Category: Worship

Renowned gospel musician, Evangelist FunmiAragbaiye, spoke with Tosin Adesile on her career and sudden disappearance from the industry, among other issues. Excerpts: 

You disappeared from the music industry for a long time and returned. What went wrong then?

It is not really like anything went wrong but I can call it answered prayer. It is like when you pray for divine connection, contact, promotion and God suddenly decided to take you to places. Though I have always been travelling abroad but it’s like the job is taking a wider scope. So, that’s why for some time I have not been available to wax record or album as I used to do in the past.

But I’ll say it’s not only peculiar to FunmiAragbaye but the other artistes because the music industry is no longer what it used to be. You want an artiste to release an album, give it to a distributor at N40 or N50 when it’s being sold at N150.

So, the sudden disappearance was because I travel abroad a lot more than ever before. My job entails ministering in churches and secondly because of the problems in the entertainment industry.

What are the problems?

Like you do a production and you have to give it cheap to distributor for N50 and we all know the production cost of a CD is close to N100 or above. It’s like what you are investing in the production, you’re not getting it back. It’s difficult and you still have to do promotion and mass dubbing.

And mass dubbing sounds cost N 23 or N25. So to record an audio, you may have to spend N1.5million and to record a standard video in this country, you need more than N2 million. That is aside costume and other logistics and you want to sell it at N50. In how many years do you want to recover your production costs aside the problem of having a good marketer and the likes? I have fallen victim into the hand of some marketers that have absconded with my productions.

One of them collected the master tape of a song from me about nine years ago. He released the music into the market and sold. The master tape and royalty, I have not seen. I’ve reported him to all label owners and he has been summoned. He confirmed what happened and promises to return my master tape and royalty. Up till today, he’s nowhere to be found.

Why does making profit bother you considering this is the work of God?

I’m not talking about profit. Take all the shows I have done in the last 25years, I have never told any church whenever they engaged me to bring a dime. But my master tapes have been with one or two marketers and this has discouraged me a lot.

How did you find music or how did music find you?

The whole thing started in Ilorin in the early 70s. I was then living beside the ECWA Church in Ilorin where you have this Igbajapeople. If you’re used to Igbaja songs, you’ll know what I’m talking about. They used to have sonorous voices. That is where I started from.

There I started writing and composing songs. There, I started getting songs from my dreams. I’ll just wake up and be singing a particular song. God will then ask one to write it down and do a research in the Bible because my lyrics are taken from the Bible.

I remember the song that brought me to limelight, which is “Sioni o, Ilu ayo”, I got it from my dream and likewise all my lyrics. The “Mogbope Olorun”, I got the inspiration along Lagos/Ibadan expressway. When I was recording ”OlorunIgbala” in Lagos, I just slept off and got the song inspiration and many others.

At a particular time, your songs were the raves at birthday party, wedding etc. When you disappeared, lot of unedifying songs came. Does this make you feel guilty?

It’s because of the society we are in right away. Other artistes are springing up everywhere because of economic problems in the country. Everybody is now singing commercial music. There are calls and there are calls but there are some people that called themselves. So it’s like those who called themselves that have dominated the scene.

Why are many gospel artistes not doing well today?

The Bible makes it very clear that ‘by their fruit, you shall know them’. Whoever comes in and leaves the stage just like me must have had one problem or the other. It might be because some are not fully prepared for the work and that has to do with divine call we are talking about. You know God is a merciful God, he allows you to do whatever you like but when He is ready to strike, we’ll start to shout.

Aside from singing, what else do you do?

The work of an evangelist like me is to evangelise through songs. It’s not about singing alone, you still have to minister in church through songs and in word. So, it takes you to places. It is an enormous task. As a matter of fact, combining church business with any other work can be very difficult.

So, I minister everywhere all over in songs. So, that job alone is tasking and enormous for anybody that is divinely called to keep busy for the rest of his life. So I don’t have any job that I’m doing again. I started singing at live shows in 1989 when they were booking us for N600. People virtually drew me into it by force. When God said He’ll take me through the world, I didn’t know. From there people started inviting me for their wedding and birthday ceremonies.

Most of your earliest songs had messages for Nigeria, showing your passion for this country. How do you feel these days about Nigeria?

The more I travel, the more I pity my country. God does not make mistake. Nigeria is our Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, when I started, that was the message God gave me to preach the gospel of Christ. If you have listened to my song critically, I usually have different messages. I was caught up in the studio when June 12 crises started. The Lord said I should preach to them with Psalm 53.

I sang the song over 20 years ago and all these songs have won one award or the other. This was at a time when other artistes were are willing to play free of charge. I didn’t sing to suit the people there despite the fact that shakers of the society were there. In Nigeria, God’s message for us is to continue to be hopeful. When I see the way people scramble for visa, I feel sad.

During the Abacha regime, everyone was praying and God solved the problem. Now, we are relaxed again. People should continue to pray. Particularly what God is saying is that most of the problems we have today are man-made but His judgment will come upon people who are ruling us badly.

People at the helms of affairs are in Abuja. They are not plying bad roads. It is the masses that are at the receiving end. They only white -wash the roads the President wants to ply. I want to tell our politicians that government needs to work out low profile tenure.

Before I retired from the Ministry of Works and Transport in Ibadan, I Km road cost N8-10million and you even dualise it with at least a bridge. Now, we hear billions when they award such roads too.

The Senior Pastor of Arrow Seed Ministries International Lagos, Pastor Mike Nwimoh, has reiterated the needs for Christians to close ranks and promote ecumenical efforts.

Church leaders, he added, must be ready to sacrifice personal agenda and work together for the expansion of God’s kingdom.

He pointed out that denominationalism and protection of territorial boundaries will not take the body of Christ to higher places in the nation.

Nwimoh spoke last week in his office following the inauguration of the church.

He said: “We need to come together. Most of the strategies we have been using have failed. Whatever cannot conquer the church should not conquer an individual church or a member of the church. ”

The former resident pastor of Word Base Assembly Lagos canvassed for apostolic love among believers to conquer new territories.

According to him: “We need love more than anything else. All our territorial preservation instincts should give way. We must embrace one another as a community of believers that is indivisible”.

He stated that the church, which started recently, is mandated to raise “New Testament Apostolic Cultured-churches.”

This, he explained, means “churches where there is love and what cannot conquer all of us should not conquer any of us. We do everything we can to show love.”

On starting from the scratch despite being in a well-established church before, Nwimoh said: “I am not afraid to start small.”

He explained great men must learn to take giant strides and start a big vision with whatever they have at hand.

He assured the new assembly will conquer territories because “This is a place we allow people to give expression to whatever vision God has placed in people’s hearts.

“We want to fight together, overcome together and reign with God together.

“I see the expansion and extension of the church in the next 10 years. We’d be producing a community of believers who love one another just as they love God.”

The Senior Pastor of Arrow Seed Ministries International Lagos, Pastor Mike Nwimoh, has reiterated the needs for Christians to close ranks and promote ecumenical efforts.

Church leaders, he added, must be ready to sacrifice personal agenda and work together for the expansion of God’s kingdom.

He pointed out that denominationalism and protection of territorial boundaries will not take the body of Christ to higher places in the nation.

Nwimoh spoke last week in his office following the inauguration of the church.

He said: “We need to come together. Most of the strategies we have been using have failed. Whatever cannot conquer the church should not conquer an individual church or a member of the church. ”

The former resident pastor of Word Base Assembly Lagos canvassed for apostolic love among believers to conquer new territories.

According to him: “We need love more than anything else. All our territorial preservation instincts should give way. We must embrace one another as a community of believers that is indivisible”.

He stated that the church, which started recently, is mandated to raise “New Testament Apostolic Cultured-churches.”

This, he explained, means “churches where there is love and what cannot conquer all of us should not conquer any of us. We do everything we can to show love.”

On starting from the scratch despite being in a well-established church before, Nwimoh said: “I am not afraid to start small.”

He explained great men must learn to take giant strides and start a big vision with whatever they have at hand.

He assured the new assembly will conquer territories because “This is a place we allow people to give expression to whatever vision God has placed in people’s hearts.

“We want to fight together, overcome together and reign with God together.

“I see the expansion and extension of the church in the next 10 years. We’d be producing a community of believers who love one another just as they love God.”

The urgent needs to tackle the nagging security challenges facing the nation were at the front burner last Thursday at the 14th annual Mike Okonkwo lecture.

The lecture delivered by renowned economist, Dr Kalu Idika Kalu, was in celebration of the 68th birthday of Okonkwo, the Presiding Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM).

Kalu, who spoke on Overcoming the Nigerian security challenges: A panacea for national growth, identified bad governance, absence of adequate judicial system, culture of impunity and inequities as the basis for the restiveness across the nation.

He said security was beyond keeping large armed forces but attending to socio-economic issues that degenerate to violent reactions.

The former Minister of Finance said the nation cannot develop without security or attract foreign and local investors as long as lives are not saved.

To arrest insurgencies, he said government must create a level playing field for all Nigerians and embrace meritocracy while guaranteeing justice and fairness.

The highpoint of the celebration was the presentation of prizes to winners of the national essay competition.

Folatomi Alli-Balogun of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls, Lagos emerged winner and went home with a cash prize of N100,000, a personal laptop, a trophy and three internet-ready desktop computers for her school.

Mark Nwanbiankea of Lagos State Senior Model College, Badore came second and was rewarded with a cash gift of N75, 000, a laptop and two internet-ready desktop computers for his school.

For emerging third, Samuel Effion Edet of Government Technical College, Calabar bagged a cash gift of N50, 000 and an internet-ready desktop computer for the school.

Okonkwo said the competition was his little contribution to the emergence of a new Nigeria.

He said attention has to shift to the younger generation to save the nation, saying the level of decadence was appalling and overwhelming.

The celebrator called on well-meaning Nigerians to join hands in whatever capacity to save the nation from total collapse.

I lost everything when I went into practice; I became so poor to come out. But I was not ashamed of the gospel for the purpose must be fulfilled.”

Those were the words of the new president of The Christian Science Church, Bosede Bakarey, at a reception in her honour in Lagos.

Bakarey was appointed president by the Board of Directors of the church at its headquarters in Boston, United States.

The board oversees the church business. Bakarey is the first African to hold the post.

The reception was convivial with much joy and excitement.

There were soul-lifting songs and speeches from selected members.

Most of the speeches were an outpouring of encomiums on the good works and legacies of the new president.

Many attested to her articulate mind, humility and commitment to the work of faith.

Her membership of the church began when she borrowed a copy of the denomination’s textbooks, Science and Health with key to the scriptures written by Mary Baker Eddy from her boss.

Strict adherence to its teachings healed her of a ‘terrible migraine’, which encouraged her to dig deeper.

According to her: “I could not look back. I was willing to give (the book) to anyone who would take it.”

She took instructions in Christian Science in London and soon became a practitioner.

Bakarey gives talks on Christian Science throughout Africa and the United States, describing it as an understanding of the activities and practice of Christianity.

On her advice to members and Christians at large, she said: “If you feel you are called, please answer. You have decided to travel on the road less travelled”.

Such people, she assured, are never put to shame.

The Senior Pastor of Living Waters Unlimited Church Lagos, Rev. Ladi Thompson spoke with Sunday Oguntola on how age-long devious social engineering has kept African nations from developing. Exceprts:

You were in Rwanda recently. What did you come away with?

My first time in the country was in 2006 for a series of meetings that gave me little time for meditations and prayers. But this time around, I was taken to Rwanda by God to confirm something that is of paramount interest to Nigeria.

I got in Rwanda the total confirmation of the revelation God has been showing me, which I like to call the devil’s arithmetic. In Rwanda, you will see the whole of Africa. And you will see Nigeria in Rwanda and vice versa. It’s a common experience that we have all had. It is very sublime because of its spiritual roots.

Rwanda is a beautiful country with several mountains and hills. As I begin to show you Rwanda, you will see Nigeria. In 1923, Rwanda was taken over by Belgian forces with the indirect rule in place. It became a colonial occupation till independence in 1962. You will observe all African countries were colonised, except Ethiopia.

There were 18 different clans, not even tribes when the oppressors arrived. They were all speaking the same language. There was nothing like Tutsi, Twa or Hutu. I realised a Tutsi was just a rich man. If he loses his money, he becomes a Hutu. This was just a socio-economic classification.

So, what is this devil’s arithmetic all about?

I will show you several devious social engineering gimmicks the devil instituted to keep Africa down. There is always a process that anybody already subjected to it cannot achieve a stable society or become creative, imaginative or productive.

What we call the devil’s arithmetic was first played out in Egypt.. God told Abraham his people shall be in slavery in a foreign country. This was 1,600 years before it happened. It was a whole process with elements that were used in Nazi Germany. In the slave trade era, the same processes were used. It was the same in apartheid South Africa.

That process is a self-replicating system of crushing the human spirit, breaking the soul and yoking bodies of human beings. It is so sublime, crafty and devilish. It is targeted at dehumanising people and turning them to sub-humans with a slave mentality.

Taubman Goldie was the father of Nigeria. He sold more than three-quarters of what is Nigeria today to the British authorities. He was an adventurer. You will never get to hear about him because all the papers, notes and documents he used to build the foundation of Nigeria were gathered and burnt before he died.

The details of the devil’s arithmetic were in those documents. He gathered his children and placed them on a curse that they must never reproduce any of those documents. If there is any nation that should have succeeded, it should have been Nigeria. Despite all we have, Nigeria is still a monumental failure. The root of that failure is what we call the devil’s arithmetic.

How does it play out here?

You will never find details of how this system works anywhere but I will use one of the very few documents in existence to prove that. Only a document written in 1712 will give you a little idea. It was written by Willie Lynch. He was a slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to Virginia because Africans there kept resisting slavery, insisting they were no less human being.

They were killing them but Lynch said that was an economic waste. He said ‘I’m going to show up a methodology now. If you apply it to the letter, I guarantee you for the next 300 years, they will remain in slavery’.

He said the first thing is to calm down and study the African slaves. According to him: “Since you want to use them to build your economy, you must study every detail about them: their skin colour, nose shape, texture, complexion and everything.”

He continued: “Note all their differences and use fear to subjugate them because it is a better weapon than love. You don’t need them to love but fear you.” He taught that they must look for the most troublesome among them. Pack them together and make a horse tear them apart in the presence of their slaves.

You know that the family is the unit of socialisation and development. You destroy it by humiliating and killing the head before his wife and children. The women will know there is no hope of liberation by looking up to men. They will discourage their children from following such stubborn route.

He added that they must never be allowed to live together. Women must live apart from the men, except for the purpose of mating. That turns them more or less to animals. When the women are broken, they become docile and loyal. They are also to go through breeding like animals and left to bring up their children alone.

Women then become the most-prized assets in the development of zombies and morons. By 14, the sons are ready for labour and will serve till they die. Also, they are to control their population to a manageable size. The next step is to create confusion among them. You breed white with blacks to have many colour banks that never existed before. That will enable the owners to create divisions among them based on colour.

The fourth step is to eliminate their languages and create new languages like Swahili and others. They must never know the language of their masters and be made to consider all that has to do with their past as bad. The fifth is to set up psychological and physical barriers. That is where apartheid came from. The blacks live apart from the whites. It was the same in Egypt and Nazi Germany.

How are we suffering from this now?

The manifestation is that there is no creativity among Africans. Those created in God’s image must be creators, but how many things have we created? In Africa, we do things the way we have met them. The same way we have been planting yams is the same way we still do. It is a programming of the devil’s arithmetic. The thought that we can produce cars is not among Africans. It has been engineered out of us.

The system is so entrenched that even when God took the Israelites out of Egypt, they wanted to go back. Only two of them escaped the mentality. In Rwanda, they created tribes when there was none. They started favouring the Tutsi engineered to be like them above the Hutu. They set them against one another. By 1994, the result of the seed that was sown since 1875 became manifest. There was genocide. It was basically an organised crime, not spontaneous or based on tribalism.

What about Nigeria?

Rwanda is a full-blown case of the devil’s arithmetic. In Nigeria, it is still playing out at 75 percent. How many of us are into poetry or elevated thinking? We don’t appreciate the fine things of life. Some years ago, a whale was discovered at the Lagos Bar Beach. If it had happened elsewhere, they would have been thrilled and started an inquiry. But what did our people do? They descended upon it with machete for eating. It is always about eating with us.

The ability not to be able to govern yourselves is another offshoot. Once you have suffered from the devil’s arithmetic, it is so difficult to get away. There are many Nigerians today who wish the British had not left. All these are symptoms of the devil’s arithmetic. It is a permanent damage to our psyche. If you see animalistic behaviour all over the country, it is the devil’s arithmetic at work.

How do we break away from this arithmetic then?

One, you will realise that when God wanted to deliver Israel, He allowed Moses to be bought up in Pharaoh’s palace. He would have been smitten by the system. Therein lies our hope. We have many Nigerians in the Diaspora brought up under different systems. They have seen what it is to be creative and operate at full human strengths.

We need them to return here and replicate all that they have learnt. We need a policy to bring them back to show us how we should operate. The church has to encourage it. Many of us claim to be saved but still operate in Egypt. You still see your parents or relations as being the cause of your backwardness. We dress like Europeans and discourage local artifacts. We must pull down strongholds using the instrument of truth.