(Part 1/2) On the last day of my National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) camp, my mum called me around 3am and asked me to take a cab and come straight to her office. She asked me not to go home, that it wasn’t safe at home and she had left the house. I asked her what happened but she refused to tell me. When I got to my mum’s office (she had her own business and her office was quite big), she told me that was going to be our new home for now. She said we couldn’t go home, that she doesn’t care what anyone says, but she’s walking out of her marriage. My stepdad (who was a pastor) had tried to beat her again, and in the previous beatings she had suffered some concussion and headaches. So she took a handful of clothes with her and all I had was my NYSC uniform. My boyfriend at the time, (now my husband) had to shop for me. We tried going to the house to get a few things, but my stepdad didn’t let us in. He said since my mum ran away, we could never come into the house. That's how my mum and I lived in her office for 4 months. 

None of her staff knew we were sleeping there. We would take turns to sleep on the couch. Some days I would sleep on the floor while she slept on the couch and vice-versa. I would go to my boyfriend’s house to cook a lot of food, and store it in the office fridge. We would use the microwave to warm the food. I had never seen my mum so low. But she just made up her mind that she was done. Her friends left her, people said all sorts, people mocked and laughed at us. But I stood by her. 

There was a day my stepdad came to beg her in the office and my mum told me to hide in the store. He kept saying to my mum, “Your daughter doesn’t want you to be happy, forget about her, she’s the one bringing bad luck and making us fight all time.” He told her that she should be happy he wants her back only on the condition that I don't live with them. My mum refused and that was how it ended. My uncles came, the families met and the marriage was dissolved. My mum that was once a shadow of herself started coming back. She regained her health and we started living our lives.

(Part 2/2) I came to church on a Sunday and there was a guest from Kenya ministering. Before he could say anything, he just stopped for a while and started sniffing as if he was smelling something. The next thing he said was, “I smell masturbation.” I froze where I was. I was ushering at the time. He then said “If you masturbate here, the Lord wants to deliver you. Come out.” Right there the Holy Spirit told me, "This is deliverance for you." I didn’t want to go out because I was ushering and had the badge on. God told me again, “This is deliverance for you. I sent this man for this reason.” People started coming out. I also went and joined them in front, but I went with the pretext that I was going to catch people when they fall as an usher. But in my mind I knew that I was going for myself. He prayed for us and we left. I still continued to masturbate. 

I said, “Lord, you have sent him and he has prayed for us, but I still have this issue.” God told me He had broken the spiritual hold masturbation had on me. He began to teach me how to overcome it. I began to devour the Bible. I listened to messages. I threw away all my porn magazines. I had to do away with so many things, even movies. There were times I fell and would feel guilty and bad. God told me, “It’s like a baby trying to learn how to walk. The more the baby tries to walk, it falls. Do you get surprised if the baby falls? No, but you keep encouraging the baby to walk, until it gets better at it and starts walking freely without any support. That’s the way you are. You will fall but you will get up.” I was encouraged. I had to take it a day at a time. 

A whole year passed and I hadn’t masturbated. I was really excited and said I’d been delivered. But God told me I had been delivered a long time ago and I was just going through the process. I felt free and a new paradigm of my life opened.

PS: If you're currently struggling with masturbation, you may find this workshop useful to you: www.lifepointeng.org/addiction.

(Part 1/2) My father was a military man, so he wasn’t always around. My mum tried, but she wasn’t always around too. Growing up, we had quite a number of house maids. I got abused by a maid when I was 5 years old. She would use me to do certain things to herself and this went on for a while. This opened a door that was new to me. 

Growing up, I just wanted to explore more and I got into other sexual escapades. There were times I would have sex with the maid and no one knew. I gave my life to Christ in 1996, but out of fear, because I got into trouble as a young boy. I was a fugitive because some guys were looking for and threatening me. My dad told me if I didn’t give my life to Christ, I wouldn’t stay in his house. I was the black sheep. I made a vow to God and told him if he would fix the trouble I’d gotten into, I would completely follow Him. God did it and the whole situation was solved. 

I got more serious with God, but I still had issues with sex. I was sleeping around and was an usher in church. One day, I was in church and Pastor said, “You’re standing here ushering and that girl is there and you’ll be going back to mess around with her.” It was as if I got a supernatural slap. I literally saw stars as if someone slapped me back to my senses. "What am I doing with my life? Why am I playing church. Why am I being religious?" I went back to end things with the girl (our fine maid) that I was sleeping with. But a residue was still left - masturbation. I couldn’t stop doing it and it was a major challenge. I wasn’t moving forward because it was taking a lot of my intellectual energy. My creativity was dull. I looked for where to get help.

(Part 2/2) In 2011, I started receiving several calls from my mum complaining about how her mum and step siblings were still tormenting her. I then made up my mind to be an adult. I know you're wondering why she couldn’t send them away. It's deeper than you think. 

I went to Lagos, got some soldiers and did the needful. They hated me more, but I cared less. My mum’s health was my major priority because by this time, her mental state of health was a mess. She was shuttling between the military hospital and the psychiatric hospital at Yaba. I remember going to several big churches in Lagos to see the pastors but due to protocol I wasn’t allowed to see any of them. On one of my visits to a church, I met a brother in the pastor’s protocol who taught me a bit on faith. He advised me to join my faith with my sisters and read scriptures to my mum. I had to do as he said, because my sisters were in school so I was the only one with my mom in the hospital at that period. Every day I would cry and ask God questions. 

That year, I finally moved to Abuja. My first year in Abuja was so stormy. Staying in Abuja as a single helpless lady was challenging, but it got easier and better. God started helping me and I have always loved working. It’s now been nine years since I've been working. I have a company now and my mum and sisters are doing well. I look at myself in the mirror and there is no trace that I have been through hell.

(Part 1/2) The year, 2006 was a significant one. I was 18 years old and had just finished my diploma. I was so excited to go home for my IT. I got home and was told that my mum had been physically & mentally abused by her mom & step siblings and it had affected her mental health. She'd been in hospital for weeks. I remember praying, crying and drinking garri everyday with my siblings. There was no father, uncle or aunt to support us. 

Weeks later, she got a bit better, but her mom and step siblings came back, even after they had been sent packing by my mum’s boss. They made the house hell on earth. They would abuse us, fight themselves and torment me. I really had no idea why they hated me so much and made my life miserable. We were told by the doctor not to bother my mum for money, so we had to manage. I was lucky to have started my IT in a bank, so I earned some money. 

Months after my IT, I got retained in the bank as a contract staff. I was so happy because the only place I found peace was in the office. My mum got posted to Lagos and I refused to go with her due to the fact that my grandma and extended relatives were going to stay with her too. I was just sick and tired of their many troubles, plus I was enjoying my work at the time. I had to rent a place to stay on my own since I was not moving to Lagos with them. At that point, the hustle started for me. 

I was 19 years old and still naïve but was so much into my work. Three years later, my uncle, aunt and mum came to disturb me at my office. They had manipulated my mum into taking me to Lagos by force. I refused on several occasions to go with them. Eventually, they told my boss some lies and I had to resign but I still refused to follow them. That year I became jobless & helpless and on two occasions almost committed suicide because I just got tired of life.

(Parts 2/2) I started having meetings with others on my newly formed "religion" in my room. Our meetings were question and answer sessions. Our motto was, "In the absence of that which is not, that which is, is not." 

We had plans to become so influential in society and in every sector, we would have a representative that would take over the country. We were going to change the direction of the nation. Years later, I found out that was how "Skull and Bones" started (a secret society which began at Yale University in 1832). My members would ask me if fornication, murder etc. were good and I would tell them, “Good is a perspective, evil is a perspective, nothing is good or bad, thinking makes it so.” 

I started believing my lies. Initially, I knew I was lying. I thought I was playing and just having fun with philosophy. I believed I was just enjoying psychology, parapsychology and hypnotism. I also went into martial arts and spiritual exercises and got in touch with the chakras. I had about 20 followers and they used to call me master. I remember times in my room, I would light candles on the floor and start meditating and uttering some words. I would interact with spirits. I also remember floating a couple of times. 

This continued until one day when I was going to a class in the faculty of science. I met a friend from church on my way. When he saw me, he was happy to see me because I hadn’t been to church in a year. We hugged and honestly that was the end of Ehism. It was that simple and till today I can’t even explain it. It was like something was lifted off me. I went for the class and after that, everything disappeared – my interest in Ehism, philosophy, absolutely everything. I went to church the following day and rededicated my life to God. My friend was the first person I confessed to, and I told him the day he hugged me something left me. 

Ehism lasted for about a year. My members noticed I wasn’t holding meetings anymore and some started threatening me. This went on for a while till everyone parted ways.

(Part 1/2) I was in year one at UNILAG with exams coming up. I was reading at the education faculty with some of my classmates at about 1am and there was a lady evangelising. (Before that period, I had stopped going to church and was using school as an excuse.) The lady came up to me and said that what she had to tell me was more important than my exams. I asked her how she verified the authenticity of the Bible and she said, "All scripture is written by the inspiration of God." 

Prior to that time, I had already started writing my own Bible. It didn’t have a name, but it was something different. I didn’t know where the inspiration came from. I had gone into a lot of astrology, palmistry, metaphysics and the like. I would wake up at night and just start writing. So back to the lady. We had a long conversation and I was able to confuse her and convert her to a religion I formed right there on the spot called, "Ehism". She asked me, “Who are you?” I said, “I am who I am.” She asked if I was a philosopher, a Muslim, Buddhist or Atheist and I said no. From nowhere I just said, “I’m a disciple of the discipline of Ehism." I told her Ehisim is a way of life that shows you god for who god is by yourself, not by some written words of man. ("Ehisim" was gotten from one of my middle names, "EbenEHIta"). I said, “I know you are Angel (that’s her name)." Familiar spirits had started working. She was surprised I knew her name. 

And that’s how it all started - my new religion. I was able to convert her and some people that night. I could talk to anyone convincingly and tell them about themselves. What to say would always come. I was twisting God's word and perverting it.