Power Minister Adelabu petitions DSS over Primate Ayodele’s N150m demand for ‘spiritual intercession’

Ayodele

Bayo Adelabu, minister of power, has accused Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder and head of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Oke Afa, Lagos, of blackmail and attempting to extort N150 million from him for “spiritual intercession” to make him governor of Oyo state.

Adelabu, a former governorship candidate, has declared his intention to contest the 2027 Oyo governorship election.In a petition dated October 13, 2025, signed by Bolaji Tunji, the minister’s special adviser on strategic communications and media relations, to the director-general of the Department of State Services (DSS), Adelabu accused Ayodele of making false prophecies intended to malign his reputation after he rebuffed all efforts from the cleric, who allegedly demanded a huge sum of money and expensive spiritual items.

’IT’S AN INSTRUCTION FROM GOD’

In a series of text messages between Ayodele and Adelabu, seen by TheCable, the cleric asked the minister to bring 24 APC flags for prayers. The cleric also demanded 1,000 pieces of saxophones/trumpets, with the least expensive, fairly used Nigerian-grade costing a total of N50 million, and the imported grade-one from China costing N130 million.

Ayodele asked Adelabu to bring the items by April 1. He later extended the grace till April 4.“Sir, I don’t do this, but because of the love I have for you,” the primate wrote.The cleric told the minister that he had sent him several letters while he was CBN deputy governor and at other times to the minister in Ibadan, but there was no reply. He repeatedly made requests to call the minister, who told him he was on pilgrimage. Ayodele asked him to “recite almu nasira 200 times”.The cleric told the minister that he had sent him several letters while he was CBN deputy governor and at other times to the minister in Ibadan, but there was no reply. He repeatedly made requests to call the minister, who told him he was on pilgrimage. Ayodele asked him to “recite almu nasira 200 times”.