pat_utomi

That means the man who has done his home work, worked very hard suddenly come face to face with an opportunity which may not come to somebody who has not prepared. Luck does not come to the unprepared because he wouldn’t recognise it. I will illustrate this by what the British call Irish joke.

You know, Britons always attribute anything stupid to the Irish. It is a joke of an Irish gentleman who went to confession and he was so angry with God. A priest receiving the confession asked him why was he angry with God and he said he was told that God answers prayer and he has been praying for years now so that he can win the Irish lottery.

He said he prayed hard and each time he looks out for the result, his name was

missing. The priest asked him how many tickets did he buy to increase his chances of winning. The man said, “Buy ticket? I’ve never bought one before?” The priest said how then could you win? It is the same as saying I attend vigil, fast and pray and expect fortune or good luck to come. Luck comes and can be seized only by the prepared.

Faith in God and his success.
I should say in every way. I like to say it here and with all sincerity and I am truly convinced deep down in me that I am just a piece of rag. I really don’t count. I ask myself a lot of times that why would I be here and not some other persons? It is God’s grace.

Whenever I read what is being written about me on the pages of newspaper that I am a pathological workaholic, brilliant, etc., I laugh because I know it is pure God’s grace. Some people would say I work so hard and they have not seen me tired or stressed, why am I always smiling? I smile again because I know I have a mission, the right perception of what to do and the confidence that I am a child of God and He would take care of me. I am just convinced about this.

My ambition in life is not to compare my bank account with anybody. All that matter to me is that whatever I do, I enjoy doing it and it should be of service to other people. I just do it and thank God for the opportunity to do it. I can pay my bills. I’m not struggling with anybody and I think I’ve gotten from God more than I deserve.

If I looked back at my life, I was not the smartest in my class nor the hardest working. I was pretty lousy as an undergraduate. I ask myself what happened to the more brilliant ones than me in my primary, secondary and undergraduate days because to the best of my knowledge, none of my mates got a PhD before me. I was not smarter than them, why me?

To the best of my knowledge, even though I don’t consider myself a rich man but I’ve not seen any of my mates who have better material comfort than I have. To the best of my knowledge, I do not know too many of my classmates who have a better reputation than I have, so what is responsible? I found out that whatever has happened to me is pure grace of God. On my own, I can do nothing. God has taken me out of nothing to somebody.

Basic principles that guide you till date?
. It would be presumptuous of me to say I set out early in life with some worked out principles, which guide me. I can only say I profited from my upbringing, my parentage. Early in my life, I was taught some basic values and very strong religious background.

Like every kid growing up, in my teenage years, I was a clever young man, went on to do whatever I thought cleverness could bring me but in my teenage years especially early in universities I began to question what is these church business all about. At Nsukka, I became disenchanted and stopped going to church.

But I think God’s grace intervened one night at about 9pm, going to my hostel in Akintola Hall, coming from the house of one Prof. Oyorlu. As I was passing by a church, I was overcome by fear for it occurred to me that suppose God called me now “Where will I go?” The following Sunday I returned to church. That was my first turning point.

When I got to graduate school, the next major event that jarred me was the death of my father in 1980. I was 24 years old, the eldest of seven children. I was raised a Catholic, my mother eventually became a Pentecostal, still a member of Deeper Life Ministries. The experience was a sad one. I began to wonder why were we even created?

I was schooling abroad and I had to make a decision to either return home or take care of my six siblings or what. I returned to God in prayer on what to do. I heard a clear message that I should finish up my programme.

So I vowed that day that if God gives me the grace to do my programme successfully and in record time, I shall dedicate my life to the service of mankind for the rest of my life. And that took root. God’s grace came abundantly. I finished my programme with distinction at age 26 and I came back home. But man is weak because I found out that my commitment to the vow has not been in strict conformity with the passionate manner in which I saw it in America.

God gave me another chance to reflect in a couple of years later when in 1991, I was involved in an automobile accident where I lost my driver, and I nearly lost my life. I was clinically dead when I was brought into the hospital. I had stopped breathing, the pulse was gone but through God’s grace and attentive doctor, I was revived. I was flown to Germany where I was for several months. That period in the hospital afforded me another opportunity to reassess my values vis-à-vis my Christian faith. I then re-affirmed the vow I made in the US in 1980. Since then, God has been marvelous with me.

Role models and mentors.
So many that I can’t begin to count them. Every stage in your life, you find influential people. For instance, my father was a major influence and inspiration, a very hardworking man. When people say I work hard, I laugh because I know I cannot match my father’s attitude to work. Also my mother, a remarkable strong woman who held her own even in the most difficult days. She worked and prayed so hard and still prays for her children. She has such spiritual and moral tenacity, which saw to great things happening to us all.

There was also some teachers of great influence, one at undergraduate level at university of Nigeria, Nsukka, Dr. Chidi Okonkwo, then in post-graduate school in USA, a South African lecturer, Patrick Omera now Dean of International Programme of Indiana University in US who is instrumental to my wide base in academic disciplines.

Today, I have diplomas and degrees in about five academic disciplines. Part of this was because of a white South African professor who left South Africa in protest against apartheid and settled in the US. He encouraged me to developed different kind of skills because he thought Nigeria would need people with such skills. So, as a result of his prodding, I went into public finances, political science, management, mass communication, and policy economics.

Back home here, many people have influenced my career, one of which was Dr. Alex Ekwueme, who was the Vice President of Nigeria when I came back home in 1982. Without meeting me, he was impressed by what I have been writing on the pages of the newspapers from the US. He got his aides to track me down and gave me one or two assignment to do for him.

At our second meeting, he announced very casually to me “by the way, this morning, President Shehu Shagari approved your appointment as special assistant to the President.” I turned to the person who brought me to him to complain and he almost chided me that you’ve been writing all sorts of things since now we ask you to come and perform what you’ve been writing and you are now complaining.

That was unusual in Nigeria because people would think the young man I was got the job because of my family name. No. The vice president read my articles and simply invited me. There was a heated competition for the job because Prof. Odenigwe was the incumbent Special Adviser to the president and I was to replace him. So many people like NPN top notchers, people who have slaved for the party were gunning for the job, but a young man from US, and a non-member of the party was picked. I was just impressed by the person of Ekwueme. He was an influence.

Your mother is in The Deeper Life Church. It is common for parent to pull their children along their lines especially now that it is fashionable to leave the Orthodox Church for the new generation cChurches. Hasn’t she tried to take you along?
Well, she knows I strongly hold my faith and my conviction in the Catholic denomination. Even before she became a Deeper Lifer, she had attended one church in Surulere and I went there with her shortly after I came back from the US. But I thought it did not meet with what I thought was the fullness of the day.

I think it is very unfortunate that many young people in the orthodox cChurches drift to the Pentecostal because of the glamour around them. I’ve always tried to convince myself that individuals need to have his personal conviction in God. Secondly, we will make a terrible mistake when we replace the glamour and excitement of worship with the true relationship with God.

I think that is too common in Nigeria. The glamour, form, beauty, scenes, etc easily carry us away. People say some orthodox cChurches are dead. No. No church can be dead. What can be dead is your faith. And if song and dance awakes it for you, glory be to God but I think what matters is relationship with Jesus.

I think it is wrong for Pentecostals to look at the Orthodox Church as dead and I believe it is wrong for the orthodox to look at the Pentecostal as worldly and with disdain. Anybody who wants to have a personal relationship with Christ in the orthodox cChurches can have it. There are so many people in the Pentecostal world who mouth Christ and don’t know Him. But I will not go out to condemn Pentecostals because I am a Catholic. I believe that the Catholic Church has a full deposit of the faith coming from almost 2000 years.