Nigeria’s Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu, has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS), accusing Primate Elijah Ayodele of attempting to extort N150 million from him under the guise of “spiritual support” for his 2027 governorship ambition.
Adelabu, a former Oyo governorship candidate, alleged that the founder of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church demanded huge sums and expensive ritual items in exchange for divine intervention.
The petition, dated 13 October 2025 and signed by his aide, Bolaji Tunji, claimed the cleric turned against him after he refused the requests.
According to the petition, Primate Ayodele reportedly instructed Adelabu to provide 24 APC flags and 1,000 saxophones or trumpets.
Text messages seen by TheCable show the items were valued between N50 million for the cheapest Nigerian grade and N130 million for imported Chinese grade-one instruments. The deadline was first set for 1 April and later shifted to 4 April.
Ayodele allegedly said the demands were “instructions from God” and urged Adelabu to carry out prayers, vigils, and rituals that would guarantee victory at the polls. Adelabu is said to have told the cleric that he could not afford the items.
Following his refusal, the cleric reportedly declared during a church service that Adelabu would not become Oyo governor, describing his pronouncements as divine warnings. He also invited the minister to challenge him legally.
The minister’s petition frames the encounter as spiritual blackmail and an attempt to influence a political process through financial and ritual pressure.
However, in a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele denied ever attempting to extort the minister of the said amount, explaining that he never asked him to send money apart from procuring the trumpets, which he said were for the minister’s good.
The cleric explained that the minister himself asked for the cost, and he provided a figure while asking Adelabu to send someone from his end to the market to confirm the prices of the instruments.
Ayodele stated that aside from Adelabu, two other persons, including his personal assistant, were pressurising him because the minister was showing serious desperation for the governorship seat in Oyo State.
According to Ayodele: “I didn’t ask Bayo Adelabu to bring money for prayers, I told him to ask someone from his end to go to the market and find out how much the said trumpet cost, while someone follows them from my end too. His personal assistant, himself, and the person he sent to me put me under so much pressure because he was desperate for governorship.”
“He was the one who sent someone to me to talk to me on his behalf. He went as far as saying he was willing to give anything to become the next governor of Oyo State, and the only thing I told him is to get the trumpets for his own good.”
Speaking further on their discussion, Primate Ayodele explained that he told Adelabu that they would not be willing to give him the governorship ticket, but that he could seek the mercy of God by buying the musical instruments—not necessarily for his church—which he refused. Beyond that, there was no other discussion.
“I told him that they won’t want to give him the governorship ticket, but if he wants it so bad, he should seek the mercy of God by buying the musical instruments for God, not even for my church, but he said he can’t do it, that’s all,” he said.
Primate Ayodele stated that for years he had spoken about Bayo Adelabu’s ambition and consistently maintained that it would take the grace of God for him to become governor of Oyo State. Therefore, he argued, it could not have been because the minister refused to yield, as he had never spoken to him until Adelabu sent people to him.
He said: “I have been talking about how he won’t be made governor of Oyo State for years; this is why he called me to seek solutions. I have never spoken to him before till he sent people to me and personally requested my spiritual help. I don’t make prophecies to make money, I am blessed already, and my subsequent prophecies after our discussion about his ambition aren’t because he failed to buy the musical instrument, it can never be.”
NAN