Bishop Francis Wale Oke is the National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Presiding Bishop in charge of Sword of The Spirit Ministries (a.k.a Christ Life Church) with its Headquarters in Ibadan and Chancellor, Precious Cornerstone University, Ibadan, Oyo State.
Bishop Wale Oke spoke at the end of the 2025 National Executive Retreat of PFN held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State Capital with the Theme: ‘PFN Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow’
Oke spoke on National issues especially way out of insecurity and myriads of challenges bedevilling the country.
There are myriads of challenges bedevilling the country, insecurity, killings, maiming, kidnapping, raping and other, what’s your view? To you, what’s the lasting solution?
The level of insecurity in this country is totally unacceptable. Some people have said it is communal clashes but that is not true.
It is an invasion by Fulani Herdsmen who want to drive indigenous owners of land out of their lands and forcefully take over their Patrimony. This is what is happening in Benue, Taraba, Plateau and various parts of the Nation and the federal government should know the Truth about this and do something decisively about it. These’ rag-tagged army’ of these Fulani herds men carrying guns cannot withstand the highly organised army, it means something is wrong somewhere.
There are inside agents that are colluding, conniving with the Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani Herdsmen.
The Federal Government should change the Architecture and the structure of our National Security.
They should remove all the compromisers that are in place now, in position of power and influence that are determining what goes on and they should put people that are truly patriotic, who will flush out these marauders that are afflicting , killing, maiming, raping our people in Nigeria.
And again , some people said it is not the Fulani Herds men in Nigeria that are doing it, it is the Fulani’s that have come from neighbouring African countries like Chad, Nigel and other, now if that is the case then means Nigeria is under foreign invasion and the Nigerian Armed forces should be very ruthless with them because the primary duty of the Nigerian Armed forces is to protect the territorial integrity of Nigeria to ensure that no foreign invaders come to trouble our people , so let the Nigerian Armed forces wake up and flush out all these evil people that are oppressing, killing, maiming, raping our people and driving them out of their Patrimony. But you see the Nigerian Army cannot rise up except the Commander in Chief give them clear command.
We appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President has done a lot of good things for Nigerians but first and foremost deal with this insecurity decisively. The President should take another look at the Security reports that are being presented to you because in most cases they are false narratives that make victims become the culprit and the culprit to become the victim.
It is like standing the Pyramids on its head , President Tinubu should take another look and that’s why we advise that the National security Advisers should be changed, and people that have sympathy for these Fulani herdsmen that are invading , killing , raping , maiming Nigerians, those who have sympathy for them should be removed and changed , the Minister of defence should be changed and people that have sympathy for these killers herdsmen . Fulani have been part of Nigeria for ages past and they were peaceful, they have their own way of doing things , they were not doing these killings, maiming, raping until recent .Now, the people that are invading us killing, raping, maiming , they are giving the Fulanis that are good and are Nigerians , they are giving them bad names.
The government should please rise up and deal with this matter decisively because there can be no progress, no prosperity when insecurity is on the rise, like it is in Nigeria.
For example, now food security is under threat when farmers cannot go to work on the farm because of fear of herdsmen, when those who go to work have to pay tax to be able to plant their crops, they are to pay tax to be able to harvest their crops, it means they become slaves on their own
land . This is not acceptable, when these people invade villages , they kill, they burn houses, they drive the owners of the villages out and they change the names of the villages to their names, that is like there is no government in place and that’s Banana Republic and the some people will be giving false report to the Commander in Chief.
The Commander-in-Chief should assume its role as Commander in Chief and change the people that have been running the security of this nation because they have failed us . We look unto God and we look unto the man we voted to be our Commander in Chief to ensure the security of Nigerians and the security of our borders . May God help President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to deal with this number one challenge of Nigeria which is having a negative impact on our economy . No foreign investors will want to invest in an atmosphere of insecurity, farmers cannot go the farms and produce food crops because they are being killed and maimed, people cannot carry out their businesses as usual because the road is not safe, the farm is not safe, the villages are not safe, the cities are not safe. We need security for our people, our properties wherever they may be, and we need our people to be persistent in their original land and not allow foreign invaders to chase them out and take over their land .
We appeal to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to change the narrative by changing those who are running the security of this nation because the time for that is long overdue. This is the number one need of Nigeria today.
What about the specific killings of Christians in their states?
It is true to a good extent because the three states that I mentioned, Benue, Plateau, Taraba, are predominantly Christian states and these invaders focus on these three states as well as other Christian states, that is not acceptable and we want an intervention . As for me I do not advocate that all Nigerians should carry arms because that’s a call for anarchy rather the government should rise up and deal with this evil people that are inflicting our people with all manners of evils in Nigeria but let me say that the people that are being kidnapped and raped are not limited to Christian, they include other people but take note of this those who are doing the killings , the maiming, the raping, Christians are not among the Perpetrators, No! It is on the other side and they claim they are doing it as a Jihad because they felt Nigeria belongs to their great grandfather and they must conquer it from the north to the sea and that is not acceptable because it is a lie.
Nigeria is not a conquered territory , Nigeria is a sovereign state, sovereign country under a sovereign government . The government should rise up and flush their marauders out and protect the people and the land of Nigeria.
Or do you think leadership is our problem?
I won’t say leadership, No! because to be fair and candid our president is a tested hand, he is a seasoned politician. He is a courageous man and he is pragmatic, he is a man who is decisive and he knows what to do but you see when a leader is surrounded by people that are compromised, leadership is compromised , when a leader is surrounded by the people who are presenting false narratives to the leaders , leadership is compromised and this is the problem. As good a man, and as capable a politician as our President is, the people around him are his core problem and you see if the President goes on like this with the same people, he will keep getting the same result. Now, two years on, insecurity is unabated, we cannot be doing the things we are doing and expect a different result. If we haven’t gotten the right result then it’s time for change.
The President should change the people that are in charge of security and put the right people in charge. The President should keep an eye on insecurity which is number one challenge of Nigeria, and we are praying to God through our Lord Jesus Christ that God will guide him, preserve our President and let him rise up and be the answers to our prayers by removing those compromised elements that are giving him false narratives, let him do the needful and be decisive in dealing with those who are making Nigeria to weep, wailing, mourning on a daily basis . We want an end to killings in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Borono , Sokoto, Ondo, Enugu, and in every part of Nigeria.
We want Nigeria to be a safe country where no man is oppressed . We believe that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can rise to the occasion and he should begin by changing those whom he has committed the security of this nation to their hands, change them and put people who are not compromised.
What of the issue of Hunger and economic hardship in the land?
The church is trying its best but the church does not have access to the resources that the government has . The government controls the economy, the fuel , the oil, agricultural products, the waterways, forest , the solid minerals , they control the everything and I don’t quarrel with that but they should distribute these evenly across the states and local government, they should let the wealth circulate down, they shouldn’t trap the wealth of Nigeria at the top so that the top five percent are controlling everything that Nigeria has.
The government at the centre should let the wealth flow down to the people through creation of jobs, through palliatives and support for the poor , the needy, the elderly and the masses in general. Government should make sure that benefits of pensioners are paid promptly because they depend on it, they shouldn’t let them die and then they are now paying their gratuity .
The government across board should implement the Minimum wage bill that the promised Nigerians promised without any further delay and we are praying that God will give those that run our economy and our government wisdom to do the right thing.
How has PFN significantly, positively contributed to the growth and development of this country?
In many ways, first fundamentally the Bible says Righteousness exalts a nation, sin is a reproach to any people , so we teach ourselves and our people to love a life of righteousness that is acceptable before God. You see, when light shines it drives darkness away, Nigeria would have been filled and taken over by darkness by the presence of the saints of God. I used the word saints because every believer that is born again is the Saint of God.
PFN promotes Righteousness, leading people to Christ, from sin to righteousness, from devil to Christlike and we are doing that on daily basis before we were few in number and negligible but now we are over 65 million in PFN and s growing, and apart from turning people to righteousness, we teach them to live a Godly life because of you are a true child of God you won’t steal, you won’t engage in corrupt practises, you won’t live in sin and you will fear God and do God’s will.
PFN is an agent of transformation and we have been transforming people’s lives spiritually and in all facets, including homes/marriages.
Apart from that in Education sector we have so many Primary and Seachools that are based on Christian faith where the young ones are being thought ways of righteousness and Godliness right from their childhood stage we give them the best education and mental development and not just that alone we teach our students moral values, spiritual values, we teach them be Godly and fear God.
We are raising our children to be great leaders of this nation not only in Primary and secondary schools even in our Tertiary institutions.
As the National President of PFN I took a cursory look across the Nation and what we have done and I counted 27 Private Universities that are faith based, that are within the fold of PFN. In our universities there is no room for strike. You can tell from the day your ward enters the University you will tell when he will graduate and that doesn’t change.
There is zero tolerance for cultists, cultism is never heard in our faith based tertiary institutions, universities . There is zero tolerance for hard drugs.
I am a proprietor and Chancellor of Precious Cornerstone University you can’t hear of strike, no cultism. There is zero tolerance for promiscuity, sexual abuse, no sexual harassment wheatear among staffs or among students No! We raise our students in an atmosphere of Godliness and we give them the best form of education and educational exposures with our partners abroad across Europe , North America, Canada and others. We use our influence to do exchange programmes between other universities and Nigerian universities and our children are coming out in best Top form and they have good jobs and are living Godly lives with positive major contributions. We also train them in entrepreneurial skills which make them self independent And again in the midst of Economic hardship of Nigeria we have welfare packages and palliatives to encourage our people. We don’t stop at palatives , we create jobs , the schools that we establish we employ qualified teachers , they have administrators without any argument they are in hundreds of thousands across the country. In our universities they have management , they have lecturers , they have non-academic staff and we create jobs on our campuses. We employ Architects , Civil. Mechanical, Electrical and different types of Engineers. We employ builders, artisans, bricklayers, carpenters and others.
We are driving the economy and a lot of our universities have university farms where foods are produced. We teach our students to be job and wealth creators, not just carrying papers around looking for jobs. Those who graduated from our universities are not only self employed, they are also employers of labour that gives joy . We are positively contributing to Nigeria’s economy day after day in a huge way.
But some people are complaining that church members can’t afford these faith based tertiary institutions due to fees, what’s your view on this sir?
That’s a false narrative. Those who give license to private and government universities are not fools, they know, they know that Private Universities establishment is a high capital intensive project if you don’t truly love this Nation and our youths you cannot get into the business of private universities because it is an investment that doesn’t yield instant result, it is only after a long hurld .Take for example our university Precious Cornerstone University is about Eight years and we are still pouring huge money into it on monthly basis, not because we are talking money from it No! Even the Master plan that we developed for NUC that NUC approved in the financial projection, they projected that we will break even when we are about fifteen years on ground but before that fifteen years we will be pouring money on landed properties, buildings, facilities, lecturers, non-academic staff, NUC requirements and others. As you see we give full and partial scholarships in faith based universities across PFN. In fact in our own university Precious Cornerstone University almost half of the students are on scholarships between my wife and I , we sponsored at least 50 of the first set of full scholarships we were paying through the nose . We invested in infrastructure, we invested in lecturers and non academic staffs and we still have to pay for 50 students and that’s a lot but it’s our pleasure to see them graduate with a smile on their faces, so we are making intense contributions, those who accuse the churches of using faith based universities to make money let them go and start one and let them see how ease it is to raise a university and we’ll come and learn from their secret of success and how they could recover their money in two, three years.
Also, in Precious Cornerstone University, the first set of our students came from the twenty four states of the Federation. When I walk on our campus and I hear students speaking different languages, such as Efik, Benin, Hausa and others, it gives me joy.
How can we have a corrupt-free society?
Number One, We are praying for Nigeria, Secondly we teach on Righteousness, its good to teach prosperity, faith, abundance, and wealth but that’s not all that’s in the Bible, John 6:3 says” Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God and its Righteousness, all other things shall be added to you”.
We teach Godliness and that people should practise the word of God, and not just hear it and then we that teach the word of God must be an Example in the nation.
We shall not stop praying for Nigeria because there is hope for the country . I can see light at the end of the tunnel and God is going to give Nigeria a glorious turn around and Nigeria is going to be glorious because we have the promise of God for that .
What’s the future of this country?
There is a great and glorious future for Nigeria, we should all put our trust in God, we should turn from our wicked ways. We should walk in the fear of God and we should not speak evil about Nigeria or about Nigerian leaders. We should say positive good things because God will turn things around and great things will happen in Nigeria and Nigeria will be a beacon of hope, light, Glory to Nations of the world in Jesus mighty Name.
In PFN what’s the Directorate of Politics and Good Governance all about? Is it not that the church is romancing with politicians?
No! If the church had been romancing with the politicians I would not be speaking as I am speaking now. I am speaking as a man of God. I love politicians, they are part of our flock that we watch over, they are Nigerians and they deserve to be loved , they deserve to be protected and to be cared for like any Nigerians but we are not compromised at all .We are ministers of God and we seek the truth to power. We want the government to rise up and do the needful .
About the Department of Politics and Good Governance in PFN, I set that up to be able to educate the masses of Christians particularly the Pentecostals in this nation. By available statistics we have over 65million Pentecostals in Nigeria, there is no President that has won National Elections with 6t million votes, it has never happened, so we now felt that if our people are properly educated to get involve in politics from the grassroots by joining the political party of their choice , by joining the dominant political parties in their states and get involve from the grassroot.
Up till now, what happened was that we were voting for the politicians, but we were not actively involved in politics because we’ve been taught that politics is a dirty game and we are avoiding it . The best that we have been doing is to get our voter card and vote for whom? Vote for the people who brought us to where we are and who are interested in keeping us as an underdeveloped nation and our youths are trooping out of the country in droves No!
We want to get involved because we are the salt of the Earth , for our impact as salt to be effectively felt we are telling our people Christians to get involve in politics from the grassroots, from their ward levels and be involved in dominant party in their state, when it is time to pick those that will be delegate, we encourage Christians to be there, when it is time to pick those that will be head in local government, state level and National Assemblies Christians should not be behind the fence saying they are praying. Christians have been praying, we will continue to pray yet let them get involved, don’t sit on the fence by getting your voters cards alone be the person that will be voted for.
We established the Directorate of Politics and Good Governance in PFN to enlighten our members and to let them know on the need to actively participate in Politics from the grassroot, and we put somebody there who has experience, a truly detribalised Nigerian who hails from Edo but lived in Oyo State and won Political position on Oyo State, he is an insider in what goes on in the political world before God calls him, Pastor Femi Emmanuel he is educating Christians not to only pray but to actively participate in politics from the grassroots because we have been edged out for too long and it is time to get involve.
I gave Pastor Femi Emmanuel the task of teaching and educating us and they have set structures from the National to zones, from zones to states from states to all the 774 local government areas and CDAs , now they are going to ward levels educating Christians on how to get involve peacefully in politics and political structures of this nation in order to influence the governance of this nation from inside and not from outside.
What is your advice to Nigerians?
Nigerians should not lose hope. We shouldn’t be discouraged, Nigerians should not allow depression. We should look unto God, David said “I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved”. We should all look unto Jesus Christ the author and Finisher of our faith. If you look unto men you’ll be disappointed. If you look at yourself and you look inside you’ll be discouraged, but If you look unto Jesus you’ll be radiant with Joy and there’ll be no shame according to Psalm 34 v5.
Nigerians let’s look unto God and it shall be well with us.
What is your advice to politicians?
Politicians should fear God and do what will make God happy with them . They should stop Nepotism, they should end corruption, they should care for the needy.
Politicians should see the problems of Nigerians as their problems.
Our politicians should not just look after themselves and forget the masses because whatever they do today will be history tomorrow.
How is PFN helping in building Godly homes and raising Godly children?
PFN is an agent of transformation and we have been transforming people’s lives spiritually, in their marriages as well. We have stable marriages across PFN where Godly children are raised and transformed mentally .Our pulpit is a place to teach Godliness and wisdom , our schools believe in academic excellence plus spiritual soundness .
Also, we are transforming peoples lives economically through our investment and employment . We are world changers and we are changing our nation as well.
We have stable marriages, if you talk of leading men and women of God in this nation some have been married for over fifty years and they still love each other . I have been married for over Forty-three years and am still in love with my wife and she is still in love with me .
You just finished your 2025 National Executive Retreat in Uyo, with the Theme:
” PFN Yesterday, today and tomorrow ” , what were your resolutions?
Number One, that we must not stop praying for Nigeria. We must push up prayer and fasting for this country because God answers prayers and we have seen the problem Nigeria is grappling with is beyond what human beings can handle ordinarily , we need Divine intervention hence we must all push prayer up. All our participants came from every state so we are sending ourselves back with that resolution to pray more for Nigeria.
Number two resolution is that our people must get involved in politics from the grassroots levels, not people like me. I cannot get involved in partisan politics No! Because everybody in all the political parties are my children so I cannot be biased but we tell our members to get involved and actively participate in politics beyond getting voter cards. They should be involved from ward level and be the ones that will be voted for, we shall be praying for you.
Number three, we made a decision that we should be the change that we want to see, if we are preaching against corruption, Nepotism and Tribalism we ourselves must not be tribalism. We must love every Nigerian equally for us to see the change we desire to see. We also told our people to go into the nation not only to do this but to educate their followers to do the same because we are the salt and light to the world and we know that just as darkness bows before the light evil will bow before us and Nigeria will prevail over the present circumstances that we find ourselves.
You talked about the celebration of 40 years of existence of PFN , what’s this all about?
PFN at 40 is a banner and our theme is ” PFN yesterday, today and tomorrow ” . We have scheduled we are going to have a dinner and award night where we are going to bring five hundred eminent Nigerians together, all our past Presidents, Vice Presidents, Governors, Senators , House of Representatives Members, Business moguls that are Christians, we are going to bring them together to have a dinner and award night to recognise them for their contributions to the development of our Nation and growth of PFN and that will be the climax of our celebrations on October 27, 2025. Also in the morning before dinner.
What of the issues of seed sowing in churches?
All those things are Biblical but we are stewards of them , those are the monies that we Channel into raising the schools, the universities, establishing industries , employing people, giving scholarships and making this world a better place . These monies are voluntary. After service in many of our churches you’ll see a very long queue of people who want to collect transport money back home, or food they will take home . We are ploughing it back to the church. We use the money to give support.
Seeing how the country is hard for most people but they find solace, comfort and supplies in the house of God and that gives me Joy and pleasure.
We are supporting the people and that’s why they keep coming, they found support in the word of God, we give them supplies and physically trust Nigerians if they are not getting anything they won’t come. They are finding solace spiritually, mentally, Physically and materially.
