Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed how God made him build a
church during his incarceration at Yola Prison and later won the souls
of several inmates including a notorious robber/murderer who later
became a pastor with Baptist church.
Speaking at the Shepherdhill
Baptist Church in Lagos, last Sunday, during a Thanksgiving Service to
mark his 80th birthday, Obasanjo called on Nigerians to work for God no
matter the circumstances they find themselves.
“One, God made me
to build a church,” Mr. Obasanjo said. “It’s very unusual, I asked the
authorities for land, they were reluctant, but eventually they gave me
land and immediately we started getting donations.
“It was started before I left Yola. Wherever you are, you can still be useful to the work of God.”
Obasanjo said he also got approval from prison authorities to farm
while in detention and he cultivated “enough beans to feed all the
inmates and warders.”
When he was transferred to the Kirikiri
Prison in Lagos, Mr. Obasanjo said he became the prison pastor and won
several souls for God.
"There was a boy whom they had introduced to me, his nickname was Baba Ali,” the former president said.
“Baba Ali was the head of the armed robbers in the North. And if you
were an armed robber and you came to prison, you must first of all go
and pay homage to him. If you were going out, you must go to him and ask
for instruction on what to do next.
“So I called Baba Ali one
day and said, ‘You are not coming to fellowship, I want you to be coming
to the fellowship.’ And he said, ‘Baba, don’t worry me, don’t worry me
at all because God can never forgive me. I have killed so many people in
my life, I have drunk the blood of so many people, I have eaten the
flesh of so many people and God will never forgive me, so don’t waste
your time about me.'”
Mr. Obasanjo said he left Baba Ali for a while, and then returned later to continue his evangelism.
“I went back and said, ‘Baba Ali, you know all you said that you are a
murderer, whether you killed only one person or a thousand people, you
are a murderer; but you have forgotten that Moses was a murderer but God
used him to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?
“David was a
murderer but God called him a man after my heart. By the time I was
leaving the prison, I told Baba Ali that if he was able to make it and
he would like to go to Bible school, I would send him to Bible school.”
Baba Ali was released from prison two years after Mr. Obasanjo, the
former president said, by which time he had been elected Nigeria’s
president.
“It took him two years to get through to me, when he
got to me, I reminded him of our agreement and he said he was ready to
go to the Bible school.
“So I sent him to the seminary, Baba Ali
spent two years in the seminary. Today, he is a pastor of a Baptist
Church. What is more? Baba Ali’s junior brother took after him and has
also become a pastor".
Travels
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Featured post
Money found in Okezie territory in abia state
Breaking News: Efcc Discovered 800 Million Dollars Cash Stack At The Home Of Former Abia State Govern Okezie Ikpeazu Some EFCC officials ...
-
The Cross River State Governor, Prof Ben Ayade, has ordered the arrest of illegal tax collectors in the state. He gave the order on Sunda...
-
BREAKING: Peter Obi Parts Ways With Labour Party Amidst Corruption Scandal, Set To Unveil New Political Party Sources close to the situati...
-
The Federal Government of Nigeria might impose ‘isolated lockdowns’ in troubled parts of the country as confirmed COVID-19 cases hit 5,6...
No comments:
Post a Comment