Prophet Samuel Oyadara is the founder of All People Church, Ojo, Lagos. In this interview, he speaks on national issues, and personal life experience, among others. BOLA BADMUS brings these excerpts:
HOW come most of your prophecies come to pass? Could it be that there are people giving you information about them before you say them out?
Nobody is giving me any such except God. It’s only God that I know. I am not a politician and I don’t know anybody except God. So, it is through fasting and prayers that I receive directives from God. For instance, I commenced fasting on the first day of January of this year and I have not stopped, so it is through that I get directives from God on what will happen.
Some people no longer have trust in prophets because fake prophets are now rampant in our society. It could be so because God even said their ways are not my way, Only God tells me what I say and as I follow His directives He opens my eyes to a lot of things. This has been happening for a long time, and there is nothing that He has revealed to me that has not come to pass.
How did you begin the journey of the ministry?
I traveled to Italy in 2002, but there came a time when I was told that, right from the time I was very young, God had wanted me to work in His vineyard as a cleric. But I didn’t have a clue about pastoral work. Along the line, I was deported to Nigeria four years later.
I came back to Nigeria with just $100, it was N13,600 when I converted it to Naira at the airport. This was when the journey started. I wanted to return because I didn’t come with anything and due to that, I started going from one pastor to another for help and prayers. They told me that I shouldn’t have traveled in the first instance and that I should have asked properly before embarking on the journey.
What was your mission abroad?
I aimed to travel for a greener pasture. I like football a lot and I desired to have a headway in Italy. I trained in Nigeria before I traveled, but I had a club over there then. There is a club then called All African Club, that selected Africans. I also wished to do some jobs too.
A new journey started when I was deported, and even from there, I started having serious and scary dreams, which I didn’t understand.
But when I returned home, I started looking for a way out and anywhere I went for spiritual intervention, they always told me to go and face God’s work and by doing so I would have a breakthrough. My situation was critical and I could not afford to feed myself.
It got to a stage where a younger me to a cleric called Primate Olabayo in Maryland and immediately Baba sighted me, he said, please, go and start the work of God right away. I said to myself what was Baba saying, which God’s work? The statement made me angry, I made plans to find my way back to Italy. I thought he would pray for me to return abroad, but he insisted that God wanted me in the vineyard.
Everything became so tough after eight months. I experienced a series of dreams; sometimes I saw myself wearing a white cassock, doing evangelism and crusade. I then returned to Primate Olabayo and he told me then that the way forward for me was to oblige to the call of God. So, I accepted and moved to live with baba. I went for series of trainings and I had my first pastoral work under his ministry.
I spent two years there, thereafter, God said I should proceed and I told baba about the decision and I got his prayers. It was during the era of President Goodluck Jonathan. Then, Jonathan campaign group came on a visit. No one would see baba without passing through me. I was the one holding his walking stick. It was a tough decision for me because of the bond, but we needed to oblige to God’s call, though I visited him subsequently.
Precisely, I went to baba in 2008 and left the place in 2010, so that was how the journey started.
What are the challenges you have experienced so far?
There are many challenges too many for one who is truly called by God. From all that we learned and read in the Bible, whoever God does not send can’t truly deliver. That is what many cannot withstand to the extent that today those of us who are pastors know that a lot of things have gotten rotten. It takes the grace of God because a lot of pastors are no longer speaking the truth.
But whatever it is, you know they used to say that fingers are not equal, some that would continue to spread the true gospel and tell the truth as it still exists. I always tell people that if it remains a day for me to mix something with serving God, He should end my sojourn on earth. I have fasted for two years from January 1 to December 31 unbroken. So, there is nothing that can take me off God’s way. I have seen a lot of attacks because where I am based in Ojo; one needs to be careful and watchful.
The work of a pastor or preacher is taxing. Whoever God does not give the grace can’t do it, but if you can endure, God will bless the work of your hands, and He would certainly do it for those He called. Though money and glamour have distracted so many clerics, I try to remain focused.
What is your take on the current state of the country?
I feel concerned about Nigeria to the extent that I cry and sometimes find it difficult to eat. The many terrifying reports and the current state of the country are heartbreaking. What we are passing through today in Nigeria is due to the blood spilling and other criminalities that are happening around us because the Bible says righteousness exalts a nation, but sins pull a nation down.
So today, Nigeria happens to be a nation that God loves much, but we citizens don’t love one another, we only pay eye service in worshipping God.
I have been saying it since the time of Yar’Adua, I was still with my father in the Lord then, Primate Olabayo. God told me Yar’Adua was would not survive the sickness and that there would be a change of government and it came to pass.
Then, it came to Jonathan, God spoke to me to inform Jonathan to pray fervently before going for a second term in office. God showed me that they crucified him, and when they voted, it was just like they crucified him. God showed him to me that way, and they nailed him to the cross. I asked what kind of revelation was this and if you watched what happened to President Goodluck Jonathan then, that was what happened.
For Buhari, I said that Buhari was not going to change Nigeria but to create problems. Though we needed change, Buhari could not change the country. I said they should not expect anything from his government and the rest is history today.
Nigerians appear religious, why is it that our life in the country is like that of the Israelites with all the happenings around us?
Yes. Our life is like that of the Israelites because God loves the Israelites but when they misbehave or disobey God, begin to worship other gods and don’t worship God the way they should, God will leave them to suffer for their misconduct well enough. And when they begin to groan to high heaven God will raise another prophet and rescue them. This is how we are in Nigeria. God genuinely loves Nigeria with a lot of things that He endowed us with compared to other countries, but disobedience, dissatisfaction are among those things that are causing our problems because there is no unity and love among us. There is no unity because if there is, everything would be going on smoothly.
Will with the Tinubu-led administration, be able to turn things around or not?
What God showed to me is that as long as Tinubu is still there, prices of things will continue to skyrocket. I saw people struggling to eat in the revelation and when I sat down and interpreted it, I discovered that this is how it would be. And if you look at the situation we are in now as a country, it is how rich you are that you would be capable of feeding your family.
Some people were said to be behind this current hardship Nigerians are facing. They called them saboteurs who are not out for the good of the country. Do you agree?
A Yoruba adage says ‘Oba to je ti ilu toro, oruko re ko ni pare, eyi to je ti ilu tuka, oruko re ko ni pare’ literally meaning: ‘A king that reigned and made the city peaceful, his name would not be forgotten, and one who reigned and caused ruins of the city, his name would also not be forgotten.’ You see the very day he came into office, I knew what God told me we would experience, so I didn’t bother myself. Instead, I only continued to pray to God. Where is that David today? Is he a Hausa, a Yoruba, or an Igbo, and we are dear in need of the David of our time? As things are now, whoever is to restore Nigeria must be one that God must have anointed like David.
Tinubu may have determined to become president, with the passion to correct all anomalies because he was not pleased with the situation of things, but I tell you that Nigeria is beyond that. By the time he got into office, he would have found out that what he thought was not what he met on the ground. So, whoever God anoints would begin to correct things right from within and from those close to him. I don’t know how Tinubu wants to do it, I won’t say more than that. So, we need God’s mercy and grace to move forward.
What is your advice for Nigeria and Nigerians?
From my little knowledge and understanding, Nigeria is a country that does not listen as we have been talking and it has been so with some other countries in the past, and God always raised prophets. This is the time that people know the true men of God, the true messengers of God.
But in Nigeria, as we are seeing today and experiencing pain, some people are still benefiting from the situation. Some people are still buying cars and building new houses and are not even bothered about the complaints and sufferings of people around them. So, Nigerians should be patient, prayerful, and wait on God.
I also think the government should be for the poor and the underprivileged in the society. Those who are rich can cater for themselves, but how do the poor people who cannot afford three square meals a day? That is what the government should be concerned about. Nigerians should join hands and pray to God to fight for us.
We still have the proliferation of religious centers in the country yet crimes are on the increase, why?
It is said in the Bible that ‘faith comes by hearing of the words of God.’ It is what you hear that you will believe. So, a lot of religious leaders are speaking and preaching the truth, but such truth is not enough. You know why things are so bad this way is because we are after the things in life rather than hereafter. A lot of religious leaders don’t know where they are going, they could be rich, and influential, but have not seen what is in the hereafter.
Again, a lot that establishes these worship centers, whether Churches or Islamic organizations are not called by God. Many of them just came into it because they felt that is what is now common and well embraced. So, those who are speaking the truth are not many because many abhor truth, rather they prefer lies. I won’t lie to you, a God-sent person, who speaks and preaches the truth, will encounter several tribulations before he can have a large followership.
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