Singer, actor, and politician Olubankole Wellington, popularly known as Banky W, has urged restraint in criticising the church, arguing that condemning the entire institution over the actions of a few is unfair and oversimplifies complex realities.
Appearing on the MENtality podcast hosted by Ebuka Obi-Uchendu in an episode released on YouTube, the music executive and pastor acknowledged valid concerns about corruption and misconduct in some religious settings but cautioned against broad generalisations.
He said: “I think that there are fair allegations in certain regards. I have a problem when we make generalistic statements. And that I think is… We’re speaking generally, which is wrong, but I get you.”
He compared the church to other sectors like education and healthcare, where both exemplary and harmful individuals coexist, noting that people do not reject all doctors because of a few bad ones, nor dismiss all teachers due to isolated abuse.
He stated: “But I think that therein lies the problem, because you don’t say, because there were doctors who were bad or guilty of abuse, then I’m never going to go to a doctor or hospitals are evil or whatever the case may be, right? You have bad teachers and good teachers.
“In the same secondary school, I have teachers that I loved who were instrumental in making me the person I became. I had teachers who were abusive.
“Everybody has that story. In the same families, there’s always, you know, one or two people that have great touch. So I don’t think that it’s fair when we make generalistic statements and say, because I’ve seen evidence of this here, then everybody is guilty of this thing”.
On the contentious issue of prosperity preaching, Banky W rejected both the prosperity gospel and the poverty gospel as distortions of biblical truth.
“The prosperity gospel is false, is corrupted. The poverty gospel is also false and corrupted.That the idea that, oh, you are just meant to be poor, wait until you die and just submit to everything and just wait.
Yes, that’s also false. What the gospel really says is that God will provide all of your needs. God will bless you enough for you to be a blessing,” he added.
He described the true Christian message as one of divine provision, God meeting needs so believers can bless others not a promise of extreme wealth or mandated suffering.
He said: “That’s the promise.The promise is not we’re all meant to be Dangote and Otedola. And it’s also not that we’re all supposed to sleep under the bridge. It’s a gospel of provision, not prosperity and not poverty”.
While admitting that certain church segments have exploited faith for gain, he stressed that these failures should not erase the positive impact of authentic ministries serving communities quietly and effectively.
He concluded: “Now, there is a segment of the church that has taken that and abused it. And I know, and those allegations are true.
And I don’t like them either. But I also don’t like when we take that, those evidence, the evidence that we do have of corruption and allegation.Just like what you said about the music business.
“Oh, you and your people, all of you are, it’s an unfair statement. And I think that as intellectual, intelligent, eloquent people, we have to be reasonable enough to say that within this field, there are some really good things and there are some bad things, regardless of your belief system. I think that’s only fair. And that’s my pushback.”
