The General Overseer of Divine Appointment Ministry, Lagos, Rev. Ben Eragbai is one man of God that is not ashamed to talk about his ugly past. In this interview, he opened up about his life. Read on…

You are 50, how has it been?

Life has been interesting because God is my helper. A life without Christ is in crisis and by God’s grace, I have been able to put crisis behind me from the day I accepted Je­sus. God has been faithful to me.

What have been the challenges in your life?

There have been challenges but God has been able to help me handle them. The major challenge is that of human management. A situation where you are showing the direc­tion to follow and you see people acting dif­ferently and it looks as if you are not doing enough.

How was your growing up, the pranks played as kid?

I came from a humble background where poverty was the order of the day. God by His grace has helped me and to impact on my parents. I grew up in the barracks and moved from one barracks to another. When I was in primary school, I never settled down as I moved all over Nigeria with my sister’s husband (brother-in-law) with whom I lived.

My dad bought me a pair of shoes when I was in primary six and I didn’t want to wear it until I was in secondary school. By the time I got admission into secondary school, the shoes became under-sized. It pained me so much because of my love for the shoe.

In spite of my humble background along the line, I deviated because I didn’t know God. I started smoking cigarette and from there graduated into hemp smoking and later started smoking marijuana with Fela Ani­kulapo-Kuti. That is how bad it was. I had to leave University of Benin and travelled to Lagos for the Friday Yabis Night. However, knowing God redefined my life.

What is the turning point of your life?

It was still in the 1980s when I attended a particular meeting/crusade organised by Archbishop Benson Idahosa. I went there with my girlfriend and other friends but I answered the altar call and gave my life to Jesus. However, when I came back to the campus I deviated and returned to my old ways but a seed had been sown in my life and I believe it is that same seed that brought me where I am today.

You were addicted to marijuana and God delivered you, today many youths are in that same habit, what are you doing to help them out?

God is using me in this direction. Former bad boys are now in the church serving in various departments. Some are pastors here and elsewhere, some are choristers, ush­ers etc. Some of them heard my testimony and gave their lives to Christ. There was one young man when we were building the church he came here with some area boys to stop us. Somebody brought my photograph from Fela’s shrine; he saw the picture and later on repented, because he never knew that somebody that had gone so far would become normal. Armed robbers have given their lives to Jesus hearing my testimony. One was on my television programme. This young man said he hated listening to men of God but when he heard the way I was talking with my testimony he decided to listen. He said he picked his pistol to go and meet his friends for robbery operation and he heard me and got angry and wanted to switch off the TV but when I said, ‘Don’t touch that dial.’ He said, ‘so this man was monitoring me.’ He decided to listen. One of the things I said which he picked was ‘don’t go with bad gang; don’t go and join them because you may not make it back.’

He said that was supposed to be his first operation. He later called and knelt down and gave his life to Jesus. Today, he is in Bi­ble school.

When we were at Onipanu Bus stop, through the external loud speakers, this young man kept hearing me. Something told this man why not go inside the church rather than staying here thereby people would be­gin to suspect him because he was waiting to give information to his gang somewhere.

He came into the church and as I was rounding off the message and he heard me say, ‘you are an armed robber in this place and about to go for an operation, God is say­ing don’t go because if you did you would not make it alive.’ I said, ‘If you are that per­son come and see me in the office.’

Truly, after the programme one lanky man walked into my office and said, ‘Pastor I am the one you talked about.’ He gave me a number that I should call to confirm. It was a pastor’s number who is his younger brother. I called the pastor and mentioned this man’s name. The pastor told me, that the man is an armed robber that I should drive him away from my office.

According to him the man is his elder brother but the family has disowned him. He said I should not let him come near me. From there we took over the young man’s case and rehabilitated him.

He told me that he went to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. That is why this is­sue of government dabbling into the church to compel them to pay tax comes up and the government should be very careful. I under­stand there are fake men of God; they should not because of this group dabble into King­dom of God. This young man said he went to prison for the crime he didn’t commit. According to him, he was an accountant in a particular company and the money in his care was stolen. The Investigating Police Officer (IPO), according to him was hell bent on sending him to prison. So, he was awaiting trial for over three years until some group of human rights lawyers visited the prison and facilitated his release; but before then, he had been indoctrinated into crime in the prison. He met an armed robbery kingpin, who was very good to him. The robber was released ahead of him and he was visiting and bring­ing provisions for him in the prison.

By the time this young man was released from prison, he went to his family and was rejected. Since he had no place to go, he de­cided to go and live with this armed robber he met in prison. From there he joined him in armed robbery. On that fateful day, he came to Onipanu area, he was on a mission to scout the area as they were coming for rob­bery operation there.

Today, the young man is a pastor. My members know him. Look at that, the prison system couldn’t rehabilitate him but taught him how to rob. He didn’t go there as a rob­ber but became a robber while in prison but the church transformed him.

The confab is recommending that religious bodies should be paying tax, what is your view on this?

Why does the government want to dabble into payment of tax by the church? I am not against it but let me quickly say it, in Ameri­ca for instance, when you pay offering in the church it is given to you as tax deduct; at the end of the year, the government gives you tax deduction. That is a nation today God is helping. America may not be righteous but they have regard for men of God.

I want to say this as a prophet, if Nigeria begins to collect tax from churches, Nigeria will end because God will remove His hands from this nation and that will be the final blow. Russia, at a time stood against God and it came down. It was a super power nation but didn’t have regard for God. If you watch, Russia is trying to bounce back as it has es­tablished its place in God.

If Nigerian government should dabble in to God’s kingdom, it will be a calamity, there is no money in this nation. The politicians have embezzled our money, the result is the collapse or absence of basic infrastruc­ture. When people who have good inten­tions emerged they would be set up. Stella Oduah came up to refurbish our airports, but they set her up. Right now, the project has stopped. Akunyili came up; they parked her to one corner. Ribadu tried to fight corrup­tion but corruption started fighting him. All who tried to make a difference are rubbished.

So, if you want to start taxing church, God will distance Himself from Nigeria, and then our end has come. Prayer is the only thing that is keeping Nigeria. If they try to go ahead with their tax regime on the church, it means they are against God and that means antichrist has finally set in and before six months we will see the result.

We are doing many things for this commu­nity, which the government couldn’t. In this area, I have borehole that everyone in this area depended on for water. The one govern­ment put for us only worked that day it was commissioned and thereafter it packed up. In this area, I have scholarship for the poor peo­ple, especially children without fathers, and orphans. We are sending them to school.

In this ministry, we are supporting people who are finding it difficult to eat. If God de­cides to put hand into the church, our end has come.

With all that we have passed through, we are still together. If they succeed in making it a law, start to count you will know if I am a prophet.

The church is not the problem of Nigeria. The problem of Nigeria is corruption. We know how many people this ministry is sup­porting and we still want to dig some bore­holes in the area. We are removing armed robbers and other bad boys from the streets, which the police cannot do alone. The pris­on system cannot change that man; the law cannot also change him. The only thing that can change a man is the power of the Cross.

My case is a good example. I was a bad person in the campus. My former friends were Niger Delta militants and with AK-47 assault riffle they were able to agitate and became relevant. I am from that area. Today, some of them got oil well. Now, if I was not born again and subsequently a pastor, I would have been among them. What am I doing now? I am helping to sanitize the soci­ety. In the church we are still telling the peo­ple, “It is well.” The people are angry and can go out in the streets but it is the church that can calm them, letting them know that God is still on the throne.

I teach my members to remove their minds from government and start doing something; don’t wait to waste where you are looking for government to employ you. There are some people we gave some mon­ey to and start doing something. My wife and I gave money to more than 50 women to start business. We asked them to put ta­bles in front of their houses and start selling something. Ironically, some of these people immediately they put their tables, the gov­ernment agents, KAI, came, destroyed and seized the tables. When they came to church to complain I told them ‘it is well.’

Somebody may say that some men of God own private jets so they should tax church­es. Do government officials not use private jet? What is so special about men of God having private jets? You don’t want to see the great works they are doing in the soci­ety. Somebody will say they have universi­ties that ‘Yes’, there are many people in their thousands they are sponsoring and they are not coming out to blow their trum­pets. You say, “Why is the school fee not free?” The professors will not accept to teach free but will collect their salaries. If you pay peanut as salary, it is monkey that will show up. If you want to hire a professor you must pay him the salary of a professor. You can’t tell him that his reward is in heaven and he shouldn’t expect salary because the tuition is free. You must put everything in place. Al­low the church to be so it will keep on inter­ceding. If they start paying tax, I will with­draw my intercession likewise other men of God and they will realise if God is still in Nigeria or not.

The church should not carry arms; it should be praying in the face of in­security in the country. How much of this is it doing?

It is prayer that is keeping Nigeria. It is God that made the Boko Haram to abduct the schoolgirls in Chibok so that the world would rise up against them. We have been trying to get the attention of the world and nobody was listening. They bombed every­where including UN office, barracks, police stations, churches, mosques etc and were not labeled terrorist group. This Chibok issue has made them to be labeled terrorist group. Our prayer is working. It is now the Ameri­ca, Britain, Israel, China, France etc decided to help. Why have they not come since? We are praying for those girls and certainly they will be released. God will use something for something to happen. That is what you are seeing.

How did you meet your wife and how do you combine the home with the ministry so that the home does not suffer?

I didn’t know she was going to be my wife because she was in the camera department of the church. When it was time for me to mar­ry she was somewhere in London. The pres­sure was on me as the ministry was already progressing and I didn’t want to marry. I just wanted to be doing God’s work. I remember my Papa then, Dr. Felix Omobude and also Pastor Ayo called and sat me down and said, “Son, it’s time for you to get married with what God is doing in your ministry.” I was so much afraid because I thought if I marry the anointing would cease. They made me to understand that the anointing would increase if you have the right woman. The point here is, “where is the woman?” because there were many of them hunting for me. They were inundating me with all sorts of gifts. I have always been a power dresser, so many of them wanted me. It was so terrible. When any of them came in I always opened my of­fice to make sure that my secretary was see­ing me. One came to my office after a while she held unto my leg and said, “man of God, what did I do to you that God has spoken and why are you not talking?” I asked her what she meant. She said, “I must talk now” I said what do I say and I called my secretary, Tayo to move the lady out of my office and that was how she left the church. What really helped me at this point is that I had a very rough background, which I didn’t want to return. If it was about girlfriend, I have had them in abundance of all colours and races especially when I traveled abroad. Now, I’m in the kingdom I said I was not going to go back. There were many girls who came and were desperate. Some would sit in the front and the manner they composed them­selves during praise and worship made my Deaconess to come to me and asked, “Why not I look in the direction of that particular sister. That when she was worshipping she would be rolling on the floor crying. They said she is a perfect match for me.” I didn’t give them any answer. When the pressure was much from my father in the Lord, I said what do I do now. How do I call my member and ask her to sit down and I begin to tell her ‘I love you’, I want to marry you. Those days I used to chase ladies under the influence of marijuana and alcohol but all these I don’t take again.

So, it was difficult for me now to sit down and look at a lady in the face and tell her, ‘I love you and want to marry you.’ More so, this is a lady who came to church for spiritu­al matters. It was hard and my father in the Lord has given me the time to make sure I get married. It was then I remembered that I have a member who was very gentle but right then not in Nigeria. I picked phone and called her, ‘my daughter, how are you’, she said; “fine” I dropped the phone. I repeated the next day and she asked, ‘this time I am calling her again, hope there was no trouble.’ I said, ‘no that there was something I wanted to tell her that it would be next time.’ Lat­er, I summoned courage and said I must tell her that after all I was not seeing her eye­ball-to-eyeball. I asked her ‘if she would like to marry a pastor and that she should come to Nigeria to meet him.’ She asked who the person was. I told her why not come to Nige­ria first. She still wanted to know. I told her maybe, ‘it is me’, and that was how it start­ed. To God be the glory, it became a reality. It didn’t take time. She was a journalist and went to cover football match in Manchester. We got married in 2003.

God has been helping me manage my home and ministry. A sound home is a sound church. We are very close, most time I take her to meetings. We also organize holidays together, whereby we leave here for abroad, spend time together and switch off our phone sets. The home is very important.

Many girls were milling around, but what attracted her to you?

She is gentle and soft, while I’m hard. I don’t need hard person. Above all, she is born again, allows you to talk and doesn’t hijack the talk from you.

You look younger than 50, what is the secret?

We have it in our lineage, so I can say it is hereditary. My father was over 100 years before he died and my mother is still alive and close to 100 years. She is still bounc­ing and doesn’t use walking stick. I just saw her about three weeks ago at home and she went to the kitchen to prepare food for me and because I was in hurry, I asked her not to trouble herself because time was not on my side. Another thing is my ability to forgive people so easily. I may quarrel with you now and within the shortest possible time have forgotten about it.

I don’t allow anything to weigh me down. I bought a land for the church for N30 mil­lion, along the line; we realized it was not genuine. Somebody told me that the mon­ey was gone that I should take the man to EFCC, I refused but prayed and after three months I went to the man and he promised to pay and started paying ands we bought another land.

If it were some people they would break­down and develop high blood pressure because of the huge sum involved.

By God’s grace, high blood pressure and things of that nature are far from me because I don’t carry the burden of the church. I handed it over to Christ.

Another thing is exercise; I do body building exercises and like good food, vege­tables and fruits.

What were the mistakes you made or things you did that if given another chance you would want to do them the other way?

My greatest mistake is not knowing Christ in time. When I graduated in 1989, God helped me and I travelled abroad and became and automobile dealer. I had ware­house for motor engines and auto workshop. I can’t give account of all these because I was far from God. I only visited church, my God was money and business.

The youths are restive, what ad­vice do you have for them?

They know that a bend is not the end of the road. All we need to do is to keep follow­ing the road, as it will lead us to someplace.

I’m a winner means that you fought something and nobody rises without a fight, more so, if you don’t give life a fight, it will give you a fight. For anybody who got up there, there is a story behind it.

Unemployment and corruption didn’t start today. They should not think of go­ing into crime, Yahoo-Yahoo because what use is the money when you cannot close your two eyes to sleep or walk freely in the streets.

Every youth should know that God gave him two hands, two legs, two eyes, two ears etc because one is meant to support the oth­er, so God has already put your support in you. Don’t wait for anybody, but God, for the greatest asset is knowing God.

What was your highest moment in life?

The day I knew Christ and started fol­lowing Him. God brought me close to one of His greatest servants, after the late Arch­bishop Idahosa, the current PFN president, Dr Felix Omubude. I have learnt a lot from him.

Another great moment was when I went to preach at a particular country. The pres­ident and his wife wanted to see me and I went and they knelt down for prayers and I laid hands on them. When I went back to my hotel room, I wept and said, “God what are you doing with me that president and First Lady would kneel down for me to lay hands on them for prayers.’ If I were a professor, would I have laid hands on them.”

– Courtesy: The Sun