Primate Elijah Ayodele has denied defaming Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, insisting that his comments were prophetic statements and not a personal attack.
Primate Elijah Ayodele has responded to the ₦10 billion defamation threat issued by former Kano State governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, saying his comments were misunderstood and were based on what he described as divine revelation.
The dispute followed remarks attributed to the leader of the INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church concerning Kwankwaso and a possible political alignment involving Labour Party’s Peter Obi. In the legal threat reported against him, Kwankwaso’s camp alleged that Ayodele made defamatory statements suggesting that Kwankwaso would betray Obi and had been paid to serve as his vice-presidential running mate.
Ayodele has now rejected the accusation of defamation, maintaining that he merely conveyed what God revealed to him. His response shifts the matter from political commentary to the language of prophecy, which he appears to argue should not be treated as a malicious personal attack.
The disagreement illustrates how politically charged public remarks can quickly move from the arena of commentary to legal confrontation, especially when they touch on the intentions, loyalty or future actions of high-profile political figures. In this case, the tension lies in whether the statements are to be read as defamatory assertions or as protected religious prophecy.
For now, the matter remains at the stage of public rebuttal and legal threat, with Ayodele standing by his position that he only said what he believed God revealed to him.