Meeting Bishop Tom Samson of Royal Church of God for the first time, one would surely take him for a Hip Hop musician or a rich movie star due to his flamboyant way of dressing. But the popular man of God who came to Lagos without any hope 22 years ago said he has no apology for that as that is just the way he wants to be identified. The Delta State 47 years old man told ORUKPE NELSON the reason behind his dress sense, terrible things he did before accepting Christ and secret behind his success.

You came to Lagos 22 years ago at the age of 25 without any hope whatsoever; what was going through your mind then?

Well, I was armed with a vision, I was full of hope as a young man that just left the university, the only vision of setting the captives free and teaching them to have hope in God and salvation through Jesus Christ. I was full of energy. I have never been to Lagos before. I just came to Lagos without any hope but with great vision and amazing faith. I just had it at the back of my mind that something was waiting for me. What? I didn’t know. But I knew I would be an achiever. I knew great task is waiting for me. I came with the mind to serve.

You just lost your father and you wanted to come to Lagos leaving your poor mother behind; what was her reaction?

She didn’t want me to come. Because when she asked for my forwarding address, I had none. She was scared. She wanted me to stay around her, sleep and wake up together. But I knew that wasn’t my motion. I had a vision, I had a dream and my dream is just serving the Lord. So, she was scared but I assured her that the Lord will see me through and He surely did.

Before He (God) saw you through; what did you go through?

I went through suffering. The friend that promised me accommodation was unable to fulfill it because his parents didn’t want me to stay in their house. He had to look somewhere around Ojuelegba in Surulre, Lagos to fix me up. I was sleeping at veranda and I was there for some weeks until I ran into a friend, one Wale Akinyemi who I used to meet in Ile-Ife. In Ekpoma, I travelled to campuses preaching, I used to go to Christ Love in Ife to preach. So I knew Wale Akinyemi then, but he was now based in Lagos and I ran into him. He took me to see his parents who asked where I was staying, I told them I had nowhere and they gave me accommodation in their vacant but empty ‘boys quarters’.

With accommodation issue settled, this gave me sort of relief and I met other friends who introduced me to their parents as Pastor Tom, and those parents discovered that I am a young man with great and amazing gift, so some of them assisted me with chairs, stove, money and I was able to gather some things and that kept me going. It was exciting and I enjoyed it and just saw the hand of God in my life, it was rough but you could see the comforting hand of God in my life, it was exciting.

You are one of the most famous men of God in the country today; what would you say has seen you through. Is the anointing or what?

Above all, I will say it is the grace of God. We are building a university, we have college of Education. We are in two cities, we are building hotels, we have 16 nursery and primary schools. We have schools in Lagos, Abuja, Port-Harcourt, being built by a man that came to Lagos without a dime, with over 100 staff on my payroll. It can only be grace. And what is grace? Unmerited favour. When God decided to do all these, it is just a favour; you can say it is your own doing. There are many people out there with more anointing and yet they are not where we are today.  I have been receiving grace of God all my life. I got admission into the university with one credit in Yoruba. I just gave my life to Christ. Nobody in my family ever did. The evil and demonic stronghold in our family never allowed me to make my five credits. Even with the way I was, God sent His helper.

 I met this young man who was going to admission office with a letter of introduction and I followed him to see one of the top officials and the man thought we came together and worked our admission in. I later made my papers in year one. In Ekpoma then, being a new school you are permitted to get your full results within a short period after admission. Since I gave my life to Christ, the grace of God has never ceased to follow me. I have always seen unique favour in my life. Apart from grace; I have been impacting life, since I started my programme at the Airport Hotel, so many millionaires and billionaires have been raised through that programme. So many boys got jobs in oil companies. People have been raised through that programme in Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt. Many don’t even attend my church. So these people sometimes look back to assist. But above it all; the grace of almighty God counts.

You said you have built many schools, is it for business purpose, missionary sake or to impact lives?

The best way to assist and give lasting legacy is through education. Look at me now, I was the first to get married, first to own house, first in everything. Apart from Christ, education played a major role. Look at any family in Nigeria, if you see any family that is moving higher, education plays a role. Look at the missionary, when they came to Africa, they came with two things, education and health. I went to missionary schools, my primary school was a Christian school while my secondary school was Islamic school.  I was born at Seventh-Day Adventist Hospital, Ile-Ife. I have been a beneficiary of missionary kind gesture.

I have scholarship scheme because my parents struggled to pay my school fees. At a point, I had to engage in menial job to pay my fees. So this has enabled me to do all these.

I give out free medical care; go to Ota in Ogun State, we give out free medical service. I am doing all these because of what I went through. If I could go through that and God made to head a Christian group, I think I have to give back. I read education at the university and looking at the quality of education in Nigeria today, I have to do something. I am a man of high taste, I am a man with poise, and we have college of education where we train teachers. Apart from providing education, we also want quality and qualitative education, and I have passion for education.  I wanted to be a medical doctor but I couldn’t do so but I am now building health centres for medical doctors.

Talking about class and taste; we could take you for a hip hop star or movie star; why are you so flamboyant?

I started my ministry from the campus. I started among young people, so you can’t compare me with other elderly men of God out there that people want me to follow. I wouldn’t do that. Never! Because when God called me, He called me to work among the youth.  I started my ministry on campus. Even before then, I have been going to campuses to preach.  I have been working among the youth. If you are working among the youth and if you want them to accept what you are saying, you have to look acceptable. God used me very well among the cultists, Black Axe, Buccaneers, Pyrates, Eiyes, they called me Pastor Dynamics, I was irresistible.

I have a good dress sense. Apart from that, I always like to dress the way people will notice me on campus, so I carried my dress sense from the university to my ministry. Then we had Scripture Union (SU), but many youths who would not want to look at the SU looked at our side, because we were posh. Despite our class, we never deviated from the word of God, we were healing and delivering powerful words of God on campuses and making serious impact around the campuses. So I am still doing things I have done 30 years ago with impact. Whatever you see me doing today, it is just the reflection of what I have done in the past and where I was coming from.

You said you are building a university. We are all aware that some of the universities built by some of these churches are so expensive that even most of the worshippers whose tithes were used in building it cannot even afford it.

(Cuts)… You see, if you are outside, it is easy to criticize but if you’re inside, you will see the truth. I have colleges of education where I am training teachers. The salary of an average teacher is between N50,000 and N100,000. If you want good and qualitative education, it is very expensive. Look at my secondary school at the back of my church here, to purchase that land alone is over 100million naira, with quality teachers but it is still one of the cheapest around Ikeja.

God has blessed me and we want to pay back to the society.  You have to look at the lives of the teachers and treat them well. Education sector has failed in Nigeria because the governments are not treating teachers well. If teachers are poorly paid, they will take sweets, biscuits and melon to school to sell and won’t concentrate on the welfare of their students.

Anyone will agree with you that education is expensive all over the world. Look at the way the standard of education is failing in Nigeria. All those first generation universities are deteriorating. Even the government universities are jacking up  their fees in order to meet up. Look at the Lagos State University (LASU). If Lagos State can hike school fees, what else do you want private university to do?.

Naturally, education is expensive. We do not only want to provide education but quality one. We will not bring education down to lose its value. But my school is not expensive and it is affordable by the downtrodden but not to the detriment of quality and qualitative education.

The norm among our pastors today is flying their own private jets. We are yet to see yours, when are you getting your own?

There are only few men of God that can afford private jets. There was a time I was in Abuja and I had a very crucial meeting here in Lagos, do you know that my flight was delayed for over two hours. So I couldn’t make the meeting. There was a day I was going to Abuja for NUC meeting, and the flight was delayed for an extra one hour 30 minutes, but with my private jet, that wouldn’t have happened.

So you are thinking of getting your own too?

By the special grace of God. If somebody gives me one today, I will take, because it will enhance my work.

Let’s go back a bit; why did you give your life to Christ at the time you did?

I gave my life to Christ because I was under demonic siege. Five years after I left secondary school, I was still writing examination. I never excelled. My families were under siege. An average family in Africa carries ancestral curse, demonic and witchcraft manipulations. I tried other means but it didn’t work. Only Christ is the solution.

Can you tell me other means you tried?

Several means like native doctors, I bathed in the river, I nearly got drowned. I ate sacrifices at late nights. I did terrible things I wouldn’t want to mention here. But after giving my life to Christ, my suffering came to an end, I received salvation.

Still talking about being a powerful dresser, where do you shop for your suits?

You know I travel a lot, so I get most of my suits in London.

Do you have particular designer?

No, I am not that crazy about a particular designer. I don’t really go for what you see in the market. I go for samples.

So you spend lots of money to look good

To you, it might be a lot of money but to me, I am a man with taste and class, so I go for what goes with my taste and what makes me feel good. Some of my suits are specially made for me with my name on it.