“Heal a COVID-19 patient and get $1k reward” – ‘Witches’ advocate challenges Apostle Suleiman

Leo Igwe, the Director of Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AFAW), has
challenged Apostle Johnson Suleman to miraculously heal a Coronavirus
patient or an HIV patient and get $1,000.

AFAW had on Sunday attacked Suleman for demanding that the government
should allow pastors into isolation centers to pray and heal COVID-19
patients.

In reaction to Apostle Suleman’s demands, Leo Igwe, who is the
founder of the Nigerian Humanist Movement and also the director of  the
Advocacy for Alleged Witches, wrote an open letter to Apostle Suleiman,
challenging him to prove his spiritual powers and get rewarded for it.

Leo Igwe wrote in the letter: “I am challenging the founder of Omega
Ministries, Apostle Suleman, to demonstrate his so-called gift of
healing under agreed medical and scientific conditions. I ask Suleman to
heal a person with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and get a thousand US
dollars. This challenge has become necessary because Apostle Suleman has
in a recent video urged the government of Nigeria to allow him and
other pastors with the gift of healing into the isolation centers so
that they could pray and heal those who have been infected by the virus.

“This request should not go unattended. Suleman specifically said
that the gifted pastors could heal 18 out of 20 COVID-19 patients. This
is a reasonable number. Isn’t it? And in a recent tweet, Apostle Suleman
affirmed that (his) God was bigger than the Coronavirus. This challenge
is for Suleman to heal, not two or three persons, not 10 or 15 patients
but one person with a viral infection.”

Mr Igwe further added that various religious leaders are always
claiming they performed miracles to heal numerous diseases “through
faith and prayers”. He said now is the time to prove that they are
effective.

Leo Igwe added: “Incidentally, faith healing in Africa has largely
been taken for granted. Faith healing claims have gone unchallenged and
untested. There has not been any major effort to hold African faith
healers to account or get them to openly and publicly demonstrate the
potency and efficacy of their healing propositions under scientific
testing conditions. The outbreak of COVID-19 offers an ample opportunity
to realize this – to test and confirm the much-avowed healing gifts and
abilities of pastors.

“So, I hereby challenge Apostle Suleman to prove that he can heal
COVID-19 patients through prayer. Apostle Suleman will get one thousand
US dollars for any proven case of faith healing of a COVID-19 patient
under agreed scientific conditions.”

He challenged Suleman to heal COVID-19 patients from wherever he is as Christ also performed miracles from a distance.

He added: “Suleman should agree to pray for a COVID-19 patient from
wherever he is since going into the isolation centers without face masks
and personal protective equipment is not medically permitted and would
violate existing laws and regulations. After all, Jesus performed
miracles at a distance (John 4: 46-54). Didn’t he? And also the Bible
enjoins believers to pray in secret, and that the prayers would be
answered (Matthew 6:6).

“So, it is not necessary for Apostle Suleman or any gifted pastor to
get into the isolation centers before they could pray and heal any
COVID-19 patient.”

Leo Igwe suggested that if Suleman will not heal a Coronavirus patient, then he should heal a patient living with HIV.

Igwe, who holds a doctoral degree in religious studies from the
University of Bayreuth, said: “Otherwise, I challenge Apostle Suleman to
heal an HIV/AIDS patient through prayer and take home a thousand US
dollars. HIV is another viral infection that is killing many people in
Nigeria and across the world. Apostle Suleman should use this window to
demonstrate under medical and scientific conditions his supernatural
gift of healing. He should show Nigerians and the rest of the world that
his God is truly bigger than a virus, whether it is COVID-19 or HIV. I
hope that Apostle Suleman or any other gifted pastor accepts this
challenge and seizes this opportunity to demonstrate the potency and
efficacy of faith healing.”