Primate Ayodele, Adelabu and the Spiritual Significance of Trumpets

By Thompson Adenike

This past week was a dramatic one, as we were exposed to one of the biggest revelations of 2025 involving renowned and controversial prophet, Primate Elijah Ayodele, and the current Minister of Power, Bayo Adelabu.

In Nigeria’s history, I doubt if any politician has ever made their relationship with men of God public or revealed their dealings at any point in time. However, for the first time in our entire existence, we saw a minister reveal his conversations with Primate Ayodele, whom he claimed asked him to purchase 1,000 trumpets at the cost of N150 million to actualize his dream of becoming governor of Oyo State.

Adelabu went as far as releasing the entire conversation, which was captured in a 27-page text message exchange. In his defence, the prophet denied asking Adelabu to send him N150 million or to purchase the trumpets for his church, stating instead that it was a spiritual item meant to seek the face of God, and nothing more.

Moving away from the actions of Bayo Adelabu, which have garnered several reactions from Nigerians, political actors, spiritual leaders, and social media influencers, to mention but a few, let us focus our gaze on the significance of the 1,000 trumpets. Can this be backed up in the Bible? What exactly was the need for 1,000 trumpets?

It is important to take a deep dive into this because we would notice that it was not the intention of Primate Ayodele to introduce the N150 million estimate. In the text messages seen online, he asked Adelabu to get the trumpets, while the politician asked for the price. The Primate mentioned that he did not know how much they would cost but would find out. He later got back to him with two different prices, which the minister estimated to be N50 million and N150 million. Therefore, it was not about the money, but the trumpets.

Come to think of it, trumpets are not edible. The Primate does not operate a musical instrument shop where he would sell these trumpets. At worst, some of the trumpets would be played in his church, while others may be given to other churches. Whatever the prophet intended to use them for, they would not benefit him directly in any way.

While Primate Ayodele is yet to explain the significance of these trumpets, as a Bible student, it is worth noting that there are spiritual items that were used in ancient times, which included trumpets. These items were used to achieve victory in physical battles, which was definitely beyond human comprehension.

For reference purposes, when the Israelites were to take over the land of Jericho, God instructed them to gather soldiers, but their main weapons were seven trumpets made from rams’ horns and a loud cry from the people. He asked them to circle the city six times, and on the seventh day, circle the city seven times with priests blowing the trumpets. This was all it took to bring down the walls of Jericho.

In Judges 7, when Gideon went to war with the Midianites, he had thousands of men, and God ensured that he reduced those men to just three hundred. The only weapon they had, as instructed by God, was trumpets. The soldiers, who were expected to wield swords, carried trumpets and empty jars. When they blew their trumpets, their enemies turned against themselves with swords and fled.

“When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath” (Judges 7:22).

Likewise, trumpets were used to announce God’s presence on Mount Sinai. These ones were not even played by humans but by heavenly beings.

“Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him” (Exodus 19:16–19).

Above all, we can establish that trumpets are spiritual instruments. They are associated with God and can sometimes be requested by God for special purposes.

The next question is, is Bayo Adelabu going to fight a war? Well, everyone knows that elections in Nigeria cannot be conquered ordinarily; they are tantamount to a bloodless war, and sometimes, lives are even sacrificed for them. Therefore, if he was asked to bring 1,000 trumpets, it was most likely an instruction from God.

Anyway, I am not holding brief for anyone, either Primate Ayodele or Bayo Adelabu, but the request for trumpets is spiritually valid.