Senior Pastor, Covenant Christian Centre, Poju Oyemade, at the weekend, came under heavy criticism on Twitter over a controversial statement asking Nigerians to move on with the outcome of the 2023 election that produced Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President.
Information Nigeria reports that the uproar again heightened when he blocked a lady who called him out for using football analysis to urge Nigerians to move on from the polls.
The cleric had urged Nigerians who are still disgruntled over the result to show some level of patriotism, stressing that winning is the priority irrespective of the players involved.
“For every one who loves Nigeria, you want the country to win regardless of “who is playing.”
“Just like you want your favourite team to win the trophy even if the coach didn’t field your preferred players, when your team scores, you are happy. Let’s stay focused; it’s all about the country winning,” Oyemade tweeted.
A user, Torty Mercy, reacting to the Pastor’s position, in a series of tweets challenged his analogy saying, “Though I’m not big on football, I know that in football, all team members are trained equally.
“At any point, any player can be substituted, and the team still coasts to victory. Their fans celebrate whether their favourite is featured or not. Now let’s compare it to this scenario.
“Two football teams were set to have a match; one team believed in their past prowess and rascality; the other team built up from nothing and worked so hard in training for this match. This diligent team played and won the match, but in our very eyes, the umpire announced the other team.”
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Questioning the analogy’s rationality in another tweet, she queried, “So you mean as a football lover, we should pretend that injustice has not been done and move on? What if FIFA announced France as the World Cup winner instead of Argentina? The world will move on like nothing happened. Enough of the comparison with football; let me bring us back to reality.”
She noted conclusively that, “As regards your illustrations about teams, this is no team business; this is a fight between good and evil, truth and lies, darkness and light. Unless you want us to believe we can mix up good and bad and celebrate bad when it favours us, That being said, let us let the court decide the true winners of the football match, and even if they let evil triumph, we will not be swayed because no matter how long the night lasts, the day will break. Evil is evil, even if it’s adorned with royal apparel. Nigeria is not a football field, Sir,” he added.
Following the user’s stance, it has been alleged that Pastor Poju blocked other users that disagreed with him on the social media platform.
@kunmydrey wrote: “Pastor Poju Oyemade is blocking people because they are calling out his sermon, which encourages Believers to accept CORRUPTION or MANIPULATION and move on like nothing happened. This is not the same pastor I encouraged others to listen to. I thought the Goal was heaven… Bola Tinubu has CORRUPTED so many people”
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@Harmless12345 wrote: “Pastor Poju, please be careful. You’re now going against the script and directives from our WhatsApp HQ.
“The plan is to gaslight and deceive them with your negative preaching. Blocking them would only reveal your intentions. Please, our admin is not happy with how you’re threading”
@mimikanulor wrote: “Pastor Poju, give your life to Christ. Stop deceiving your members. It is not too late to turn to Christ”
@austrostine wrote: “Christ didn’t die so vain men of God like pastor poju can mount the pulpit. The church in Nigeria is making a mockery of Christianity”
@NaijaFlags wrote: “Can we help Pastor Poju understand that BAT rise to power involved destruction, theft, and loss of lives? Is this aligned with the Lord’s teachings? Even to this day, many believers struggle to forgive Satan due to his malevolent actions”
@alonika wrote: “Pastor Poju blocked numerous of his church members for disagreeing with his mischievous tweet”
@Franeb wrote: “You can block me all you want Pastor Poju.But this is just like you encouraging Wururwuru to the answer for your child. Regardless of how they get the results as long as they’re progressing. This is a very shameful statement from a supposed “Man of God”
@azange_peter wrote: “Pastor Poju Oyemade does not see anything wrong in illegality! He believes in winning by all means and damning the consequences. He wants Nigerians to celebrate the “victory” of our team regardless of “who is playing.” If Nigeria fields INELIGIBLE players from Guinea or those on”
