‘N150m can’t buy my shoe’ — Primate Ayodele calls Adelabu ‘small boy’ over extortion allegation

Primate Elijah Ayodele, founder and head of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, says N150 million is not enough to buy his shoe. 

Speaking during a service at his church in Oke Afa, Lagos, on Sunday, the cleric said Bayo Adelabu, minister of power, is pained because he knows he will lose another attempt to become governor of Oyo.

Ayodele was responding to TheCable’s report on how Adelabu petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS), accusing the cleric of blackmail and attempting to extort N150 million from him for “spiritual intercession” to make him governor of Oyo state.

Adelabu, who had twice contested the Oyo governorship election, has declared his intention to contest again in 2027.

The minister accused Ayodele of demanding 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.

Adelabu claimed that his refusal to yield to Ayodele’s demands led the cleric to make false prophecies intended to malign his reputation and his political ambition.

Ayodele, in a statement on Saturday, denied making an attempt to extort Adelabu, saying the minister came to him in desperation. The cleric noted that the minister said he would do anything to become Oyo governor.

Speaking during the church service earlier in the day, Ayodele described Adelabu as “a boy” who “doesn’t understand what he is saying”.

The pastor then dismissed the N150 million quoted in the petition, adding that “the shoe I wear, can N150 million buy it?”

“I can’t disappoint you. I can only disappoint you when you are not a good person. I carry something bigger than me,” Ayodele said.

“I am not doing prophecies to impress you or invite you to me. I don’t do prophecies for you to come and do enquiries. Take it, or you leave it.

“If I collected money, I would openly say I collected money. But I did not collect money, and I did not invite him. So, the boy doesn’t understand what he is saying. He is a boy. He doesn’t understand. Don’t give power to those who have mouth diarrhoea.

“Can N150 million buy my car? The shoe I wear, can N150 million buy it? Leave that person alone. He is a small boy. He knows he has lost that why he is pained.”