Ukraine-based Nigerian pastor, Sunday Adelaja has escaped from the war-torn Ukraine, leaving his multi-million church, members and properties behind in the country.
Adelaja who has been living in Ukraine for 36 years, recounted how he was targeted by the Russian Vladimir Putin led forces and how he and his wife escaped miraculously.
He rose to become one of the most influential pastors in the country and built “the biggest church in the country” that boasted of thousands of members.
But now, he has to leave everything behind because of the war currently rocking the country, and he does not know whether he will ever set his foot in Ukraine again.
In a recent interview with BBC, Pastor Adelaja said that people are talking about leaving, but it is not easy as they put it. He said that leaving means that he is leaving his entire life and everything he has ever worked for behind.
He said that his wife only managed to take toothpaste and a few other items, and that they escaped with a car.
He said that this is an experience he cannot even wish upon his enemy.
He said that he would have stayed behind if he was just an “ordinary person”. And that several Africans and Ukrainians are hiding in the basement in his house now. He said that he and his wife had to escape from the country because of his profile.
He said that he left Nigeria when he was 19 years old, and that things will never remain the same for him again.
Pastor Sunday Adelaja made headlines a day ago when he cried out that he was on the hit list of Russian President Vladimir Putin, following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian troops.
In the report which was made by Daily Post and other verified news platforms, he alleged that he got to know from American intelligence that Russia has a list of people to eliminate, and that he is on that list.
He said that he knew he would be on the list because he has been a personal enemy of Putin for over 20 years, and that Putin even banned him from going to Russia. War is bad. It destroys things that people used years to build. We pray that the crisis between Russia and Ukraine will soon come to an end.
