An activist, Reno Omokri, has said the prayers of Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church should have made the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, conscious of setting good examples while in office.
OsunDailyNG reported that President Bola Tinubu has suspended Edu for instructing the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation to pay the sum of N585.18 million into a private account owned by one Oniyelu Bridget, said to be the project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Lagos and Ogun states.
The Accountant-General of the Federation, Dr Oluwatoyin Madein, rejected Edu’s directive and refused to pay the said sum.
Tinubu, while suspending Edu, ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to investigate the minister thoroughly.
Reacting, Omokri said the scandal involving Edu was a wake-up call on Nigerians to distance politics from religion, adding that competence should be the only criteria to occupy an office.
Posting on X, Omokri wrote: “Just the fact that Bishop Oyedepo prayed for you to become a minister alone should have made you more conscious of setting a good example. While nobody is perfect, this recent episode, along with the scandal involving the Yes Daddy leaked audio and the Bishop, is yet another indication that we should not mix religion and politics.
“Competence should be the only qualification for high office. An irreligious person who is competent is likely to be better than a religious person who is not competent or capable. We cannot pray for a better country and then pray for people to occupy positions of power that they are not qualified for.
“That is why China, a country that has wholly divorced all forms of religion from its politics, is feeding, equipping and building Nigeria, one of the most religious countries on Earth.”
Recall that Edu had in a testimony, revealed that Tinubu appointed her minister after Oyedepo had prayed for her.
She disclosed this during the 2023 Living Faith Church’s annual programme, Shiloh.
