There is a major controversy going on right now within the Christian community in Nigeria. And it is very serious. It is causing friction in the vineyard of God and calling to question the understanding and harmony amongst our celebrated men of God. Some senior Nigerian clerics are currently divided over COVID-19 vaccination, leaving millions of their direct and indirect followers confused about whether to take jabs or not.
Some
of the pastors encouraged their teeming members to take the vaccine, others
have yet to make their positions on the matter known to the public, while some
already instructed their members not to do so but to believe in God’s healing
power.
The
pro-vaccine pastors so far include the General Overseer, Redeemed Christian
Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye; founder of Kingsway International
Christian Centre, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo; General Overseer of The Redeemed
Evangelical Mission, Dr Mike Okonkwo; Senior Pastor of Trinity House, Ituah
Ighodalo; founder of Daystar Christian Centre, Pastor Sam Adeyemi, among
others.
Those
indifferent or who haven’t made any pronouncement for or against vaccination
include the General Overseer, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, Dr.
Daniel Olukoya; General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry,
Pastor William Kumuyi, founder of The Sword of The Spirit Ministries
International and President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Bishop
Wale Oke, among others.
Top
clerics who have made their positions known against COVID-19 vaccination are
the General Overseer of the Living Faith Church International (Winners Chapel),
Bishop David Oyedepo; the General Overseer of the Omega Fire Ministries
International, Apostle Johnson Suleman; Shepherd of the Household of God Church
International Ministries, Pastor Chris Okotie; Founder, Christ Embassy, Pastor
Chris Oyakhilome, among others.
Nigeria
has so far recorded over 200,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 2,700
associated deaths since the index case of the deadly virus was reported in the
country in March 2020, according to statistics by Nigeria Centre for Disease
Control.
The
Federal Government through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency
has since been encouraging Nigerians to take COVID-19 vaccines in order for the
country to achieve herd immunity.
About
five million Nigerians have since received their first shots of COVID-19
vaccination while about two million have completed their second doses,
according to NPHCDA statistics as of end of September.
The
Federal Government also encourages religious and political leaders to take the
vaccine to dissipate vaccine hesitancy among the populace.
Addressing
congregants on Friday night during the monthly Holy Ghost service of the church
at the Redemption Camp along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Adeboye said, “I have
never said to you, ‘Don’t be vaccinated.’ You’ve never heard that from me.
Rather than live in fear or doubt, get vaccinated. If you believe that getting
vaccinated will put your mind at rest, then go ahead.
“Daddy,
are you saying that you too could be vaccinated? If there are nations in the
world that say that I cannot come to preach the gospel there because of
vaccination, I will do anything for Jesus Christ.
“If
vaccination or no vaccination is going to hinder me from doing the work God has
called me to do, even if they ask me to be vaccinated 100 times, I will be
vaccinated. So, don’t ever say that you heard from me that I said that you
should not be vaccinated.”
However,
Oyedepo had said that he wouldn’t get vaccinated, adding that he was not a
guinea pig.
In
May 2021, during the 40th-anniversary thanksgiving service of the church in
Ota, Ogun State warned his members not to take the “deadly thing” called a vaccine.
“Let
me warn you against this deadly thing circulated around the country because it
has not been duly tested. An elder of this church, who works with the World
Health Organisation, confirmed this, thanking me for always speaking the truth
about the authenticity of the COVID-19 vaccine,” he said.
Like
Oyedepo, Suleman had also told his followers, “I don’t say it is spiritual but
I see something medical; that thing is not good and I’m hearing in some places
now, they are making it compulsory. People are watching online; they will
misunderstand me. If you want to take it, take it, but I’ll advise anybody who
has consciousness not to take it. It’s not healthy.”
Similarly,
Okotie had said, “Since the blood of Jesus is not what he (Satan) is talking
about, or what he has to offer, he will require you to seek blood somewhere
else. And the only place where you can find blood is in another human being.
So, one of the things that the vaccine will make you do is to become a vampire
who needs to drink blood for sustenance.”
On
March 30, Oyakhilome was seen in a video published on the church’s YouTube
channel, condemning fellow Christian clerics for telling their followers to
receive the vaccine.
Oyakhilome
had said, “I can’t understand how a minister of the gospel would be waiting for
some vaccine to be the solution for the world. Where is your faith? Where is
the Word of God in your mouth? If I say to someone, “You shall live and not
die,’’ that’s it for him.”
But
Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of The Trinity House dispelled the claims about the
vaccine in an interview, saying, “It is foolishness to keep having faith that
God will protect you from an infection (for which) He has made provision for
vaccines that can provide a high percentage of protection.”
Ighodalo
advised his fellow pastors “to do their research, get the knowledge and stop
misinforming and improperly educating people on guesswork, instincts and mere
suppositions.”
Members
of Kumuyi, Olukoya and Oke’s churches who spoke on condition of anonymity said
their leaders had not made any pronouncement for or against COVID-19
vaccination.
Efforts
to get comments from Oke, Olukoya and Kumuyi’s ministries proved abortive as of
the time of filing this report.
One
thing is clear, however, this controversy will continue to rage on for as long
as the deadly Coronavirus remains on rampage.
-WALE
LAWAL
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