Recently, a Nigerian pastor, Elijah Ayodele made a very provocative statement about the Liberian president, Joseph Nyumah Boakai. As if to say he was addressing Liberia directly, the man said, “Liberia, your president is confused. So, the economy of the country is confused. Everything about the country is confused. You are going to face a crisis. Liberia is going to be hot next year.” As if to say he’s reinforcing his comment or his message, he went on further to say, “If they don’t even plan a coup against you, sincerely, your government will be very tough. Hardship awaits Liberia. The government is not ready to change and this will cause hardship. It’s going to cause a crisis. The man is tired.”
These comments, from a foreign pastor about Liberia and our president are very provocatively troubling. Who or what gave him the audacity to interfere in our internal affairs in such manner? Well, the answer to this question is that this pastor and other pastors from Nigeria are encouraged by Liberians for various reasons. They are welcome and treated like messiahs by some of our own Liberian Christians. Many of these Nigerian pastors are very charismatic and our Liberian Christian brothers and sisters can easily be carried away by their charismatic preachings. They tend to be prosperity gospel preachers whose preaching about prosperity resonates with Liberians hungry for prosperity. These are people seeking economic improvement and they see any clergy man from Nigeria to be like a prophet of economic prosperity in their own lives.
As such, these Nigerian mega churches are filled every Sunday as they collect money from the poor Church goers. As such, these Nigerian pastors feel welcome to say anything in our country without any caution. Even as many rational Liberians are appalled and have expressed their disapproval of this Nigerian pastor, there are some who approve his negative message in the name of politic.
Most of those Liberians who have expressed their approval for the unremarkable statement of this so called “man of God” are CDCians as the man is thought to be a strong supporter of former President George Weah. It is said that before the 2023 election, he “prophesized” that if candidate Joseph Boakai won the election, “Liberia will go through hardship.” Obviously, his statement then was politically motivated and now it is politically motivated. Reading the reactions of some former CDC government officials say a lot about the pastor’s CDC connection.
Former Deputy Minister Isaac Doe is quoted to have said that Ayodele, “Prophesied that Liberia would experience fire outbreaks. He prophesied that life would become more difficult for the nation. Are Liberians facing harder times? Yes.” Similar statement was expressed by the defeated CDC’s firebrand former representative Accarus Gray, who was massively defeated in the last election of 2023. According to him, “Ayodele’s warnings had been fulfilled under Boakai’s administration.” Mr. Gray went on further to say that “Today, this prophecy has come to pass. The country is hard — unprecedented economic hardship, high unemployment, parents can’t send their kids to school, and people are dying in hospitals.”
In time like this when our president is attacked by a foreigner interfering in our internal affairs, it is disgusting that some members of the defeated former ruling party would applaud such reckless statement. In time like this, it is prudent to put politic aside and come together as one people. It is not patriotic to applaud a foreign pastor raining insult on our political system or our leadership. To do so shows desperation on the part of those CDCians.
Then the question is, was Liberia a paradise under the CDC government? The answer is no. There was no economic prosperity in Liberia under the CDC led government. If there was such, it was not felt by the ordinary Liberians. It was the fat cats of the government who lived and fed well while the ordinary people went to bed hungry. Has things changed dramatically for the ordinary people since President Boakai assumed the presidency after the 2023 election? The answer is no. So it is an insult to our intelligence for CDCians to entertain the idea that Liberia was a paradise when they were in power and out of a sudden, everything started going downhill when UP government took over. To entertain such thought is like taking leave of common sense and the reality in our country yesterday and today.
