By Olukorede Yishau
There is something I hate about Nigerians: their love for unwarranted comparison. It all started after celebrity photographer Busola Dakolo accused His Eminence, Reverend Pastor Dr Biodun Fatoyinbo, of rape. Since the allegation against this handsome Pentecostal pastor, not a few have been drawing a parallel between the beloved COZA man and a character in my novel In the Name of Our Father.
I am so angry at the moment and my lawyers are on the way to file a suit against anyone comparing the great Fatoyinbo, Nigeria’s best-dressed (sorry, world’s best-dressed) pastor with Prophet T.C. Jeremiah. No worst disservice can be done to an anointed man of the clothe like Fatoyinbo.
If you have any doubt about Fatoyinbo’s greatness, you need to see the short video introduction done by his church to welcome him back to the pulpit after about one month of staying away. The wordings go like this: “With the heart of gratitude, we welcome our beloved senior pastor and the father of the takeover generation, Reverend Biodun Fatoyinbo. He has been of tremendous blessing to us.”
You need to hear how members were screaming to get angry at a mischievous fellow who twisted his description as “the father of the takeover generation” to “the father who has taken over a generation of female species”.
His sermon on Sunday is the best I have ever heard. The title, too, unrivalled. Fatoyinbo delivered a sermon titled “Sudden Victories”. Very prophetic. He read from I Timothy 6:12; Mark 4:35-37 and 1st Corinthians 10:13, and declared believers must face challenges, adding that they would be victorious if they trusted God. You need to see his own victory which has seen him back on the pulpit to understand the prophetic nature of the message.
“As a Christian, you must face opposition. If God, who is holy and faithful, has enemies, you are sure going to have. In wrestling, any method can be used. When faced with challenging circumstances, pray, fast, decree, confess and prophesy God’s victory over your life. Most contrary situations around you are set up by the enemy to cripple your faith and keep you on a spot.”
Some days after Fatoyinbo spoke of ‘sudden victories’, there were reports credited to Busola, which said police forced her to sign a statement countering her allegation. So, is that the sudden victory the pastor was celebrating with panache?
Let me tell you about Prophet T.C. Jeremiah so that you can understand my anger with those comparing him with the amiable Fatoyinbo, whose beautiful wife Modele said her man never raped anyone as an unbeliever, not to talk of raping as a believer.
Prophet Jeremiah starts his life as Alani, the man who knows poverty in and out. He gets tired of his situation one day and takes the advice of a friend to start ‘helping God in doing his work’. He is introduced to the Brotherhood and within months life becomes good. All sorts of fetish charms are made for him to look like what he is not.
He performs miracles but he is unable to get his ex-prostitute wife pregnant. He has affairs with ladies in his church and even kills a pastor in his church for daring to sever ties with him. He even uses his closeness to the Head of State, General Sani Idoti, to implicate a journalist for using the story of his life to write a novella. With the help of the Brotherhood, his atrocities are buried.
His exploits bring him wealth and acquiring property here and there, including in London, becomes as easy as feeling the air. However, his wife’s inability to conceive means no peace at home. A church member soon pins a pregnancy on him and he accepts it like a fool and thus begins the journey to his end.
The hallmark of Prophet Jeremiah’s life is deceit. He dupes the people in the name of God and feels people should be happy he, with a special grace, is the one messing up their lives. He fears not God because he is sure the Father up there is merciful and does not strike like the god of thunder.
So, when mischief makers say Pastor Fatoyinbo shares deceit in common with Prophet Jeremiah, who also wears designer shirts, suits and shoes and drives flashy cars, I feel like blowing an entire village up. These enemies of progress say that COZA members are standing by Pastor Fatoyinbo just like Prophet Jeremiah’s followers ignore negative information about him. These funny people also claim that like Jeremiah’s followers, Fatoyinbo’s loyalists are ready to take bows and arrows for him.
For goodness sake, Fatoyinbo — with his good look and suave persona — cannot be what he is being said to be. This is a man of God and I cannot even begin to imagine that he will call a girl, force her to pull her panties and begin to climb the stairs between her thighs. Sacrilege! Men of God are holy and such things, such worldly things, are for this world. Pastor Fatoyinbo, though in this world, is not of this world! So all these pleasures of the flesh are not the sort he craves. In fact, I have it on good authority that Pastor (Mrs) Modele and Pastor Fatoyinbo only seek spiritual and holy pleasures alone.
Some antagonists also point at the fact that not only Mrs Dakolo has accused Pastor Fatoyinbo of ‘forcibly knowing’ her. Hogwash. Blasphemy.
Pastor Fatoyinbo’s ‘sudden victory’ cannot be complete unless ‘he treats the fuckup’ of some people. The number one person is Timi Dakolo, the musician husband of his major accuser. Not even my love for Timi and his music will make me advise Pastor Fatoyinbo to spare him. This is my recommendation on how he should be dealt with. Pastor Fatoyinbo should just say this prayer: “Lord, please destroy Timi if he is lying against me. Make his voice crack and ensure it is difficult for him to sing again.”
The second person is Busola. The prayer should go thus: “Lord, please destroy Busola if she is lying against me. Make her talent vanish and life unbearable for her.”
And for the other collaborators, the prayer should be similar: “If Busola’s allegation, which they have believed, is false, destroy them o Lord.”
There is one important prayer too, but this time it is not for Pastor Fatoyinbo to say; all well-meaning Nigerians should say this prayer: “Lord, please, if Pastor Fatoyinbo is deceiving people in your name; if he truly shares a lot in common with Prophet T.C. Jeremiah; and if he is raping women, the time to expose and destroy him is now. Now. Yes. Now.”
The way the whole matter has played up, I agree with Justus Omoeko, who noted in In the Name of Our Father, that our father in heaven mercifully does not strike like the god of thunder. Some people are obviously taking advantage of this fact.
My final take: Serving God is not synonymous with being gullible. Trusting God is not akin to suspending one’s brain. And having faith has absolutely nothing to do with being stupid. So, always remember that every man of God is first a man. Like the rest of us, they make mistakes. Do not sublet your lives to them. Use your brain.
