President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Francis Wale Oke, has said true men of God do not publicly criticise elected leaders, especially if they have the privilege to speak with them privately, away from the media.

“It is our responsibility to speak truth to power,” he said on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast programme, yesterday.

“If you go through the scriptures, the prophets of old confronted kings when they did wrong. They spoke to them the word of God and they brought convictions to them; some changed, while some were stubborn.

“We do the same, but we don’t do it via the media, we don’t do it on the pages of the newspapers.” According to the re-elected president of the Pentecostal group, when religious leaders flay politicians on the pages of newspapers, those in public office view the criticism of such a cleric as enmity.

“When you criticise leaders on the pages of newspapers, they take you as enemies. We meet them one-on-one. Why should I be talking about my governor on the pages of newspapers when with one phone call, I can speak with you?

“All the men of God that are true men of God are not looking for public affirmation or public adulation; they just want to do the will of God; so, we speak truth to power privately,” he said.