Joseph Akinbiyi is a pastor in the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Grace Tabernacle, Lagos. He shared his life story with TUNDE ADELEKE.
How was your experience growing up?
Very fantastic. Fantastic in the sense that we didn’t know as much as we do now in terms of modern life. But we were comfortable in our own little way in the village. In fact, in the village where I was born, up till now, there is no road that leads to the place, there is no borehole water, and there is no power supply. But even at that, life was sweet because we were content with the little God had given us. Most of the things I see in Lagos here are people running after money. In my own case, I was so fortunate to have grown up in the midst of old people- like my father’s uncle, his own father’s younger brother. The old man and many other old people were an embodiment of truth; men whose lives were worthy of being emulated. We were not trained under a system that only your father can talk to you, can train and correct you, no! Every elderly person is your father in our place. Then, if an elderly person beat you for any wrongdoing and you came back home to report the elderly person to your dad, you are in trouble! As a result of this, if you were doing anything wrong and any of the elders cautioned you, it’s like your father was talking to you. That’s the kind of society we belonged to. In our village, on the road to the market, elderly people would put their products by the roadside on a table and put the exact amount the product cost on the items. Let it be from morning till evening, nobody will steal anything from there. That’s the kind of society I belonged to.
The same thing was in place when I grew up and travelled overseas; it was the same system there. Over there, they would put a price tag on their wares and nobody would touch it. It happened in Paris; it happened in Switzerland; that means it’s an order by God – what was obtainable in my remote village was also practised in foreign lands, but not in Lagos. It’s in Lagos they would snatch your bag in your presence.
Can you shed light on your educational background?
I started from a local authority school. The system then in our place was to go to the township after primary school and modern school for another three years. I’m the last born of my mother; so, when it was my turn, my father said he could not sponsor my education anymore. My mother was very unhappy about it. My paternal grandmother was around when the meeting was held and my father said he couldn’t afford to sponsor my education anymore. The old woman said to my mother ‘Don’t worry, Macaulay (my dad) has only said his own; he has not said that of God.’ And God stamped the woman’s statement.
After about six months, my elder brother came from Lagos and brought me back to Lagos. His intention was that I would come and learn tailoring, but by providence, one day, one of my cousins came with an evening newspaper and I saw an advert for Lagos Technical College there. So, I was asked to go and try it. That was how I wrote the examination and I was admitted. My brother picked up the bill and sent me to school. From there, I became a student at St. Finbarr’s College, Akoka. I was not privileged to go to the university because my brother could not afford it. But by the grace of God, through little efforts and external examinations, I became what I am today.
Can you tell us about your career?
I worked with NNPC at Falomo; we built the Kaduna Refinery. I have so many Japanese friends. We used to travel overseas and if I talk today, I talk like a university graduate, whereas, I am not. I never went to the university, but my knowledge is higher than that of a university graduate. Every time they would send us for training in Paris, Switzerland, and other places. And through the grace of God, I was always among the people that would go. That exposed me to so many things in terms of petroleum matters until one day when we travelled (about 26 of us) to Switzerland. The government approved only two weeks for us; we spent nine months in Japan without seeing the sky, and we would be in Escravos. Anytime we came back, they would give us an estacode. Most times, I won’t go to London or Paris to enjoy the money, I would go to Broad Street to change the money to naira. But, unfortunately, the first time I went with them, a problem occurred. We overstayed in the hope that nothing would happen. Our boss then made sure all of us were sacked. But it was a blessing in disguise. From there, I decided that I would be on my own. I floated the electronic radio recording business. It was in the process I met a man from my place, an Ilaje man, who was then a top man at Union Bank. He was the one that took me to the Union Bank. He wanted me to be the manager in charge of their public affairs department, but I objected because I had made up my mind not to work under anybody again. I asked that he register me as a contractor. It was a very good move I made. At a time in Union Bank, I was the only electronic contractor; anywhere they wanted to do anything electronic, it was me, even up to the then managing director, Alhaji S. S. Baffa before Yahaya, Mr. Oboh, and Mr Ebong came on board. I worked with them all. I was not privileged to go to the university, but I finished my secondary education at St. Finbarr’s, Akoka, Yaba Lagos. Our principal then was Father Slasttery from Rome. They taught us real Christian discipline. He was the one who taught us the Latin language. One of the Latin languages he taught us then which I will never forget was ‘infra dignitatem,’ meaning that things that you should not be found with or you should not be found doing. Things that are not comely with a man, including places you should not go or sit down, where you must not be seen because of your reputation, things you do not move near. The Bible says, ‘Good name is better than riches.’
How did you find love?
That’s very interesting. I grew up in Obalende. My wife happened to be the daughter of a senior police officer in Ikoyi. One day, there was no water in Obalende, so we went to their barracks in Ikoyi to fetch water. There, I met the lady; while others were struggling to fetch water, she said ‘Boda, e maa bo’ (Brother, come around). She assisted me in fetching my water with ease. That was the day I spotted her, and I became interested in her. But I had to apply wisdom because the father was a Police officer. She told me categorically that the father must not know that she was in love with me. So, I had to make myself a compulsory friend of her elder brother. I became so friendly with the brother that if they cooked in their house and the brother had not seen me, he would not eat; the same thing goes for me. But then, my friendship had a motive and it worked out fine for me. Eventually, we got married after about a year. In fact, I dated her for a year before she entered our compound in Obalende. And the day she came, I was not at home, I was at Butubutu, a place commonly called ‘no man’s land’ in Obalende where we used to play table tennis. When I came back, my elder brother’s wife told me a young girl named Stella came. I said wow! That’s how I went to her house to say I was sorry. I told her a lie that I was in the library. However, it wasn’t an easy task marrying her. The father was hell-bent that she wasn’t going to marry me. It was so tough that my father had to come to Lagos six times because of the matter. But my dad said I should not worry, that the lady was going to be mine. Here we are today. Since she came into my life, my life has been very peaceful and successful to the glory of God. Our marriage would be about 45 years old, and I have no regrets.
Were you not involved in pranks as a youth?
Yes, I was involved, but not the kind of pranks you have now. For instance, when we were told ‘don’t go and play’, we would go and play; ‘don’t do this and that’, we would still go ahead and do it. That’s the kind of pranks we were involved in during our days, not the prank of stealing or getting involved in criminality, no. We were not brought up that way.
I was a very stubborn fellow, but we don’t joke with church programmes. That we won’t do. But when we were told ‘Don’t go and play,’ we would sneak out; we would even go as far as the next village to go and play football. And when we came back, our father would beat us. Aside that, no! Not anything that had to do with criminality.
Never! You can’t do that in our place.
What would you consider as the most memorable event in your life?
The one remarkable incident I can never forget in a hurry in my life, which I thank God for today, was when my father-in-law wanted to use his authority over me as a police officer because of his daughter. They took me to Onikan police station and put me behind the counter. Then we had a police commissioner as a member of our church (C & S Church). Our Mama in the Lord sent for the police commissioner, George Ogbuehi, but the people at the counter couldn’t even recognize him. He put on his C & S cap. He asked them: ‘Do you know me?’, they said no. He then introduced himself. It was as if the heaven was opened! They all stood still, including my father-in-law.
He then turned to my father-in-law and said: “You mean you went to the church and scattered the house of God?”. He said: “I am sorry, Sir.” That was the end of the matter. I was immediately released. It was a day I can never forget in my life; it’s important to have a good network of people. The Lord used that man for me, otherwise, my father-in-law would have punished me for nothing. But at the end of the day, through the grace of God, my father-in-law told my dad one day when we met at Casino, Adekunle in the Yaba area that I was not his in-law, but his firstborn. God so helped me that I took care of him. He regretted all his actions. But for me, I took it in its strides, as the Bible says: ‘Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word’ (Ps.119:67).
It was that affliction that brought me back home. So, sometimes when you’re being punished for righteousness, you have to take it in good faith. I thank God that I have a peaceful home. My wife is a God-chosen one for me.
What genre of music do you love listening to?
God is my witness, gospel music, particularly when it has to do with Christian hymns. I love it. Of course, I also love some of Ebenezer Obey’s songs that teach us morals and good conduct.
How do you relax?
When I come back from the church, I stay indoors. I could be on my bed or just staying home. I don’t go about visiting friends. Before I gave my life to Christ, I was a member of the Ikoyi Club. Though I have been a Christian from childhood, you can’t compare the old life we were living then to the one we live as born-again Christians. In 1989 when I gave my life to Christ, I had to stop my membership of the Ikoyi Club. I don’t go out to relax, I relax in my house. Never in life will you find me in any cafeteria eating, I eat in my house.
Even the only social society I belong to, known as Ipaja Elders Forum, knows me with my belief and discipline that I don’t eat outside my home. Their wives would always package my food and give it to me to take home. If need be, I Criminality in society is growing almost at par with the rate at which the number of churches grows. What do you think is responsible and how can the trend be reversed?
The answer is not far-fetched, the fact is that the ministers of the gospel are not actually preaching the truth. The Bible says: ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’ If we must be sincere, the majority of the ministers are not truly preaching the gospel, they are not preaching the truth to the people. No matter how we look at it, what our Lord Jesus Christ said concerning the truth remains fundamental forever – the truth will set you free. I know what was obtainable in the society in which we grew up, where our fathers were ready to die for the truth. But here we are today, by the special grace of God, some of us are really free from all the evil happenings. We won’t do evil. For instance, if you are from certain places like Ikale land, Ondo State, where I come from, to be honest, you will find it difficult to join gangs. This is because, in those days when we were growing up in the village, if they saId a child was arrested by the police and imprisoned after a court case, the family of that child became stigmatised. Nobody wanted to be seen with such a family. As a result of this, we ran away from things that can tarnish the image of our family because our fathers told us the truth about life. Though they were not educated, most of the things they told us then were true, especially when I came to Lagos, I saw everything practically happening.
Don’t you think we need value re-orientation?
Of course, that is the only solution. If you talk from now till the kingdom comes, there won’t be any tangible changes, unless we go back to the root, which is where the truth is being appreciated and valued; not the kind of distortions that go on these days. That is the kind of thing that brought about ‘Yahoo Yahoo’ they talk about now.
Some time ago, I was telling someone that the ‘Yahoo’ thing people are talking about has existed for a long time. The Bible says ‘Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.’ The word of God also says, ‘As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.’
So, I don’t know how anybody, anybody at all, can escape the judgment of God on this trend, because anything you do in this world, particularly to the disadvantage of the innocent ones, you will pay dearly for it. God remains God forever.
How do you think the church can help in this regard?
The church can help by going back to the rudiments of the gospel as taught by our Lord Jesus Christ; to tell the truth. Let them know what the Bible says about the wrong lifestyle. Nobody can escape that! You can’t have your cake and eat it! The Bible says, ‘Shall they escape by iniquity?’
There is a lot I can tell you about this, even about our moral values and our relational attitude. I remember a fellow who once lived in my house. And he really prospered. But a false prophet came into his life and misled him; he brainwashed him that his mother was a witch. This was a fellow who was the only child of his mother. The mother came to me, crying, and asking ‘Am I a witch?’ I told the old woman not to worry. With all that the guy had then (he built nine houses in Lagos here), today, he can’t afford to rent a room apartment because our God is not an unrighteous God. We were members of the same church, and I am older than him and more exposed than him. When the prophet was telling us to do the wrong things, I didn’t agree. But because most of them believed in immediate results, they were following the wrong footsteps of the prophet. But I believe that God’s time is the best. If our leaders in the church had then risen up the way I did to fight the evil trend, the problems that befell most of them would not have happened. The man eventually lost his nine houses; he was indebted to the banks; he was jailed, all sorts of terrible things happened to him. The cause of his problem was not mainly because of his indebtedness to the banks, but because he didn’t live right with his biological mother.
In 1996, I had some financial hiccups. My secretary in the office brought a prophet from Shomolu to come and help me with prayers. When he came in, I gave him a malt drink. He had not prayed for a minute when he told me to go and press my wife’s stomach. Immediately he said that I knew where he was going; I grew up in a society where that kind of thing should not be new to me. So, I told him we had our last baby in 1989 and that my wife was not pregnant. He then laughed scornfully and said I didn’t understand. He then said the problem I had was caused by my wife.
Right in the presence of my secretary, I flared up and asked him to take the drink I bought for him and leave, or else, I would throw him out of my office. I told him ‘That is how you people scatter people’s homes, which wife? The wife that I married when I had nothing! Is it now that I have already built houses, lived in a duplex, and I am riding a Mercedes Benz you’re telling me that my wife was responsible for my little setback financially?’
A prophet in our church once told an elder that his wife was behind his problem; that he saw a snake coming out of his wife’s mouth. The elder, who then had a similar financial problem as mine, took a gun and drove away his wife after four children. Today, his life has become miserable. If I had followed what the prophet that came to my office said and I descended on my wife falsely, do you think God would support me?
The church is the solution to the problem of this world, no matter where you go. Because the Bible says, ‘We are the light of the world.’ And as the light of the world, we have to keep shining; it’s because we’re not shining that is why things are not working well.
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