Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, has denied attempting to extort N150 million from the minister of power, Bayo Adelabu.
TheCable had reported that Adelabu petitioned the DSS, accusing the cleric of bl@ckmail and demanding money and costly “spiritual items” in exchange for prayers to help him become Oyo governor in 2027.
Adelabu alleged that Ayodele asked him to provide 24 APC flags and 1,000 saxophones/trumpets, priced between N50 million for fairly used Nigerian-grade and N130 million for Chinese grade-one, and that after he refused, Ayodele prophesied he would never be governor.
But in a statement signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Ayodele denied the allegations, insisting he never requested N150 million.
He admitted mentioning trumpets but said Adelabu asked for the cost, and he advised him to verify market prices himself.
Ayodele said the minister and his aides “put him under pressure” because Adelabu was “desperate for governorship,” adding that the musical instruments were suggested only as an act of seeking God’s mercy, not as payment to the church.
“I didn’t ask Bayo Adelabu to bring money for prayers,” Ayodele said. “His personal assistant and the person he sent to me pressured me. He even said he was willing to give anything to become governor.”
The cleric maintained that he has long warned that Adelabu’s governorship ambition would require divine grace and that his prophecies were never tied to financial gain. “I don’t make prophecies to make money. I am blessed already,” he said.
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