Pastor David Ibiyeomie Says He Reversed Supreme Court Judgement to Help Wike Become Governor

Pastor David Ibiyeomie, General Overseer of Salvation Ministries in Port Harcourt, has made a striking claim during a sermon that he personally intervened through prayer to reverse a Supreme Court judgment against Nyesom Wike, the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory and former Governor of Rivers State, and later helped secure his second term as governor.

The claims, made during a church service, have since circulated widely online and reignited debate about the relationship between religion and political power in Nigeria.

According to Ibiyeomie, Wike had lost his case at the High Court and the Court of Appeal, and a judgment was going to be passed against him at the Supreme Court level. He recounted calling Wike to calm his fears during a five-night church programme.

"Judgement was Saturday, five nights of glory was Friday. I looked at him and said even if judgment was against you, I command it turned," Ibiyeomie said. He claims that following this declaration, the Chief Judge intervened and the Supreme Court ruling was changed in Wike's favour. "He said, 'papa I knew this was God,'" he added.

The pastor went further, claiming he also played a role in securing Wike's second term as governor. He says Wike called him in a panic, convinced he was going to lose, and that he again counselled him to trust God.

What made this second account more contentious was a specific detail Ibiyeomie included. "I covenanted with God; I gave millions on behalf of Wike, I didn't tell him," he said, describing it as a personal act of faith rather than financial support for the politician.

He then claimed that on the day results were about to be altered against Wike, an unexpected intervention occurred. "They've finished the result, and on the spot, something happened. The high commissioner stepped in, and they couldn't change the result. That's how he became governor the second time."

The "millions" statement is where public interpretation has diverged sharply. Within a faith context, giving millions as a "covenant" or seed offering to God is a recognised Pentecostal practice.

Outside that context, particularly given the Nigerian political environment and Wike's well-documented reputation for operating in the grey zones of power, the statement has raised uncomfortable questions that Ibiyeomie did not directly address.

Wike himself is no stranger to controversy. As FCT Minister, he has ordered widespread demolitions, navigated bitter political fallouts, including working against his own party in the 2023 presidential election, and maintained a running public feud with his handpicked successor in Rivers State, Governor Siminalayi Fubara. He is a figure who inspires strong opinions on both sides.

The response online has been predictably charged. Ibiyeomie is not a universally loved figure, and his decision to publicly align himself with Wike's political journey has reinforced a narrative many Nigerians already hold, that the church and political power in Nigeria are far too comfortable with each other, and rarely to the benefit of ordinary people.

Whether one views the pastor's account as a testimony of divine intervention or something more transactional, the sermon has done what most controversies involving religion and Nigerian politics tend to do, which is to reaffirm what each side already believed.

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