(Part 1/2) I wrote JAMB 6 times. My results were withheld the first 4 times and I felt there was no way I was writing JAMB again. I had just started discovering my love for music. My mum was in tears as she wanted me to go back to try JAMB again. So, she bought the JAMB form herself because I wasn’t interested. I’d made up my mind that I was done with school and would just make money from music. I eventually wrote the exam for the 5th time and had a good score. I also had a good score (90 over 100) in Post UME but I still didn’t get admission. It was really weird and at that point I gave up.
A friend of mine who believed so much in me got me the JAMB form again, and because this was the 6th time, I wasn’t bothered. In fact, I went to sing somewhere in Oyo Town and it was a vigil. My exam was the next morning. I got to the exam hall late in Ibadan. I was 30 minutes late so they punished me by keeping me outside for an extra 15minutes. So far I had missed 45 minutes of the exam. I honestly wasn’t bothered.
I walked in majestically afterwards and didn’t apologise to anyone because I felt they were still going to withhold the result again. I wrote the exam and walked out. (At this time, I knew the syllabus like the palm of my hand.) I scored 257. I wrote Post UME and I got my admission into the University of Lagos (UNILAG).
I had a good time in UNILAG. I ended up studying Philosophy and in my final year, right before my convocation I had an accident. But before my accident, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a big boy. I wanted to have so much money like my brother and just be one of those young men controlling things before age 30. It looked like things were actually going well. There were a lot of ups and downs but things were looking good. I got a good job in my final year and my salary was great, so I felt life was good.
I had stopped singing. I’d seen money, and my dreams had started coming to life. People kept on asking me why I wasn’t singing anymore. But I liked where I was, the money was good and church wasn’t going to give me that kind of money.
(Part 2/2) So, on this particular day I was going to minister at my Pastor’s birthday. Prior to that time, my Pastors had been telling me, “The life you’re living is not you. You’re supposed to be doing ministry.” but I wasn’t having it. To be honest, I wasn’t living a great life. I wasn’t going to church anymore.
In retrospect, I feel God wanted to get my attention. So, while I was driving, this man just drove into me and destroyed my car. I was in the hospital, my right arm got broken and I couldn’t use it for over 2 years. I then made a promise to God that I was going to go back to him. I quit my job. The album, ‘As I Am, The Journey So Far’ was birthed after my accident.
The ‘As I Am’ brand comes from a place of me saying this is me, coming to God as I am, with no pretence. The album came with a lot of awards and recognition from that boy who was fighting to be relevant in the social system with money and all. Truth is, success is not financial. Success is living in the purpose and will of God for your life. The will of God for your life can make you prosperous. That’s the part Christians don’t understand. God can bless you so much with no sorrow added to it.
Everything I was chasing and I felt I couldn’t get, I have them and the best part about it is that it never stops. I might not be there yet, but the path of the righteous shines brighter and brighter till the perfect day.
My story continues and this will encourage someone to realise that when God wants your attention, he will get it. Sometimes he might get it in a way that hurts, or a way that would shock everyone or shock you, or you’ll just learn and listen to him. If I had listened to God all this while, I probably wouldn’t have gone through all this pain, but today I understand that my scars are a sign of the victory in Christ and it’s a reminder of how not to misbehave. I’m totally grateful for every pain, every minute of confusion and I hope that I can inspire young people and make them realise that in God, we are complete.