African Plume

By Akin Ojumu There is something deeply indecent about kicking a man when he is already down. To attack a person precisely at the moment when he is frightened, displaced, vulnerable, and suffering is not courage. It is cruelty. It betrays a poverty of character. So, let me make something clear from the outset. This commentary is not an exercise in schadenfreude. It is not an attempt to derive pleasure from another man’s suffering. It is not a dance upon anyone’s metaphorical grave. What happened to Mr. Isaac Omolehin and his family is horrifying. But his ordeal also raises an unavoidable question—one made unavoidable by the extraordinary claims Mr. Omolehin himself has made over the years about his spiritual power, supernatural anointing, and spectacular demonstrations of the miraculous. According to reports circulating across social media and traditional news outlets, bandit activity forced Mr. Isaac Omolehin and his family to abandon his ministry camp in Kwara State, Nigeria. Omolehi...

“Summer Discount: Buy One Mountain, Get One For Half Price” By Akin Ojumu On Monday, September 14, 2026, House on the Rock, Lagos, Nigeria, published a post on its official Facebook page featuring Yemi Adefarasin, brother of Paul Adefarasin, the CEO and head of its sprawling religious enterprise. According to the post, Yemi Adefarasin made the following assertions: “We are called to possess the gates of society, influencing what comes in and what goes out, and bring Kingdom values into every sphere of influence. As salt and light, our spiritual growth and development must remain a priority, because God’s process prepares us to be firmly established, immovable, and effective witnesses of Christ. Know that whoever possesses the gate controls the influence. Hence, we are called to penetrate our spheres, establish Kingdom culture, values, and principles, and allow heaven to be demonstrated through our lives. Therefore, as we bring our diverse giftings into synergy, we can transform our cit...

By Akin Ojumu I need somebody to help me make sense of this statement by Arome Osayi: “There is an increase in the anointing on my life… There is an additional portion you need to… The old one you received is still there. But I’m saying that there is an increase. In that increase, you have a portion. So, you have to collect it. There’s an increase. In that increase, you have a portion…” What exactly would make a professing follower of Jesus Christ speak like this? In what theological universe does a minister of the Gospel even conceive of himself in these terms? Do the followers of Arome Osayi actually hear what he is saying? I mean, really hear him. Do the people gathered around him understand the staggering implication of this claim?  Because Arome Osayi is speaking as though he has become an authorized distributor of the anointing of God. Apparently, there was an earlier consignment.  The man kneeling before him had already received a previous “portion.” That old allocation...

By Akin Ojumu | Originally Published on 28 February 2020 Of the many foibles that beset mankind, some have mercifully failed to sink their claws into some of us. By the grace of Almighty God, we are not dipsomaniacs. Nicotine has never touched our tongues or invaded our lungs. Gluttony has never managed to make us a permanent resident at its table. And philandering, thankfully, does not appear to be encoded in our DNA. But being the mere mortals that we are, our inadequacies are nevertheless as numerous as the stars in the heavens, and our blemishes as plentiful as the sand on the seashore. Our imperfections are not exactly hiding in a closet. They stand there like a lighthouse on a dark coast, visible from several nautical miles away. And while we may have escaped the clutches of alcohol, nicotine, gluttony, and womanizing, there is one vice that has our number. Argument. More specifically, scholarly argument. Cerebral combat. The irresistible urge to question assumptions, interrogate...

By Akin Ojumu | Originally Published on Wednesday, December 31, 2008 There is a particular disease that has infected large sections of contemporary Christianity, especially in our part of the world.  It is the disease of sanctified intellectual surrender. The symptoms are easy to recognize. “Daddy G.O. said it.”  “Papa has spoken.”  “The Apostle revealed it.”  “Prophet said the Lord told him.”  “My spiritual father cannot be wrong.” And once any of those sentences is uttered, the discussion is supposed to end. Close your Bible. Switch off your brain. Suspend your judgment. Fold your arms. Nod reverently. The man of God has spoken. Case closed. A few years ago, while returning home from a visit to Connecticut, a friend and I became engaged in a rather heated discussion about Christian beliefs and doctrines. Well, to be more precise, I was producing most of the heat. At some point, perhaps exhausted by the theological combustion coming from my direction, my friend...