By: Mandy Park
Founder, Kingsway International Christian Centre, KICC, and Convener, Christ Compassion to the Rural World Foundation (CCRWF), Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, in this interaction with Journalists speaks on the Ibadan: This is love crusade, his vision, and the pathway to Nigeria’s recovery, among other issues.
Excerpt
You will be holding a massive crusade in Ibadan, Oyo State this November. Given the Ikorodu experience in Lagos, during your last crusade, what are the measures to avoid stampede during the five days event?
This is a good question because it is very vital. The Ibadan crusade which has been tagged the biggest in the history of Oyo State and I think in the country will hold at the Liberty Stadium Ibadan, Oyo State between November 25th and November 30th. There will be four nights of healing crusade and three mornings of distribution of gift items. As I have consistently said, in the Ibadan crusade, we will, fundamentally, preach the word of God. We will not just be in Ibadan to share food but to introduce Jesus Christ and His love for us. It will be transformation of lives and showing practical love.
The CCRWF Ibadan termed “Ibadan: This Is Love Crusade 2024 ‘ will have about five or six legs. The first leg will be surgery, like I told you earlier, it’s a compassion crusade to meet at least, some of the needs of the people. There are people in Nigeria who can not afford surgery, and so we will make effort to make both major and minor surgeries available.”
We have gathered not less than 33 surgeons in Ibadan to screen people to be attended to. We planned for the screening to last for six days but had to cut it short to three days due to an overwhelming crowd. The screening crowd was massive.
We had instructed the surgeons that we could only pay for 400 people, but after the screening exercise they ended up with 711 people. This means that 711 people will benefit from surgery from the CCRWF crusade in Ibadan.
As I said earlier, from the night of the 25th, when the crusade kicks off, God will be releasing His annointng, healing and salvation power. The crusade from Tuesday to Thursday, there will be distribution of gift items, food materials, such as rice, beans, garri, noodles, Oil, clothings, and buckets exclusively for ladies, nursing mothers and older women.
We also made provision for 10,000 packs of sugar, 10,000 packs of salt, 10,000 bottles of oil, and several other items to be distributed in the morning.
Let me inform you that in the distribution of logistics to avoid stampede and proper crowd management, we are using the Liberty Stadium. Of course, you cannot compare the liberty stadium with the Ikorodu venue.
But still the stadium has been dived into four equal place to avoid women and young children being harassed by stronger people. The younger men would be placed in one place with the young ladies placed in another section of the stadium. The older men and women would be put in a section together. For the distribution of the gift items, people will collect vouchers during the night crusade so as to maintain orderliness.
Due to the overwhelming population recorded at the medical day of the last crusade held in Ikorodu where between 5,000 to 10,000 people were expected, but recorded over 50,000 adult attendance and over 20,000 children at the Igbobo Stadium, we have decided to make the medical day a two-day programme for the Ibadan crusade.
‘With this two days of medicals, we are lining up 200 doctors, about 150 pharmacists, about 100 nurses and other medical personnels. What we are doing on Friday and Saturday at the CCRWF crusade is simply making the place a hospital. It’s not like they are just testing people and telling them go and be well. No. You have to go through all the processes you go through in a hospital. You will be checked, your vitals will be taken and you will be passed to a doctor who will now give you the prescription, then you will be passed to the pharmacist. Within that two days, we are preparing for between 100,000 and 150,000 people. For the two days, we will start 8:00am and close 6:00 pm.”.
On Wednesday and Thursday of the crusade between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, there will also be a School of Ministry led by Steve Mensah from Ghana, Dr. Festus Adeyeye, from New York, Dr. Mensa Otabil from Ghana, and the duo of Jerry Eze and Poju Oyemade from Nigeria to attend to about 5,000 to 10,000 Pastors and Ministers of the gospel being expected.
There is nothing to fear in terms of security, stampede or crowd management..
We will have not less than 200 to 250 police personnel on the ground and other security assistance. It’s a crusade that will be mega, massive and memorable.
Will there be doctors from abroad or only those in the country?
Yes, there will be some foreign doctors but we have had to get the doctors on ground specially registered. Nigeria is a well organized, well ordered place when it comes to specialized things like medicine. A doctor can’t just come here and practice so we are getting a certificate of covering for the doctors who are coming with us. Some of them graduated from the universities here but now that they live abroad and they have not been licensed here, they will have to get a covering licence from the Nigeria Medical Association.
Some doctors are coming, some pharmacists are coming, some nurses are coming but they have to be authenticated, and authorized by the people on ground.
Where does the motivation come from?
For me and the CCRWF it is simply the love of God and the salvation of souls, We are also deeply motivated to show that at a time like this, under pressure, God still cares about his people, God still loves them and the church of Jesus Christ is not about give me, give me, give me, but give you, give you, give you and showing you why Christ came to die for all.
Let me add that my vision, desire and dream is not just to make an impact, but to make an impact that will last and last. A legacy that will continue to impact lives even after your transition.
Speak on how or some of the solutions you can proffer to address present hardship challenge in Nigeria?
As far as the government is concerned, I’d have to say that we are all in this together. All I can say is that the government should be sensitive to the people. For the government to really make impact, we need to not just solve immediate problems.
I will not subscribe to the government giving people 5000, 10000 but rather people should be trained and empowered to start businesses. So if you start a business and we can see truly you’ve been trained and given skills, there should be a place where you can draw immediate help or empowerment not just money to spend for one or two days, but your life have been empowered. Having said all, let us develop the 5Es. The empowerment which has to do with our agriculture is an oxymoron that the south is being fed by the north.
Let us develop our environment (agriculture), electricity (power) the whole of the electricity in Nigeria is not up to Heathrow airport, which is very sad. Let us develop our engineering sector. Let us develop our economy, let it be strong, let it be robust, let it not wait for world bank. Let us work on the electronics (IT intelligence). let us raise men and women, and Nigerian young men are smart, some of the best calculating computers and gaming machines that can be produced on earth are Nigerians once they go out.
We must strive to be a productive nation and we have the capacity to feed ourselves and make massive export too
What is your message on the Ibadan crusade?
Let the people come out and see, witness the blessings of God. There will be healing, deliverance, breakthrough, miracles and encounter with destiny. It’s going to be a great event, a great time with our Lord Jesus Christ. I can assure you that Ibadan This Is Love Crusade 2024 will be a timeless experience.
