(Part 1/2) I'm an actor and a voluntary teacher. I also keep people healthy. Let me tell you my story.

 

In 2001, I was part of a child to child network in secondary school. We contributed our pocket monies to make sure students in public schools had enough school materials. So, I would say my giving spirit started then.

 

In the university, I joined the Orphanage Support Team of Covenant University's Project One Million Souls started by Reginald Bassey. We visited and worked with Orphanages in Lagos State (and around Ogun State). The philanthropist in me matured.

 

In 2009, I joined Hauwa Abass Hadejia of Silver Lining for the Needy Initiative (SLNI) to refurbish an orphanage in Maitama, Abuja. We got funds for a bus to take kids to school. 

I simply continued along the line of philanthropy and in 2011, I registered ADANSONIA Foundation for arts, education, agriculture and peace keeping in Nigeria, to focus on sustainable development. 

 

In the midst of all these initiatives, I made mistakes. In 2008, I went for NYSC. From that point until 2011, my life revolved around PLAY Lounge in Abuja. I would go for Lapooza Night on Wednesday, then on Thursday, I would go for BYOB while Friday was the normal Club Night. On Saturday, I would also go to the club. I never went to church on Sundays. I didn't care about church. I was like, "Yeah, God created me but what does he want from me again?" So, I was just living my life. Sometimes, I would even go to the club on Sunday for Tequila Night and stay there until 12 midnight then go to work on Monday morning. I was just 19 at the time. 

 

All the same, because I had learnt how to live the giving life and it was an innate part of me, I had some seed of Jesus in me that was just not very clear. 

 

(Part 2/2) In 2011, I had an encounter after I went to the club. My friends and I had a road accident but I came out unscathed. God kept me but I took it for granted. Then the next day which was a Saturday, I had another accident and this time, it was inside my house. I fell in the bathroom and hit my head. Before then, Akah Nnani kept inviting me to his church, but I never agreed to go; I wasn't interested. After my accident in the bathroom, I called up Akah and asked him about church. 

 

I went for the service and the Pastor talked as if he was reading my life as a script. That was how I joined the church and the choir. I started allowing God to run my life. Prior to that, I had been changing jobs - 3 months, 2 months and I'm out. I would sit at home feeding on the past salary that I had. I wasn't stable at all.

 

In 2014, I just handed everything over to God and told him he should handle everything, because I didn't know what to do. In 2013, I was working with a consulting firm, and in the same year I started the 'Read to Succeed Project' which I franchised in 2015 under the umbrella of ADANSONIA Foundation in Lagos. Read to Succeed kept me going because it was a CSR project and I believed that God was in full support. 

 

I came to Lagos in 2014 to study acting at Royal Arts Academy and for 2 years I didn't get a job. I got my first proper job on TV in December 2016. Previously, I had lived my life how I wanted it and when I allowed Jesus to take over, he gave me my first major job.

 

I applied to join the Global Shapers Community of the World Economic Forum, and in 2016 I became a World Economic Forum Global Shaper. My voice is about to be heard by World Leaders just as promised in Proverbs 22:29. Through 'Read To Succeed' and other projects that are coming up, I'm sure Nigeria will be a better place. My aim is to make sure that I train futute leaders to be leaders who will then train other future leaders for a better Nigeria.

I'm the last of three children. I didn't grow up in a conventional setting where the sibling before you is maybe 2 or 3 years older. Our 2nd born is 16 years older than I am and the first born is 18 years older, so quite frankly when I was born they were all grown up. I had no one to relate to.

I was told by my mum that she had always been expecting a 3rd child even when everybody didn't believe so. My father never really had a connection with me, I think maybe because out of 3, I was this last unexpected child that happened, so I had issues with him. He loved the others even though I was told I'm the one that's most like him.

At about 7 years old, I started living an independent life. I wasn't getting attention, even though my mum was there for me. I started doing so many things at a young age; drinking, smoking, and all sorts of inappropriate things.

I always felt like one "bad guy". If God was going to use anybody, it wasn’t going to be someone like me but I met with God in an unconventional way. It made me realise that regardless of how many years you may think you have wasted, when God is ready for you, he is ready for you. There is nothing too hard for him to do.

I mean right now, God worked things out so much that if my dad doesn't speak with me in a day, he'll feel like something is missing. Everything is now falling in pleasant places for me just because of one thing; I now serve God. There's nothing else that is as rewarding as working for God. I mean you might not be where you think you want to be but it's all a plan. See, this whole life is a script. You are just an actor and someone is directing everything. Every move you make is a script written by God and he's not the kind of God that would forget your labour of love, if you work diligently in his presence.

I'm 22 years old, but I've seen so many things in life to make me trust in God because there’s nothing I can do without him.

August 2010 was a tragic month and year in my life. I was still in secondary school at the time. It was our holiday period and I was attending summer lessons. 

I was a member of the Nigeria Girl Guides Association NGGA and I was the president in my school. We were about to go for summer camp so we were asked to come for a meeting. I told my mum about the meeting but said I wasn't going to attend, so she told her driver to go home.

That day, the weather was very bad because it was raining. At about 3:30 or 4 pm a friend of mine called to tell me the meeting had started and all my friends were around. I got excited and decided to go for the meeting. My mum came back home and told me not to go for the meeting that no one would drop me, but I insisted. She warned me not to leave the house but as stubborn as I was, I snuck out of the house when she was upstairs.

I saw a bike (okada) and boarded it. The bike man was speeding but I did not tell him to stop because I wanted to meet my friends. The rain was falling heavily. The bike man did not see a moving trailer coming towards us. We ran into the trailer and there I was half dead.

I woke up eventually and was told I had been in a coma for close to three days but God saved me. He kept me and sent me back to this world. He made sure I lived even though I went through a lot. I was blind for months. Finally, one eye opened after 3 months. I lost my upper gum and 14 of my teeth. My nose was damaged. In fact, my face was disfigured but God held me close so I wouldn't let go. His mercies kept me alive.

I did a lot of face surgeries. I still feel the pain and wear artificial teeth, but that can't be compared to life. I am alive and beautiful and the secondary school girl back then is now a Mass Communication graduate from University of Lagos and the founder of Soft-touch Charity initiative which is up and running.

(Part 1/2) About 5 years ago, I gave my life to Christ. I basically grew up on the streets, in the hood of Bariga, so you can understand what I had been exposed to at that age. I lost my dad at a very young age, so I was taken to live with my uncle. 

I had opportunities to do a lot of bad things, but for some reason God kept me. I was exposed to smoking, drinking and all that but I never tried them out. I remember sharing this with someone and the person said, "Your father's prayers worked", because my dad was an evangelist at MFM. 

I started going to church at some point but I never really found anything in the church fun. For me it was a routine. I had the mindset that you can’t serve God when you're young till when you're all grown up, married and you've enjoyed life to the fullest.

After secondary school I was looking for what to do because there was no one to sponsor my education. So, I started working as a bricklayer to survive, earning 800 Naira per day. After that, I started to teach in schools. I had this mindset that there was more to life, but for me, the idea of more to life was going out to hustle and doing something for yourself. I also worked with a welder on a particular project. I was doing whatever came my way so as not to appear lazy.

I was making some money but it just didn't fill my void. I was empty inside.

I was also a dancer, so I would go for dance rehearsals and meet with my guys to sing once in a while. We would meet and freestyle, doing street stuffs. I was good at what I did. Guys had their eyes on me and I had the opportunity to work for some people. I went on like this until someone told me about Solid Foundation Ministry camp meeting. It’s a teens and youth ministry. 

At the camp, there were about a thousand teens present from all over. Just one day into the camp and I was feeling funny. Like I said earlier, my idea of serving God was something to be done when you are mature, married and old but that camp meeting changed my life. I saw young people on fire for God. 

(Part 2/2) At the camp, there was a particular guy, very young, from South Africa. Whenever it was time for bible study, he was the first to get there, always ready. Almost everyone around me was in that world and I felt left out, but something on the inside of me felt peace, and I knew I needed more of this to fill the void in me. 

I started interacting with some of the guys, asking questions about the Bible and the Christian walk. They put me through, made me see reasons why the best time for me to serve God was now. We had series of bible studies and a lot of other activities and then one of the days at camp, there was an altar call and I gave my life to Christ. I still remember the whole experience. I woke up every day at camp eager to see what would happen next. I really can't find the right words to explain my experience, but it was different.

After camp, I got a new sense of direction. God was leading me and things started coming to me easily. I got to know God better, I got to understand why I needed to study the scriptures, the essence of devotions and fellowship with the Spirit.

My whole life changed. Being someone that had a lot of crazy experiences growing up, it was easy for me to relate with people. I bless people with my music. I sing indigenous rap music. Right now, I have a lot of people from the streets who look up to me. I've learnt that in order to win people, you don't need to look or feel different from them, or look down on them. You need to get close to them. I've been where they are so I understand them. That experience has helped me style my music and reach out to people.

God has been faithful. We've been able to win souls daily. Every opportunity I get to minister to someone, even on the road, I use it. I share my testimony. Even if they don't accept Christ at that moment, I believe that for everyone I talk to, I sow a seed and the Holy Spirit does the rest. 

I'm growing by the day and I now understand that serving God is not by age. It's how much you experience him, and every day is a new experience. It's been an amazing journey. 

I was born catholic. I grew up in a catholic home and went to a catholic school and church. I got baptised and was confirmed but I never understood a word in the Bible. Growing up, it was very difficult to understand the things I read.  

When I was 14, I went to church and fell under the power of the Holy Spirit and started speaking in tongues. 

I began to read the Bible. I received a revelation of God's word and started understanding things about Jesus on my own. This happened quickly. 

After my revelation of the kingdom of God, I decided to share my faith with my friends at the office. Everyone I met, I shared with. The funny thing is they all connected to me. They kept telling me to have a YouTube channel where I could share, but I refused and said I was still in the process of learning. 

I remember preaching at a very small church. We (Timothy Bentum, Pascal Amanfo and I) decided to pray for the congregation one by one. As I laid my hands on people, they fell under the power of the spirit. Then the news came out that Majid is a pastor because they were surprised to see me laying hands on people in church. How does an actor pray for people and then the spirit manifests? So, that's how the news came out. But before this, we had been to Uganda, Cameroon and Kenya to preach the word of God.

Since then, the Lord has been sending us to places to do his work and it's been good. We have surrendered completely to the Spirit of God. We don't go to places with the enticing words of man's wisdom, but rather with demonstrations of the power of God.  

(Part 1/4) It all started at the age of 15. I was living with my aunt. On the 31st of December, some years ago, I was heading to church for the watch night service. There was a carnival happening on the street and before I knew it, I was dragged by someone I didn't know. What I remembered was that I opened my eyes and realised I was in a strange place. I knew that something had been done to me and I was raped. I didn't know the person, I didn't know how, I didn't know when. All I knew was that I was raped. 

I went back home. I couldn't go to church. From that point, my life took a new turn. I entered into depression for a very long time because I wanted to remain a virgin till I got married. I then had my first boyfriend even though I never really wanted to have one. I felt like there was nothing to hide anymore. In fact, I was the one who did the toasting. There was no day I came back from school that we would not have sex. I was in SS1 and this continued for so many years. Most of his friends also had their way with me. A lot of people that I can't even remember took their turn with me because I felt like there was nothing to keep anymore. I let people come in and go freely.

In November 2011, my aunt’s house got burnt and on this particular day, a guy that sells clothes in my church said, "I have some clothes for you. Why don't you come to the house and I'll give them to you?" I followed him. His elder brother was in the house. The guy from church said I should wait for him to get the clothes from the store, so he left the house. The elder brother then stylishly locked the door and threw me on the bed. I screamed and screamed till I lost my strength because he overpowered me and raped me. This was another turning point in my life and I was angry.

I started drinking alcohol. I drank to be free from depression but there was no way out. My teachers in school also had their way with me. Truth is, I wasn't feeling bad about anything I did.

(Part 2/4) I have a friend from church who used to sleep in my house during the weekends. I remember one night, I felt a hand all over me. I opened my eyes and saw that she was the one caressing me. I didn't feel bad or feel I needed to stop her from touching me. That was how I got into lesbianism.

She also taught me how to masturbate. Sex was my life. Pornography and masturbation were my culture. I could not do without them. My aunty didn't know all this, not because she didn't care. It's not just something she would have found out easily because I was smart. And don't forget, I was still in secondary school. 

There was a particular lady who was brought to school to teach for a term. She taught CRS (Christian Religious Studies). On this particular day, she taught about forgiveness. I felt very bad for the first time in my life and I became restless. I couldn't do anything in school that day. I had to go to meet her to ask if God would ever forgive me for the things that I'd done. She said yes. She asked me if there was any problem. Because I didn't want to be judged or condemned, I didn't tell her. I eventually told and she asked, "Do you value yourself?" I looked at myself and saw nothing. I had already calculated that I would die before age 20. She laughed and said, "Are you God? Why would you think such?" I said, "Because I know the things that I do everyday and I know I won't last long." 

At this time in my life, I had stopped going to church because I felt God had abandoned me. This teacher took me to church, she bought me a bible and she prayed with me. I promised her I wouldn't go back to the things I used to do, but after a few months I found myself back there. I felt like they were things that I could not do without and I felt abnormal not doing them. Things went on like this for so many years until I had a dream. 

(Part 3/4) I had a dream where I saw a woman who spoke to me in pidgin. She said, "That thing wey you don dey do since, your friend papa say make I tell you say if you know stop that tin wey you dey do, you go die." I looked at her and was shocked. She said, "You dey look me. He say make I tell you say if you no die, you go get belle. If you comot am, you go die." I woke up from sleep and was really afraid. I decided not to go back to my old life. I was like, "God, I don't want to die because if I die, I'll just go to hell."

I stayed away for some months after that experience but I wasn't strong. Each time I tried to leave, the people I was involved with would come after me. I then had another dream and it was terrible.

I was dead in the dream. I remember standing by a staircase where people were going up and down. I tried calling out to them but nobody saw or heard me. Then I saw a particular man who did. He asked what I was doing there. I explained to him that I'd been trying to talk to people but no one seemed to notice me. He said, “Yes, they can't see you because you are a spirit. You are dead.” I said "Wow!" He then said, "Did you commit sins before you died?" I said, "Yes." Immediately the man started crying. I asked him why he was crying. He said, “There’s no second chance. Once you're dead, you're dead, and you go to hell if you've not repented." When I heard hell, I screamed and said, "No, I can't. You have to tell God to give me a second chance. You have to beg him. What will happen to my parents, my friends and my siblings? How will they take the news that I'm dead? How will they accept that I died in a man’s house or on his bed? My parents trust me more than this." In fact, the way I died in the dream was that I was poisoned by someone. The man kept on crying and said, "There's no way out. Once you're dead, you're dead and you're going to hell. I screamed, "second chance!" till I woke up from the dream. 

(Part 4/4) I know that God has a purpose for my life. I know that who I am and where I am today is because of the second chance God has given me. It's not that I didn't fall a couple of times, after 2 to 3 years of staying away. I did. Even when I fell, I knew that God was with me and it wasn't what I wanted. I went back to God and told him to help me because I couldn't do it alone. Before, I thought it was something I could handle on my own but it wasn't like that. I had to cry out to him to say I couldn't continue and he needed to help me. He helped.

I needed to change all my friends and I called every one I had a relationship with, warning them to never call me again. It wasn't an easy thing to do but I had to go through it so that my life could be good again. I also had to forgive myself first and forgive & let go of all the people that had hurt me in the past.

In 2015, I attended a leadership and entrepreneurial training. They talked about action plans and what you want to do for your community. I thought maybe my story is just for someone to learn from and be whole again. I came up with an action plan to start an online campaign for violence and sexual abuse. And that was how I started a teenage empowerment program to let people know that you can be a survivor and not remain a victim for the rest of your life. There is joy in being a survivor.  

(Part 1/3) At the end of my service year, I couldn't sleep. I was claustrophobic. I started getting panic attacks. I studied Theatre Arts and felt like I had wasted my life in university. With acting, you need to look for work yourself. There's no structure in place and I had no idea what to do.

In December 2012, I was to travel home to Delta State to see my folks. My usual practice, due to my anxiety attacks, was to get a seat at the front of the bus, meaning I had to get to the bus park early. That day, my luck ran out. I got to the park late and the front seat was booked. As I discussed with the attendant, a panic attack washed over me, much to his surprise and shock. I tried to explain what claustrophobia was but he had never heard of it. Eventually, he called his boss and got permission to transfer all the passengers to a smaller vehicle so I got a front seat in a Sienna and got to Delta.

When I got back to Lagos, my uncle who I was staying with at the time invited me to a church programme but I declined. A friend of mine had also invited me but I declined that offer as well. At the bus park on my way back home, I ran into the same attendant. He told me he had read up on claustrophobia. He asked if I’d heard of the same church programme. He told me, “Come expecting to meet with God, and bring along your claustrophobia”.

“Come expecting to meet with God” kept ringing in my mind, so I went. I can't explain what happened or how it happened, but it felt as if the old me died and a different me came out after the camp meeting. No panic attacks, no more anxiety, it felt like I could go through anything with God by my side. I had peace and this new hunger for God.

(Part 2/3) I went to the same church programme again in December 2014. I was praying about my career. At the time, I just got the job to star in a TV series, ‘Desperate Housewives Africa’, and it was the biggest salary I had been paid so far from acting. In my conversations with the Holy Spirit, I was asked to sacrifice my salary, to which I said “No”. But then I asked him to give me grace. He then reminded me of my last sacrifice which resulted in several open doors and was really a trickle compared to this salary. He then said, “If I'm asking you to lay down this money you think is a big sacrifice, don't you think I want to do something bigger in your life?" At that moment, a cooling effect, like rain began to fall on me. I took a paper and wrote down the vow.

In January 2015, as I was praying one morning in the Spirit, I heard, "If you will give your first fruit, I will fill your barns with plenty and your presses with new wine." I Googled it and I saw it was in Proverbs 3:9. The problem was, I didn't have anything, because the salary I was meant to get had already been pledged. I wrote a vow that no matter what I got, be it a million or one Naira, I would give it. Two days later someone called me up for a commercial. I did the job, got paid, put the money in an envelope and paid my vow. I also finished the series I was acting in and also paid that. So, I had zilch.

It felt really bad to me. I felt abandoned. I didn't have a dime to even buy bread or for transportation. I was crying and wailing. I began to remind God of his covenant with me and asked what was happening. I began to tell him why I needed him to come through for me, and somewhere in between all of that I heard him speak. 

(Part 3/3) God said to me, ‘’Turn around”. The way he said it was so audible that I shouted back through my tears, “What do you mean turn around?” He then said, “You are facing me and telling me how big your problems are. Turn around, face your problems and tell them how BIG your God is." That stopped me. I started to recall things God had done in the past; acknowledging them and counting my blessings. At some point, I realised I was still crying but it was tears of joy because I knew that I had someone in my corner, and it wasn’t just a regular person but the Creator of the Universe. I realised that the pressure I was feeling was because I was wrapping up my current job the next day and all I had was my transport to take me there and bring me back home.

I went to work and when I finished on set, my director sent me to audition for another project. When I got there, the director that was meant to oversee the audition happened to be a long-time friend of mine who I had worked with before. Long story short, I got the job. And I was one of the four leads.

I never thought I could work with such a cast so early in my career. The salary I got for that job was way over my previous sacrifice and pledge combined. That's how my acting career in Lagos started. And ever since then I've been getting offers. 

So, that's my story. There's no job I do that I do not pray about first, before auditioning or taking. The way I see it, God has a plan for me and has written it out. Why am I struggling to go through a road that he has laid out for me?