By Ihechukwu Njoku
Controversial cleric of the Synagogue Church of All Nations, T.B. Joshua, on Sunday said he told the outgoing Nigerian president, Goodluck Jonathan, that he would lose last week’s presidential election.
Mr. Joshua said he sent his message to the President several week before the election. “I want to use this moment to congratulate Nigerians in our midst here,” Mr. Joshua began in a message to his multi-national congregation, televised live via his Christian network Emmanuel TV.
Alluding to his prediction a week to the election that the dark cloud he saw covering Nigeria was lifting, he said that a bloody ‘war’ would have ensued if not for the prompt concession of power by President Jonathan. “Look, Nigeria wanted change – everyone was yearning for change. An attempt to stop change leads to war, to a bloodbath… If Nigeria knows what we have overcome, we would dance,” Mr. Joshua said.
Mr. Joshua praised Mr. Jonathan’s tenure insisting that he had served his nation well despite the immense security challenges.
“I really want to salute President Jonathan. The President has served; he has done his best. It was just the season of crisis – and unfortunately he found himself at the lead in the season of crisis ,” he said.
The cleric said ‘God’ spoke to him with a message for Mr. Jonathan several weeks before the general elections.
He said God told him -“This message should be delivered to your president, that whatever the outcome of this election, his regime has come to an end. He should accept to save the lives of millions,” he told the congregation. Mr. Joshua claimed he called Mr. Jonathan by phone, adding that he had previously shared with him many revelations about Nigeria which eventually came to pass. Insisting the seriousness of the revelation was such that it had to be relayed personally so as not affect votes, Mr. Joshua said Mr. Jonathan promptly sent a close aide to meet the cleric.
After the presidential aide had worshipped at his church during a Sunday service, Mr. Joshua said he met him and relayed the revelation that Mr. Jonathan’s regime had come to an end. “Soft landing – that is the language I sent to the president,” he told attendees.
Mr. Joshua described President Jonathan as a man who ‘has a heart for God’, revealing that he even spoke with the Nigerian president shortly before his historic concession call to President-elect Mr. Buhari.
“I said to him, ‘Your Excellency – all you need to say is thank You, Jesus, even when it seems there is nothing to be thankful for. He said, ‘Thank you, man of God’. Before I knew it, I saw the news on CNN that he had congratulated his opponent ,” Mr. Joshua said.
He prayed that people from the ‘South-South’ region in Nigeria where President Jonathan hails from would understand that ‘their son has become a hero’, adding that his actions prove the region is after a united Nigeria.
Mr. Joshua reminded his congregants that he had given a similar message in 2010 to Laurent Gbagbo, the former President of Ivory Coast.
“In a vision, I saw crisis – thousands of people being killed in Ivory Coast – just because of the outcome of the election,” he said to congregants.
After sending the message across to the then Ivorian leader, a delegation of government figures and presidential aides was dispatched to Nigeria.
“I told them that whatever the outcome of the election – whether the popular or unpopular voice of people – our President should concede. His regime has come to an end,” Joshua reminisced.
According to the cleric, Mr. Gbagbo had personally called him regarding the prediction, looking for an avenue to avert it and inviting him to Ivory Coast. Joshua insisted that nothing more could be done. When Mr. Gbagbo refused to concede power to Alassane Ouattara in the controversial 2010 elections, a bloody onslaught ensued leading to the deaths of thousands and his eventual incarceration and public disgrace.
Mr. Joshua also told his faithful how he had personally warned MKO Abiola that God was not backing his presidency in the ill-fated Nigerian elections of 1993 despite overwhelming public support in his favour.
He further recalled how, as a young man, he met the former Governor of Lagos State, Lateef Jakande, and told him that his beloved daughter was close to the grave. Both revelations came to pass, he said. The cleric added that his prophetic ministry is the reason he does not take sides in politics. “That is why I don’t belong to any party. All the parties are my own. I love everyone. If I belong to this party and the message of God is now against that party, how will I present it – when no one knows the mind of God? It is better I am free to deliver God’s message.”
He said that material gain was not his mission and that no exchange of money can be involved when it comes to spiritual matters such as prophecy.
“I am a material to be used that will not cost you any money. I am afraid to collect money from you because if I collect it, it will affect the gift and grace of God in my life.”
Mr. Joshua prayed for the new government to be led by the All Progressives Congress. “Join me to pray for the new government, headed by President-Elect Buhari. Ask God to give our President a hearing heart – a heart that will listen to what the public is saying and want to know God’s opinion,” he said.
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