If the prayer, fasting and deliverance exercises late Prophet Adekunle Adebajo carried out in September 1975 for Obasanjo, a Brigadier, who was the Chief of General Staff and Deputy Head of State, had been limited to him escaping assassination in the coup he saw in a vision would come up early in 1976, there was no way he would have been chosen to succeed his boss, Brigadier Murtala Muhammed. But Adebajo made the spiritual efforts to include Obasanjo becoming Head of State because of what happened when Muhammed, then a major, overthrew the government of General Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi during the revenge coup of northern army officers on Friday, July 29, 1966.
When after Ironsi was assassinated instead of Yoruba-born Brigadier Babafemi Ogundipe, an Ijebu man, who was the Deputy Head of State and the most senior military officer, it was his junior, Lt. Colonel Yakubu Gowon, the Chief of Army Staff, a northerner from Plateau State, that was chosen as the new Head of State by the northern army officers who dominated the Supreme Military Council. If not for Prophet Adebajo’s spiritual exercises the northern military officers would have retired Obasanjo as they did to Ogundipe ten years earlier. Instead of him, it was Brigadier Theophilus Danjuma, the Chief of Army Staff, from the North-Eastern State, that would have been chosen as Head of State.
The same way they also treated Fugar, Edo State – born Admiral Mike Akhigbe, the Chief of General Staff and Deputy Head of State, when his boss, General Sani Abacha, died suddenly on Monday, June 8, 1998 of suspected heart attack. Instead of him, the number two in the government, it was northern – born General Abdulsalami Abubakar from Niger State and the Chief of Defence Staff, who was albeit senior to him, they chose as Head of State, to serve out the eleven months the regime stayed in office.
This clearly shows that it was the spiritual efforts of Prophet Adebajo that made Obasanjo of the three southern military officers who were second – in – command when their bosses died, to be allowed to take over as First Citizen.
I knew of what Adebajo did for Obasanjo because as stated in this column two weeks ago I was a member of his three – man praying band. But I did not take part in the spiritual exercises for Obasanjo because I was away at the University of Ife, Ile – Ife for a postgraduate diploma certificate course in International Relations at the time, September 1975 – June 1976. But Adebajo briefed me about all that happened when I was in Lagos on a weekend visit in October 1975.
As happened with many a people close to Obasanjo before he became military Head of State (Saturday, February 14, 1976 – Sunday, September 30, 1979) or as an elected President (Saturday, May 29, 1999 – Monday, May 28, 2007), he soon after he came to power in 1976 fell out with Egba – born Chief Alani Egunjobi, who introduced him to Prophet Adebajo. After he left office in 1979, he took the latter to court over the Beachland Estate they both own in the Apapa/Kirikiri axis of Lagos. If they have not reconciled, Obasanjo can contact another fellow Egba like himself, Brigadier Oluwole Rotimi, the former Governor of the Western State (1971 – 75) for the confirmation of my membership of Prophet Adebajo’s three – man praying group of 1973 – 80.
From the Adebajo story, it can be seen that Obasanjo became Head of State in 1976 through luck, not by divine order. Indeed, I am always amazed when I hear people say that God made him to be First Citizen in the late 1970s. How could this have been? In the Book of Romans Chapter 13: 1 – 2 Apostle Paul said: “Everyone must obey state authorities because no authority exists without God’s permission. Whoever therefore opposes existing authority opposes what God has ordered and anyone who does so will bring judgment on himself.”
Since the Lord in this passage says people must obey duly constituted authority, that means He could not have been the one who made Muhammed to have overthrown Ironsi in 1966 and Gowon on Tuesday, July 29, 1975. It is common knowledge that he carried out the first one in tribal retaliation of the January 15 insurrection and the second one because of the corruption of Gowon’s regime and his weakness in handling the nation’s affairs. So, it is apparent that it was luck that made Obasanjo to have been chosen by Muhammed as his deputy in 1975 and that was responsible for his succeeding him in February 1976.
Next week: Why God allowed Obasanjo to be elected president in 1999 even with the sacrifices a native doctor said he commissioned him to carry out.
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Professor Anele’s faux pas on Bible authors (13)
From what I had written in this series from the information largely obtained on the internet, it is clear and indisputable that Professor Douglas Anele of the Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos, did not know that the biographies of the authors of the 66 Books in the Holy Bible are available on Wikipedia and Catholic Encyclopedia services on the globally popular network. If he had been aware he would not have made the statement that the Books in the New Testament were produced by people who did not witness the events they wrote about and that a good number of them came up decades or about a century after Jesus Christ had died.
Apart from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it is even doubtful if Anele read the other 23 Books in the New Testament, because if he did he would have known that the writers of the Epistles from Romans through Revelation introduced themselves. Either as a disciple of Jesus Christ or his brother and that 21 of the Books were letters written by the authors to specific people. Apostles Peter and Paul were executed by Emperor Nero in 67AD, is it possible that others would have come out about 20, 30, 40, 50 or more years after their death to impersonate them? When people knew they had died years ago. The fact is that all the Books attributed to them were written before they died. So, Professor lied when he claimed other people wrote them on their behalf.
For continuation next week Wednesday