In what can be described as a ‘me too’ movement, many Nigerians have shared their experiences with fake prophets after the seven-part #ProphetsOfTheirPockets investigative series published by the Foundation for Investigative Journalist (FIJ).
The Prophets Of Their Pockets series, written by Fisayo Soyombo, investigative journalist and founder of FIJ, unmasks the falsehoods that have continued to permeate many Nigerian religious institutions.
Rife with fake visions and prophecies, unabashed extortion, demand for “irreligious” items, abuse of power, lies and backstabbing, among other unwholesome features, many of these institutions have deviated from their primary role as moral and spiritual guides in the society.
The situation is worsened by extremist followers who, instead of calling for the interrogation of such fake prophets, defend their actions.
READ ALSO: Police Arrest ‘Alfa Ibadan’ After FIJ’s #ProphetsOfTheirPockets Series
HUSTLING PROPHETS
For Anthony Dibie, some of the so-called ‘prophets’ are just hustlers looking for means to survive.
Dibie arrived at this conclusion when a ‘man of God’, who claimed to have been instructed by God, asked her to give him all of her money. The man had added that if she was bold enough to obey God’s instruction, the kind of wealth that would come her way would be out of this world.
Although she discarded his message, she later saw the guy telling another lady the exact story he told her. That was when she became convinced he was a fake prophet.
PURVEYORS OF FALSE VISIONS AND PROPHECIES
This anonymous writer narrates how a 400-level lady, who had no luck with men, visited a prophet. The prophet said she had a spiritual husband, and part of the requirements for deliverance involved having sexual intercourse with her. Sadly, she gave in to the demand.
Despite prophecies that a politician would become governor, he lost in all elections. The prophet even blamed the man’s wife for the losses and urged him to marry another wife.
A lady said that one week before her marriage,a pastor prophesied that her husband would die six months into their marriage. Fifteen years later, the man is alive.
A pastor cautioned him against women, but he does not have to heed to the warnings because he is gay.
Before he got married, a prophet told his fiancee that he would die in the first year of their marriage. The two have been married with kids for more than nine years.
A fake prophet told her she would not have children except she performed some rituals. She paid no attention to the prophecy of doom. Her marriage has produced three children.
After being asked to pay $2,000 dollars to break the yoke of singleness and for her long-term partner to marry her, she fled without looking back.
Twelve years ago, a man wanted to travel abroad in search of greener pastures. Two pastors gave him a go-ahead. Till today, he has not got his visa.
A popular pastor assured this politician that he would clinch a House of Representatives position. After donating huge sums of money to the pastor’s church, he still lost the election. Today, the said pastor is a running mate of a presidential candidate.
The former pastor of a renowned pentecostal church kept giving this family fake prophecies, one after another. He instructed the couple on what to do to prevent death. The husband never took the pastor seriously, but his wife did, until the pastor accused her mother of witchcraft. The scale fell off her eyes.
This prophet said he saw a vision of death concerning this lady, but she is alive eight years later.
This man’s wife died from ovarian cancer, but she would have survived if she had been taken to the hospital earlier. She was first taken to a church, where the prophets said she was under a spiritual attack.
This lady had never had sexual intercourse when a prophetess alleged that she would be unable to conceive because she had done three abortions.
This man’s eight-year relationship was destroyed after a pastor claimed he could not marry his partner.
@Cikings met with a prophet who forgot the initial ‘vision’ he had about him; instead, he said he was destined to die before 25. But he has lived to see 31.
This Twitter user was told she would not get married on time and even if she did, she wouldn’t have children because of her ‘connection’ to the river. But today, she has not only been married for twelve years, but she also has three kids.
An Islamic cleric told Coach Matthew ‘Femi-Adedoyin that his success is tied to marrying four wives, but Matthew is succeeding and only has one wife. Another prophet told him he would die within 2 years unless he made some sacrifices. Without making any sacrifice or even praying about it, 17 years after, he still lives to tell the story.
Another Islamic cleric said Ayo was not excelling in his academics because of demons not knowing that he had graduated for almost a decade.
In 2007, a fake prophetess warned Gbola Kaseem against embarking on intercity trips for a month. His mom urged him to hearken to the warning, but Kaseem would later shuffle between Oyo and Lagos States every week of that month without any casualty.
Dadidara was informed that his father’s second wife was responsible for his inability to get a visa. Unknown to the ‘seer’, his father only married his mom and he had never applied for a visa at the time.
A prophet in Bayelsa State told Okpo Bright that his brain had been taken to the dark world. He said he would not excel in any of his endeavors until he was delivered. Alas, his prophecy didn’t see the light of day. Bright recently completed his one-year (NYSC) programme.
To cure a sudden illness Olamitide Olatomiwa would later learn was an allergic reaction, a ‘healer’ demanded about N16,000 and gave her a nondescript substance to lick and rub on her body.
According to the healer, one of Olatomiwa’s paternal aunts was responsible for her predicament, but a prescribed drug worth N200 was all she needed to be healthy.
Oluwatosin Oreoluwa was told she would travel abroad within one year. But about 10 years later, she is still in Nigeria.
Four years ago, a ‘man of God’ told Samuel Avong he would experience the kind of wealth that would surpass his imagination, but afterwards, he experienced a financial dryness that exceeded his imagination.
In June 2017, a prophet told Abbey his girlfriend was a witch and he would die on the 7th of the following month if he did not make some donations, including his phone. He stopped going to church after the ‘prophecy’, and he secured a good contract on that particular day he was meant to die.
Mike Fawole was told that his father was the cause of his predicament and that until his father came, nothing would change. But his father had died over 10 years earlier.
Oguntoye Michael said an evangelist invited to his church called him out to produce the ring he used to attract girls, but he didn’t have any ring with him.
Agbolade’s dad stopped showing concerns for his education after he was told he would join a cult group if allowed to further his education after his Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).
This lady, with Twitter handle @NutinIsWorking, was told in 2019 that her fiance would only marry her if he impregnated her that year. The prophet also said they would break up before the end of that year. Last month, she celebrated their first wedding anniversary with the same man. In addition to that, they have a four-month old baby.
Till today, Nkiruka Okorie has not forgiven those who have affiliations with Christianity due to her experiences while she was growing up. But then, no one can blame her.
When a prophetess told her dad she was responsible for his downfall, she was compelled to undergo a one-week deliverance at the mountain of fire church.
In spite of the ‘deliverance’ service, her father did not become rich, even as he sought solutions from different religious institutions.
Following a vision of an impending doom, a prophet told Aanu Oluyide’s dad that she had to defer her admission to study at Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU). She found a means to pay her school fees and was the best graduating student in her class.
Moishe stayed indoors all day when an evangelist said she might die at the age of 21. She clocked 35 this year.
A prophet told Tunde Alao that an ill aged woman in his extended family would die if the family failed to offer some sacrifices. While his mother’s aunt was indeed sick at the time, they never made any sacrifice and the woman lived for another 30 years before she died.
When a prophet told Christopher Onah that his relatives living abroad did not want him to prosper, he must have laughed, because he had no family or friends abroad at the time.
When Oluwaseyi Agbeke Adesokan was pregnant, a prophet said she had to travel to Ibadan in Oyo State with her husband for some ‘spiritual activities’ to ward off attacks. She was also told to neither barb the baby’s hair nor disclose the sex to anyone if she wanted the child to live beyond five years.
Not only did she laugh at the man’s ‘folly’, but she also disregarded the instructions. And the said child has lived beyond age five.
A prophet told Omolola Roseline Pedro she would lose her life unless she stayed away from her mom for seven days. Well, she disobeyed, and two years later, she is still alive.
Abimbola Doyin was in her shop one afternoon when a ‘prophet’ said her enemies were delaying her marital journey, and childbearing would be difficult for her unless she put some things in place.
Before the man could conclude the ‘prophecy’ she described as nonsense, she cut him short. Doyin had been married for seven years with three children at the time.
In 2010, when Sunday Oladipupo was seeking admission to the University of Ibadan (UI), a man in a white garment approached him. Perhaps emboldened by the folder in Oladipupo’s hands, the prophet said his father’s second wife did not want him to succeed. He was shocked by the lie because his father was only married to his mother.
A pastor told Wahab Rufai Oyindamola that the man she was dating would not marry her. The spirit that spoke with the pastor failed to see that Oyindamola had been married for five years, and she had two kids.
READ ALSO: PROPHETS OF THEIR POCKETS (II): Lagos Mosque Where Greedy Cleric Scams Miracle Seekers
When Thompson Flair went to his neighbours’ church, he thought their prophet would see a vision about his severe ulcer. Instead, the prophet said he often dated fair-complexioned ladies, and one of the girls whose heart he had broken turned him into a goat in the spirit world.
Unknown to the prophet, Flair had never even befriended a light-skinned lady, and instead of breaking ladies’ hearts, he had been the victim of heartbreaks.
Adunola-Abiola Simeon is from a monogamous family, but a fake prophetess once told her she was from a polygamous home.
When Zainab Benjamin Masagbor was 19 years old, she attended a church vigil with her mom and siblings. The pastor said she was pregnant, even though she was a virgin at the time. Her mum took her to a hospital for a pregnancy test, and the result was negative.
When Engineer Oduse David’s mother was diagnosed with a heart disease and some other ailments, the prophet of a church in Ogun State warned her against modern treatment because, according to him, her ailment was spiritual.
His mother, who believed so much in prophecies of white garment churches, obliged. Instead of going to the hospital, she went to one of their parishes, and while she was coughing and struggling for breath, the prophets were casting out demons.
When her situation became intense, an onlooker cut in and rushed her to the hospital. Sadly, she gave up the ghost at the entrance.
“All this happened within just a space of two days. I wasn’t even aware till after she died,” David wrote.
In 2002, when Oyetunji’s father bought his first car, a prophetess told two of his father’s elder sisters that someone close to them, presumably Oyetunji’s dad, who just bought a car, would have an accident.
Two years after the prophecy, the prophetess died. Oyetunji’s father used the car and sold it many years later. He also bought three cars after the first one. When he died in 2021, it was not from a car accident but a heart attack.
During Okwy Onyia’s time as a media manager of a former gubernatorial aspirant in Lagos State, he became aware of the dubious schemes of some clerics.
Even though the campaign team knew their principal’s chances of winning was quite slim, the Islamic and Christian clerics kept ‘prophesying’ that their principal would win the party’s primary.
For each ‘revelation’, the clerics would ask for money for intense prayers. When the aspirant lost the election, the clerics never returned to the campaign office.
Desperate to have his United States visa approved, Solomon Bukky accompanied a prophetess to a prayer mountain. But in spite of the money he gave the prophetess for prayers and her assurance that the host of heaven had approved it, the embassy denied him visa.
A month after Omolola Ishola Oluwasegun’s neighbour put to bed, she still had the post-pregnancy bump. When a ‘prophet’ saw the woman, thinking the bump was an actual pregnancy, he said she would deliver twins as revealed to him by the Lord.
When Ebere Ogbuanu’s wife was pregnant, his mother-in-law took her to a church for prayers. The prophet, who ‘prophesied’ the death of either Ogbuanu’s father or his unborn child, demanded a goat and some other items for sacrifice. He even said he could monetise the items.
Ogbuanu was never going to give in to the demands. Without offering any sacrifice, his wife gave birth safely and his father still enjoys life more than four years after.
Sowoma Lawson gave a ‘man of God’ four names of different guys so he could reveal her God-ordained husband. Meanwhile, three of the names belong to her cousins while the fourth was a guy who had wooed her. By the time the pastor would choose, he chose one of her cousins.
Aderiye Modupe was a teenager when a prophet said he needed to do a spiritual activity for her through her private part. She swiftly reported to her mom, and the man was taught an unforgettable lesson.
In 2013, an Islamic cleric told this man and his friends to pray so as to avert his death the following day. Unperturbed by the ‘prophecy’, he gave his friends a nice treat at the bar. Without even praying before going to bed that particular day, he is still alive today.
This lady met an Islamic cleric who told her the man that deflowered her should have been her husband. The words were like salt rubbed on a wound because the would-have-been husband was a married man who raped her during her teenage years.
This man’s dad was battling cancer, but a prophet claimed it was a spiritual attack. When his father’s blood level dropped to 12%, the prophet barred them from blood transfusion and told them to give him a mixture of tomato paste and malt. The son’s pleas for a blood transfusion fell on deaf ears. Two weeks later, his father died.
A few weeks to his wedding ceremony, this man and his fiancee went for a church service, where a prophet told him that God said he could not marry the lady. He prophesied barrenness if they disobeyed the instruction. The duo were scared initially, but the ‘prophecy’ did not sit well with the man.
When he got home, he prayed, and coincidentally, he came across a biblical verse that allayed his fears. More than five years later, the two are happily married with three children.
This writer shared how fake prophets and traditionalists caused a rift in his extended family. They alleged that his father, who dealt in real estate, was using his younger siblings’ destiny to prosper. His extended family swallowed the lie, and despite all his father had done for them, they turned away from him. Due to this, the writer and his siblings do not share a close relationship with his cousins.
In one of the ‘revelations’ about this lady, a prophet-cum-pastor alleged that her eldest sister, whom she was staying with was the reason she had not got a job.
She was warned in another revelation against marrying her then boyfriend who was pursuing his graduate studies abroad. According to the prophet, the boyfriend was planning to marry a white lady so as to process his papers. Today, the two have been married for almost nine years and they are both living abroad.
An Islamic cleric also told the same lady a man she recently had sex with had stolen her destiny, but she had been celibate for two years at the time.
On a Sunday morning in 2012, while this lady was returning from Mass, a ‘prophet’ told her not to abort her pregnancy. Unknown to the prophet, she was not sexually active then.
According to this man, a Celestial Church prophet ruined his life eight years ago. He was working at an oil servicing company when this prophet told his mom that unless he resigned from the company, he would die.
After making him resign, his parents gave the ‘prophet’ a sum of N300,000. They later discovered that his mother’s friend was responsible for giving the prophet information. The fake prophet was eventually apprehended and sentenced to five years imprisonment.
According to this writer, countless fraudulent activities take place in the Celestial Church. As a member of the church, his family has been duped several times all in the name of spiritual work.
The writer’s father died one month after he was diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer. Before he died, several prophets claimed his family members had poisoned him, but despite all spiritual activities, he kept falling ill.
When this woman was pregnant with her first child 20 years ago, her cousin said a prophetess had seen a vision about a pregnant woman who was close to her.
They both went to the prophetess, who said either her baby or her would die. But to avert the looming casualty, she demanded huge sums of money to be apportioned in seven envelopes, as well as seven different clothing materials. Upon hearing this, she called the prophetess’ bluff and walked out on her.
Today, she is alive to tell the story, and her first child is now an undergraduate. Ironically, the prophetess, who was pregnant at the time of the revelation, had a still birth the same week she had her child.
This man gave a prophet three names of non-existent girlfriends. The prophet never discerned that the names were fake. He even selected one of the three that would give him peace and lasting wealth.
Our Stories
Parents Suspect Foul Play in 4-Year-Old’s Death at Abuja School
Abuja Guardian Shows No Remorse for Inflicting Injuries on 16-Year-Old Girl
Osun IBEDC Marketer Diverts Customer’s Meter Fee, Delivers Inflated Bill
JUST IN: Over 118 Inmates Escape Suleja Prison Overnight
Oyo Chief ‘Threatened’ for Refusing to Endorse Bashorun’s Alaafin Pick
Overburdened, Yet Underpaid… House Officer at LAUTECH Teaching Hospital Regrets Getting Hired
JUST IN: Keyamo Suspends Dana Air Operations
REPORT: Nigerian Gov’t Contributed Significantly to Human Rights Abuses in 2023
Trigger-Happy Oyo Policeman Kills 2 Brothers Celebrating LAUTECH Graduation
Homeless Man Charged With Murder of British Nigerian
Subscribe
Be the first to receive special investigative reports and features in your inbox.