
The cleric, whose previous warnings about the football star’s tournament-long performance did not have much bearing is now asserting that the individuals financing terrorism in Nigeria are not distant outsiders but are deeply embedded within the military hierarchy and the very seat of power.
Speaking through a statement issued by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele alleged that some of those providing financial backing to insurgent groups are the same individuals who sit across the table from President Bola Tinubu to participate in high-level decision-making. He warned that this internal compromise represents a critical threat to the administration, suggesting that the federal government must look inward if it truly intends to dismantle the machinery of insecurity currently plaguing the nation.
The cleric emphasized that while the Nigerian military has shown determination, they are fighting stubborn enemies who are being protected and funded by influential figures operating within the government’s own structures. According to Ayodele, these insiders are orchestrating plans to escalate violence, specifically targeting Christian communities and military formations to discredit the Tinubu presidency.
He identified specific flashpoints—including Bauchi, Katsina, Adamawa, Taraba, Kano, Lokoja, Abuja, and Ondo State—as areas requiring urgent surveillance and the deployment of aerial security assets. Looking ahead, the cleric provided a grim timeline, claiming that intelligence reveals plans for intensified strikes throughout February and March. He cautioned President Tinubu to take these security reports with the utmost seriousness, suggesting that the failure to address these internal saboteurs could ultimately cost him a second term in office.
Ayodele also took a firm stance against any form of negotiation with terrorists, calling for the arrest of anyone attempting to broker deals with those he described as enemies of the state. He concluded by urging the President to mobilize a whole-of-society approach, insisting that the fight against terrorism must begin by identifying and removing the financiers who are currently hiding in plain sight around the seat of power.
