For those who have been following the incredible exploits of Primate Ayodele for a long time now, this will be cheering news for them. But for those who do not know this man very closely and have no idea what his antecedents are, then this must come as shocking. Possibly for the first in the history of this country, a Prophet of God, a renowned Christian and highly revered man of God will be launching publicly a mosque he single handedly built for Muslims within the community to gather together and worship. This is the land mark accomplishment of the man of God popularly referred to as Primate Ayodele Elijah.
For the records, this is not entirely strange about Primate Ayodele. Many who know him closely are aware of his uncommon relationship with the Muslim faithful. He loves them, he embraces them and supports them. We are talking about a man that has repeatedly sponsored Muslims to the Hajj pilgrimage. He regularly empowers Muslims who need financial assistance to strengthen their businesses and supports Muslim widows and the aged within his community in Afa-Nla area of Lagos.
Many months ago, those who were present at the unveiling of the site dedicated for the building of the mosque will recall that Primate Ayodele had vowed that he would build and deliver the mosque and then hand over to the Muslim community to take over. Today, several months down the line, the highly reliable prophet whose prophecies have suddenly become the guiding principles with which the government operates, has made good his promise. The mosque, a multi million naira project, is finally completed and ready for launch.
This is a bold statement indeed coming from a man of God considered the most popular in the country as at this moment. In a country that is desperately seeking to achieve religious harmony and tolerance among its Christian and Muslim faithful, this is an incredibly loud statement, demanding that all of our religious leaders must wake up and shed their toga of religious intolerance and disdain for the other religion and welcome each other’s religion with open arms so we can all live together as one without the slightest form of religious conflict.
Hear is Primate Ayodele’s deeply profound speech: “Finally, after some months down the line, I have built my mosque which I promised to deliver in the early part of this year. I did not solicit for a naira from anybody to complete this project, I used my personal resources to actualise it. The mosque will be launched on the 14th of February, which is the day of my birthday Thanksgiving. I am going to invite several Islamic scholars to the event. The Sultan of Sokoto will be there, the Etuspe of Bida, Baba Adinni of Lagos, Chief Imam of Lagos and dozens of other Islamic personalities. Some Islamic sitting Presidents will also be invited to witness the landmark occasion. The mosque will be named after a very reputable personality. All of these will happen on the day of the Thanksgiving of my birthday which is the 14th of February.
The whole idea of this very special event is not to make unnecessary noise or boast about what I just accomplished, no, its not. What I have done is to simply follow the instructions of the Almighty who directed that I should build a mosque. I have not followed the footsteps of anybody, all I have done is to listen to God by doing what he asked me to do. If indeed any pastor has already done a similar thing, then let me too also make my own little contribution and let my name be added to the names of those who have achieved such feats.
The most instructive message behind this project is to send the message of religious harmony to every nook and cranny of the country. My hope is that this will inspire our religious leaders to preach religious harmony, religious tolerance, to their followers and make them understand the need for all of us to embrace each others religion and stop seeing ourselves as religious enemies. Whether you’re a Muslim or a Christian, we must begin to love each other as brothers and sisters because we are all created by God Almighty.”
This epoch-making event is expected to trigger religious conversations in different parts of the country and the man whose name would be on the lips of many ois Primate Ayodele, a renowned and highly respected Prophet of God who has built a multi million naira mosque for Muslims to gather and pray!
