The Presiding Pastor of Livingspring Chapel International, Femi Emmanuel, has said many politicians visit popular General Overseers across the country mainly to secure congregational support rather than spiritual intervention.

As reported by Punch, Emmanuel stated this on Saturday while speaking with journalists in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. He said politicians often prioritise the influence of large congregations when seeking visits to religious leaders.

“When politicians visit popular General Overseers, they come for political reasons to be able to get their members to vote for them, and I then told my congregation it’s your votes they need.

“And when they say, ‘Dad, pray for me,’ Dad will pray for you, but Dad can’t change anything because politicians only respect and listen to people who help them emerge in primaries.

“I want Nigerians to listen to this. Not only the church, including good Nigerians. Good Nigerians are not where the decisions that affect Nigerians are made. We are too sophisticated; we are too corporate. You cannot go to ward meetings. If you attend ward meetings, you will cry for them, the level of people there.

“People will be fighting over N1,000 that Baba sent for them, and those are the ones that would determine who your delegates are today; your delegates would determine who your candidates would be tomorrow. So, if you don’t have delegates, you can’t have candidates, and the delegates would emerge from the ward levels. So, these are things Nigerians don’t know. I want to advise Nigerians to take their future into their hands.”

He also urged President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government to be more focused and ensure adequate security of lives and property across the country.

The cleric said, “I would say to him, you are bold, you are courageous. But you have found yourself in a very difficult situation; our President has found himself in a very difficult situation. I said the other time, and we all know, he didn’t start this terrorism. Although he said nobody should pity him for that, we asked for it. I’m not sure he asked for this such, because it has gone very bad. He should work towards ensuring that peace returns to every part of Nigeria.”

Emmanuel was of the opinion that if Nigeria returned to regional government, the country would be 90 per cent solved as each region would be able to take care of its challenges.

“Our problem will be 90 per cent solved if we return to regional government. If we don’t, the problem will persist and may worsen,” he warned.

Emmanuel, an engineer and one-time Deputy Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, began his political journey under the late Ibadan political strongman, Lamidi Adedibu.