A public affairs commentator, Mahdi Shehu, has criticised Primate Elijah Ayodele over his recent prophecy warning of an alleged coup plot against President Bola Tinubu.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Shehu described the cleric’s statement as attention seeking and misguided by a false spirit.
Primate Ayodele was quoted in an Online report as saying that “some powerful Nigerians are plotting to remove Tinubu through a coup” between November 2025 and January 2026.
Reacting, Mahdi Shehu said in a normal society the primate should be treated as an accessory to the fact of planning a coup, which he described as a treasonable offence.
“In a Normal society where suspects are not cherry picked, the primate must provide further details in public including names because he seems to know more than many Nigerians,” he said.
He wrote: “Before the primate is treated in the right manner, if he ever will be, all right-thinking Nigerians must ignore him and treat his so-called spiritual alert with caution and maturity.”
Shehu further cited several Bible verses, warning against false prophets, false spirits, and attention seekers who claim to speak with divine authority.
According to him, “The Bible warned people against false prophets and speculation. Not everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit of God is truthful.”
He also alleged double standards in public reactions, saying if a Muslim cleric had made a similar claim, the media and security agencies would have demanded his arrest.
“If a sheikh or malam had made such a claim, the whole country would be in uproar, with news headlines calling for his arrest and even tribunal trial,” he said.
“Even the naive Nigerians are aware that coup is never an option, even in the face of the most stupid brand of democracy,” he said.
Mahdi concluded by describing Nigeria as a country full of fake alarms and hypocrisy warning citizens not to fall for divisive or baseless prophecies.