It is common for prophets, pastors, and other clerics to make bold
prophecies at the end of every year or beginning of a new one. Expectedly, the year 2020 was not short of such prophecies.
These prophecies are often received with faith by Christians all over the country.
According to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, Nigeria is one of the most religious countries of the world.
A 2018 research by the Pew Research Center found that Nigeria had the sixth-largest Christian population (87 million) and the fifth-largest Muslim population (90 million) in the world.
The prophecies are customarily focused on politics, economy, natural disasters and general optimistic predictions about church members' futures.
However, while some of the prophecies they make are fulfilled, many others miss the mark.
For instance, 2020 came with a lot of uncertainty, ailments, deaths, job losses and hardship for many people worldwide, no thanks to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Its impact so shocked the world that even clerics did not see it coming.
Pastor Enoch Adeboye
On his part, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, said earthquakes and volcanoes had been dormant in his 2020 prophecies for years would activate.
He said, "This year (2020) unless you pray very hard, it is going to behave like a child that is having a convulsion. Earthquakes and volcanoes that have been dormant for years will erupt because of sin, which is becoming more rampant."
However, a report in the Volcano Discovery for 2020 confirmed fewer earthquakes with higher magnitudes recorded over previous years.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake Hazard Program on its website recorded only about 26 earthquakes with magnitudes of 6.5 and above, with a total of over 100 earthquake occurrences worldwide. It was also gathered that 2020 was the first year since 2016, with no magnitude 8+ earthquakes as only nine major earthquakes occurred. Also, Adeboye said 2020 would be a year of series of joy, but many Nigerians have described the year as one of the most sorrowful ones they have ever witnessed.
Pastor T. B. Joshua
Founder of the Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), was slammed in several quarters after his prophecy that the coronavirus pandemic would end on March 27, 2020, was not fulfilled.
Months after, the killer virus has continued to affect several countries with a second wave of the novel disease currently making the headlines.
Chris Oyakhilome
Founder of LoveWorld Incorporated, popularly known as Christ Embassy, Chris Oyakhilome, earlier predicted that 2020 would be a year of perfection. But the year has been far from being perfect. Barely three months into the year, Oyakhilome himself shared theories about an alleged connection between 5G network and COVID-19.
David Oyedepo
The Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church, David Oyedepo, predicted that 2020 would be a year of breaking limits. This, however, was in sharp contrast to the realities that characterised the year.
Williams Kumuyi
Earlier in the year, founder of Deeper Life Bible Church, Williams Kumuyi, told his congregation that 2020 would be the best year they had ever lived.
"This year will be the best you have ever lived in your life," Kumuyi said. But the year has unarguably been a tough year laced with several challenges.
Apostle Johnson Suleman
Similarly, the General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, Johnson Suleman, had said earlier in his new year declaration: "In the year 2020, you shall not lack money, you shall move from glory to glory, from grace to grace, from good to better, from better to best."
Members of his congregation could attest to the fact that in 2020, there was widespread hardship as the economy struggled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Wale Olagunju
The presiding Bishop of Divine Seed of God Chapel Ministry, Ibadan, Oyo State, Wale Olagunju, also disclosed that the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai; his Ekiti State counterpart, Kayode Fayemi, and about 70 per cent of the members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, might dump the party. This is yet to be fulfilled even as the year comes to an end.
Olagunju also said the Queen of England should count her days, suggesting her last moments were near. Elizabeth II, however, reportedly celebrated the last Christmas with her family at their royal home, Windsor Castle in London.
He added, "As revealed to me by the Almighty God, if (Ayo) Fayose and his PDP (Peoples Democratic Party) fail to reconcile with Senator (Abiodun) Olujimi now, Olujimi will surely decamp to APC (All Progressives Congress)." Though there were reports that the senator representing Ekiti South Constituency threatened to defect to the APC, her media aide, Atofarati Santa, said Olujimi was still the PDP leader in the state and the highest-ranking political office holder and had nothing to do with the APC.
The prophet missed the mark when he said God revealed to him that, should Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State defect to another party, he would lose the 2020 election.
Obaseki defected from the APC to the PDP in June 2020 and emerged victorious in the state governorship election.
He added, "The Living God says that President Donald Trump is a candidate to beat in the USA 2020 presidential election. With a little prayer, Donald Trump will win the election."
At the heat of the US election, the spiritual adviser to Trump, Paula White, called on "angelic reinforcement" from the continents of Africa and South America to give Trump victory. At the moment, Joe Biden remains the president-elect of the United States of America.