By Olakunle Olafioye
The division among Yoruba leaders over the quest for the independence of Yoruba nation will not affect the realization of the agenda. Prophet Wale Olagunju of Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministries, Ojoo, Ibadan, who made this known said despite the confusion over the seeming rivalry between the two Yoruba leaders, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader and Prof Banji Akintoye, leader of Ilana Omo Oodua, the dream for an independent Yoruba nation, remains the ultimate target of both groups.
The popular seer insisted in this interview that the Igbo, like the Yoruba, are also determined to leave Nigeria, maintaining that nothing will hinder their desire for an independent Biafra nation.
He also spoke on other major national issues.
You have been speaking about the break up of the Nigerian nation since 2002. Considering the agitations by the Yoruba and the Igbo, would you say this has a link to your prophecy?
The break up is real. You know God is not a man that He should lie. God has been revealing this to me since 2002 as you may have read it severally. I stand by that prophecy. One million Buharis cannot stop it. The misery of this break up was what the Lord revealed to me many years back that the man that God will use to achieve this purpose will emerge in 2015. So, definitely it is this Buhari. The Yoruba are determined to leave Nigeria and nobody can stop them, they are going. Another important thing behind the break up is the APC government. Why are they marginalising the Igbo? What is their offence? Why are they killing them on daily basis? To me their offence is simply because they want Biafra nation. You don’t trust them. The northern elements do not trust the Igbo, they don’t trust Yoruba, you don’t want them to rule Nigeria and yet you are saying they should not go. Do you marry someone by force? To me only an irresponsible person will say the Igbo and the Yoruba should not go. Every generation has their own battle to fight before getting freedom just like the biblical Israelites. So, this generation must fight their own battle. Now is the time for the Yoruba to rise up.
Prof Banji Akintoye and Pa Ayo Adebanjo who are believed to be the leaders of the Yoruba are not on the same page as far as the agenda for an independent Yoruba nation is concerned. Don’t you think this will create confusion which will may make the realization of the Yoruba agenda a tall dream?
There is nothing like rivalry between Pa Adebanjo and Emeritus Professor Akintoye. First and foremost, Pa Adebanjo is the leader of Afenifere while Emeritus Professor Akintoye is the leader of Ilana Omo Oodua. So, everything is in order. There cannot be any confusion, each of them is pursuing his own agenda and ultimately they will arrive at same junction.
On Senator Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition come 2023, don’t you see this in contrast wth the Yoruba agitation?
Yes, you are right. It shows that Tinubu is working against the interest of the Yoruba race. He is pursuing his own personal agenda at the expense of the entire Yoruba race and he will fail woefully. The picture of Tinubu in the heart of every Yoruba now is that of a traitor, the Yoruba will never support him and neither will the Igbo. If Tinubu is truly a Yoruba leader which he claimed to be, he should always be found allying with the Yoruba agenda. For someone who claimed to be fighting the course of his kinsmen and stylishly pursuing a different mission is not good. I make bold to say it, Tinubu is a traitor. Tinubu should learn from history, nobody has ever betrayed the cause of Yoruba and succeeded in life. Tinubu should readily see himself as failure which he is. We should not limit ourselves to Tinubu alone, we need to think about other people who claimed to be leading the Yoruba and are found in conspiracy with Tinubu, the majority of Yoruba people are seeing them as traitors and truly they are.
The death of Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua was recently announced; how did you receive the news?
It was a sad news, though the Lord had revealed it to me long time ago which I predicted. That does not mean I should be rejoicing over his death. I have read a lot of uncomplimentary remarks about his death, that does not concern me, my belief is that everyone of us shall give up the ghost one day and shall definitely give account of whatever we do in the flesh. So, those who are saying all sorts of things about Temitope Balogun Joshua after his demise are all wasting their time and saliva as they are not in position to judge him. My prayer is that God will forgive them.
We now seem to be in the era of civil protests in Nigeria. what is your take on this?
Well, I am not in support of Buhari-must-Go protest, but I am in full support of that of Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye for self-determination. I am not in support of Buhari must go protest even though it is in order, because it can never achieve any meaningful result. It is my belief that people need to learn from EndSARS protest. I don’t understand what the current protest is aiming at. Are they saying Buhari should go or they want to force him to resign? It is a mere waste of time, resources and energy. They cannot force Buhari to resign. Buhari will not resign, in a country where tribalism reigns supreme, the northern people will stand solidly behind him. It will result in loss of lives and It is an impossible mission. The people organizing the protests should avoid losing innocent lives to security operatives who may counter their protests. What I advise Nigerians to do is just to stay indoors and pray fervently unto God just like the Israelites who cried to the Almighty God who heard their prayers. Nigeria is now in soup and, in fact, the hottest part of soup in the hand of General Muhammadu Buhari.
You know Nigeria is now in the hands of myopic leaders who are only out to loot. You discover now that they move from APC to PDP or from PDP to APC, to wherever they feel they will be able to make enough loot. This is rampant among the Southerners. Call me anything, I am not bothered, I fell in love with General Babangida’s two party system with Option A4 and I believe it is the best for Nigeria. With that system, you don’t have the opportunity to decamp and rejoin another party. Today, when I look at the situation in our country, I feel so bad. Look at what these politicians have done in the last 20 years, they have bastardized everything. I now begin to think if this is the same Buhari of 1983 now hobnobbing with looters of our treasuries. So, how do you want me to be praying for Nigeria under this situation. What I am doing now is what God has instructed me to do, to set up a Directorate of Divine Intercessory for the Yoruba nation, of which I am the director. You’ll discover that Yoruba people need prayer in the face of this calamity, if we want to avoid it, we must pray. What is happening in the country today is a very terrible situation which requires urgent prayers failing which the entity called Nigeria may not survive.
President Buhari and Nigeria are currently in the news for Twitter ban. What is your own view on Twitter ban by Nigeria?
Nigerians using twitter have never committed any offence to warrant the ban placed on them by their president. The Twitter management or whatever name you call them has the right to remove whatever they feel is not right for the world to see, after all they removed a post by the former United States President, Donald Trump and he did not as a result of that place any ban on US citizens from using Twitter. The ban Is wrong and uncalled for. For President Buhari to be threatening any Nigerian who uses Twitter with legal action is totally uncalled for, grossly immature and must be condemned by all.
What do you make of the call by the self-acclaimed freedom fighter, Sunday Adeyemo popular called Sunday Igboho who has again called on the Fulani herdsmen to live the Southwest?
The fact of the case is that Alhaji Abdulai Yerima, the Arewa Consultative Youth President started this by calling on the Igbo to leave the North and nobody queried him for it. To me, Sunday Igboho is a Yoruba militant leader who never carried a gun. He saw that his people are being massacred on daily basis without the government doing anything about it. So, how does that become an offence? The Federal Government does not see anything bad in the herdsmen who are using three weapons: Juju, AK 47 as well as their trust in the Federal Government’s backing; to fight other ethnic groups, but they are busy pursuing Sunday Igboho for fighting the course of his people. The action of the Federal Government is only helping in propagating the course of Sunday Igboho and the entire Yoruba race. The Yoruba people now see him as their saviour. What I think Sunday Igboho needs to do is to watch his tongue and should stop insulting Yoruba elders.
What is your advice for the people and government of Nigeria?
First and foremost, I am confused as to what advice I can give President Buhari who happens to be a chronic unrepentant tribalist. But not withstanding I will advise him to dissolve his present cabinet which consists of people with no idea on how to move Nigeria forward. He needs to inject fresh blood into his government. Let him scout for people with fresh and brilliant ideas, that can help to move the country forward. My advice to the Yoruba and Igbo is to seek the face of God in holiness and pray fervently unto God of Abraham who saved the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh and the task masters to put an end to the marginalization and killing of Yoruba and Igbo and to take them to the Promised Land because the killing is getting out of proportion.