Betta Edu: Religion Should Be Separated From Politics, Nigerians React
Bishop David Oyedepo has gained attention on social media following the suspension of Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation. According to Betta Edu, in December 2023, Bishop David Oyedepo prayed for her to become a clergyman.
On Monday, January 8, 2024, President Tinubu dismissed Edu because to a palliative controversy involving ₦585 million.The president asked the troubled minister to fully cooperate with the investigating authorities and instructed her to turn herself up to the permanent secretary of her ministry right away.
Nigerians are discussing Edu’s suspension on Twitter(X), but surprisingly, the founder of the Living Faith Church is trending alongside the discussion about Edu’s suspension.Recall that Edu disclosed in December 2023 that Oyedepo prayed for her to become a minister.
At the church’s annual program in Ota, Ogun State, the minister shared her experience of Shiloh and testimonies. She added that on the final day of Shiloh 2022, Oyedepo touched her and prayed for her. “I prayed and told God that by the next time I come for the next year’s Shiloh, I want to be a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” the woman stated at Shiloh 2022 last year.
“On the last day of Shiloh, just as I was walking out, I saw Papa, Bishop David Oyedepo, and I went to greet him and meet him as usual and I whispered to him, ‘Papa, I need you to pray for me. I have just one prayer request now’. And he said, ‘What is it?’ I said, ‘I want to come back to Shiloh 2023 as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’. He put his hand on my head and he said, ‘It is done’. I stood up and I left.”
But since the minister was suspended, Nigerians have been talking about Edu’s 2023 Shiloh testimonies and the ₦585 million palliative scandal that rocked her political career on Twitter.
These are some of the comments made by Nigerians on the suspended minister in reference to Oyedepo’s petition for her desire to become a minister in 2022:
Richeart4U tweeted “She needs to go back to that church and give testimony on the recent event. At least, to make others learn from her. A lot of people appear very religious but when u deal with them, you start to ask several questions of them. Deal with people not their religion.”
Abdurrauph1said “Religion should be separated from politic”
@louisIfeanyi31 wrote Leave Bishop out of your nonsense.
RealAndre_AOA wrote ” What has Bishop Oyedipo prayer got to do with the minister actions?… Reno is just a con man. Tinubu sent emissaries to Mecca to pray for him. Almost all the mosques is passed during the election period was praying for tinubu. Fake bishops were even hired yet Tinubu failed”
“The way you address issues baffled me to say the least. What has the person who prayed for her got to do with an act of corruption perpetuated by an indiscipline individual? But for you to get engagement, you just have to bring religion and other things into it. Shame on you” Adeh_21quipped