The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has said his prophecy regarding the Super Eagles\u2019 performance at the ongoing African Cup of Nations is being misrepresented and misunderstood.\n<\/p>\n
The clarification comes after several individuals criticised the prophet for allegedly predicting Eagles\u2019 forward Ademola Lookman would not be effective for Nigeria.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking last Saturday, the cleric cautioned that certain players should not be relied upon, singling out Lookman among those he believed would not help the team.\n<\/p>\n
He also called for an alternative to first-choice goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, advised that Victor Osimhen should not be made to play full matches, and insisted Nigeria would avoid an early exit if his guidance was followed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe coach doesn\u2019t have luck, and that will affect us. Meanwhile, we are not going to be eliminated early if they put the right people there. Ademola Lookman will not help them\u2026 they need an alternative to Nwabali; we can get to the final,\u201d Ayodele said.\n<\/p>\n
However, the Atalanta forward proved decisive in the Super Eagles\u2019 opening Group C match against Tanzania, scoring the winning goal in a 2\u20131 victory.\n<\/p>\n
Lookman struck with his left foot just a minute after Charles M\u2019Mombwa cancelled out Semi Ajayi\u2019s opener, a performance that prompted widespread criticism from fans.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed by his media aide on Thursday, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele explained that some mischievous individuals have twisted his prophecy. <\/p>\n
He said that he was referring to Lookman\u2019s performance throughout the tournament, not the match against Tanzania specifically.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMy prophecy about Ademola Lookman in the ongoing AFCON tournament is being misrepresented and misunderstood by mischievous individuals for reasons best known to themselves.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prophecy was a warning, and what I said was that Lookman will not help the team in the tournament, not exactly the match against Tanzania.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just the beginning of the tournament. Only one match has been played; we should all wait before judging the prophecy. One game cannot define the outcome of the tournament,\u201d the statement quoted him as saying.\n<\/p>\n
Primate Ayodele added that his comments are intended to support the Nigerian team\u2019s success.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be my greatest joy if the Nigerian team wins, but that can only happen if they listen to advice. I have always rooted for the Nigerian team, and this is why my prophecies about them always come up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want them to lift the trophy and come back home victorious, but it will only happen if advice is heeded,\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, has said his prophecy regarding the Super Eagles\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-368851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}