Pastor Poju Oyemade, the founder of the Covenant Nation and the initiator of The Platform, a national conversational podium, has again come under fire from Obidients.
TOP MEDIA reports that the Obidients is a sobriquet for supporters of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party.
In 2020, the popular preacher was heavily criticised by for his negative comments about the EndSARS protests.
Last year (2022), he also came under severe condemnation from some youths, who felt he dared to stick a pin into the bubble of the Obidient movement.
In a two-minute clip trending online, Pastor Poju explained that the youths cannot break the old order without ‘patronising’ them. It is not immediately clear when the video was taken.
He said: “I have told young people. You people [sic] will not hear. You know during EndSARS, I was saying it. They were abusing me on Twitter. I said this thing is delicate, leave the street. They said ‘hey shut up, because you have friends in power, you are talking like this’.
“Have you not seen that delegate is the power? Have you not seen that delegates are collecting 70, 000 dollars to vote? Listen, I have come again. Let me tell you, democracy is expensive everywhere in the world.
“Young people do not have the cash, except you are backed, even in America. It cost money.”
He added: “But it doesn’t cost any money to be inside the government’s office, if you play it right, if you are smart, if they can trust you, and you are loyal.”
The pastor’s comments did not go down well with some commenters who expressed their disappointment.
See some comments on Twitter below:
A user said: “I cringed the day I heard this message in church. Pastor P is always on about how we can’t break the old order without patronizing them. Feigns a bit of bias around experience and age.”
Another said: “One of the reasons I want a Peter Obi government is so that alot [sic] of all these people who masquerade as pastors would be disgraced, wealth without enterprise people.”
Someone wrote: “Cynicism masquerading itself as pragmatism. I’d say he probably hangs around Tinubu’s boys in Lagos quite a bit because that’s their signature scent.”
