KEY POINTS
- Prayer battle kept Mahama from helicopter crash.
- A last-minute schedule change spared Ghana’s president.
- The Reverend urges consistent prayer and prophetic alertness.
Ghana’s President John Mahama narrowly avoided being on the military helicopter that crashed Wednesday, killing senior government and army officials, after what one pastor calls a “prayer battle” changed the leader’s travel plans at the last moment.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Y. Wengam, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God Ghana, told a hushed congregation that the president was initially scheduled to travel for an event in Côte d’Ivoire, but a flurry of calls, objections, and intercessions shifted his itinerary.
Prayer battle kept Mahama from helicopter crash
Wengam said the chain of events began a week earlier, when the president’s secretary, Dr. Callistus Mahama, informed him that the president would skip a planned church program to attend the Ivorian Independence Day celebration instead.
Unsettled, Wengam called Rev. Bawa and instructed him to “mobilize the prayer team and reverse it.” He insisted the president’s absence was unacceptable.
First Lady joins tense last-minute standoff
By Monday, the dispute had intensified. The First Lady, Lordina Mahama, phoned Wengam, objecting to the president’s planned trip and urging him not to relent. “It was a battle on the phone,” Wengam said, describing a volley of calls between himself, the First Lady, and the president.
Finally, a text arrived from the First Lady: they would attend the church event on Wednesday, and the president could travel the following day.
Pastor warns on prophetic vigilance
Reflecting on the close call, Wengam noted that if the president had stuck to his original schedule, he would have been on the ill-fated helicopter.
He urged pastors to maintain a disciplined prayer life, warning against sporadic devotion. “We must be prophetic,” he said. “This comes by being prayerful every day—not just when you have a sermon.”
