Opelope Anointing, which became an instant hit in 2000 was your seventh album. Why did it take you that long to make a hit?
It was just God that was working.
Adun Igbeyawo was my first album, followed by others before Opelope Anointing.

Why didn't the first six make much impact like Opelope Anointing did?
Well, there is time for everything. That is what I believe. Opelope Anointing turned out to be very popular.

How did you manage the popularity that came with it?
Well, I thank the Lord because the joy of the Lord is very strong. That is why I was able to manage the fame. I can tell you that it was so glorious that year that I couldn't believe it myself. It was awesome and I couldn't do anything except to thank God.

How about the money aspect of it?
When we are talking about gospel music in Nigeria, we believe God for miracles. Financially, yes, the record changed my life and took me to many countries of the world. I can't deny the fact that money came and we were able to tie it down.
I am sure the record is still selling ... Of course. We even want to repackage the album because Ope/ope Anointing will
be 10 years by next year. We want to repackage it to make it more appealing to our fans. We
want to shoot another video for the record to make it more appealing.

Would you say Opelope Anointing is the best that could comefrom you?
No. My best is yet to come and I am believing God for that. Though people are still asking me about Ope/ope Anointing in Nigeria and abroad. Even though I have done a few works after the album, people still prefer Ope/ope Anointing. But I assure you and all my fans that the best is yet to come from me.

Haven't church activities taken over your music now?
I am managing the two. I am an evangelist and a singer. To the glory of God, we have one or two churches: CAC Ope/ope Anointing Praise Centre in Lagos and outside Lagos. For proper management, we have a good diary and there are people who take care of our activities in church and in music.

Are you sure that one is not affecting the other?
No, because the two even work together, and as I said, people are there taking care of that. Yes. That was why in my testimony, I had to confess the wonderful things that God did in my life. What I know is that before 40, people died in my family. For example, my father died before he was 40 and I was only seven. I know of two or three other cases like that. By the tine they were trying to be something in life, death took them away. One day, my uncle called me and said we had to address the issue of poverty and young in the family. I too was concerned and I took him seriously. I went into fasting and prayer and then made a covenant that if God spared my life and I lived up to 40 years in the land of the living, I would do something big in appreciation to God. That was the reason I did Victory At Last, which came out in 2002.

How was the record in the market?
It sold very well and I thank God for that.

What did you discover to be responsible for the family members dying before 40 years?
In the year 1999, I had a dream and in the dream, I saw Jesus Christ who I lay his hand on my head in the midst of other people and said he had cancelled failure and every negative things in my life. I was (hearing everything as I am hearing you now. I learnt that the plan of the devil concerning me was that I would come into this world and go back without achieving anything. But Jesus said he had cancelled everything negative. The year after, I released Opelope Anointing, which became an instant hit and transformed my life for good.

So, you didn't envisage what Opelope Anointing turned out to be?
Ah, if I tell you how it came about, you will be shocked. The day the inspiration for Opelope Anointing came was one of the most sorrowful days of my life. I was passing through a very difficult time, my heart was heavy and the thought of clocking 40 in 2000 was killing. So I was deep in prayers and along the line, the inspiration just came that if not because of anointing, things would have been miserable for me. I heard the first line and from there, I tapped on the rest.

Which means you were singing out your own experience?
Exactly. The song came just like that, and when I realised how it turned out to be, I couldn't stop praising the Lord.

I also learnt that you were always finding it difficult to succeed where your peers excelled while you were growing up ...
I said that also in my testimony. But things changed for the better for me afterwards.

Did you find things difficult because you lost your father early in life?
Not really. That one was another mystery. You know before a man is born, satan too has powers to foresee his future and will try to do everything to change his destiny. I was born in a village called Sanu, after Ibadan, where there was no sign of modernity. My mother came to the village with her father from Lagos for revival, and it was there that she met my father. As I told you, when I was seven, my father died but my mother vowed to see me through anywhere I wanted to go. But when I was in the last class in the Secondary Modern Commercial School at Elekuro in Ibadan, I decided not to go to school anymore. My mother cried her eyes out and begged me but I refused.

Why did you decide to stop?
That is what I am telling you. I can not give any tangible reason for my action.

I know that some people are still saying it even now, that I don't have a stable marriage. But I have read the Bible to understand that you can't have everything. It is not that God can not give you all, but there is nobody in this life without his own challenge. I have accepted the fact that marriage is my own challenge.

You probably had something in mind that you wanted to do ...
Nothing. It just came to my mind that I was not going to continue school. I was asked many times what I wanted to do but I didn't have any answer.

Maybe you were thinking of marriage.
Marriage? At what age? Anyway, what you said nearly happened, because when I was barely 15, I nearly got married to someone that was introduced to me. But for my mother and Christ, I would have made a mistake. My mother had to ask one of her sisters to come and take me from the village to Lagos. When I arrived Lagos in 1976 when I was about 16, I said I wanted to become a singer in the church, because I became a member of the choir at age nine.

So you didn't attempt to go back to school when you arrived Lagos?
Even with my level of education at that time, I could find jobs. I worked with one trading company as a clerk on a salary of N20, and I was happy. After that, I went to Oko Oba Ministry of Agric where I worked as a poultry attendant. Then I discovered that I could compose poetry very well and God used the agric ministry for me, because every agric show they had, I would be given the chance to present the poems I had composed, so I became known. Along the line, Radio Lagos came and I had a programme on air then caned Eduro Eteti (stop and listen). It was a 30­minute programme. I was presenting my poems. After that, I got married and that marked another chapter in my life entirely. Even while I was doing an this, I learnt tailoring which they call fashion designing today. I learnt catering and I had a shop after I left the agric ministry. Along the line, the music business came. I would perform in church and outside engagements until the church committee asked me to choose between church and social events. They said I could not combine the two. I decided to choose the church and disbanded my band. But in 1985, God took me back to the music business proper when He told me to sing for Him. I released my first record in 1988 and titled it Adun Igbeyawo.

That means you didn't envisage that you would one day become a full time gospel singer ...
Well, yes. But I had a dream one day in which an old man asked me to follow him and he showed me a very beautiful house with a pleasant environment. As we were about to enter the house, the gates closed. It is now that I can actuany picture what I saw in the dream then. He said that was the house I was coming into, but the lion in the compound would not anow me in. He then took me to the next building where I saw a sewing machine and I sat down to start sewing clothes. I had this dream more than 10 years before I learnt tailoring and catering, but it came to pass.

Have you always been a church person to be able to have dreams like this?
Of course, I told you that my mother followed her evangelist father from Lagos to the village where she met my father.

l learnt that your marriage didn't work ...
Well, that is another story on its own. If you don't mind, I want to skip that.

I would perform in church and outside engagements until the church committee asked me to choose between church and social events. They said I could not combine the two. I decided to choose the church and disbanded my band. But in 1985, God took me back to the music business proper when He told me to sing for Him. I released my first record in 1988 and titled it Adun Igbeyawo.

Was it that you went into it being too young or what?
Not really. What I would say is that God knows why it happened. But that is private.

As a church girl, it was expected that you would get married inside the church ...
Of course, that was what happened, but it turned out the way it did.

So it was your fault that it didn't work ...
No, it was not my fault.

How did you cope with the experience of a collapsed marriage?
I had already made a name before it collapsed. But at a point, I was asked to drop my husband's name and I had to change the name.

Did you have to get married again then or you reverted to your maiden name?
By then, I didn't like the maiden name and I sat down to think very well. Then it occurred to me that Olanrewaju was one of the names my mother gave me at birth, and I said it would not be a bad idea if I added Olanrewaju. To the glory of God, I became known by that name. Some people who didn't know what happened said I remarried, but it was my name.

How did you cope with the scandalous stories written about you being an evangelist?
Well, I had to cope with them because the world itself is full of challenges. I began to see myself as the eagle, which is very focused once it sets sail, not minding any distraction.

I learnt your ex-husband said you were not fit to be called an evangelist. How did you feel about that?
When I read that, I sat down and said I was finished. But I thank God that He (God) paved way for me and I was able to even go international.

But people are saying that you can't manage a marriage ...
I know that some people are still saying it even now, that I don't have a stable marriage. But I have read the Bible to understand that you can't have everything. It is not that God can not give you all, but there is nobody in this life without his own challenge. I have accepted the fact that marriage is my own challenge.

Are you remarried now?
Of course, I have remarried.

Given your experience with your first marriage, would you have remarried if you had your way?
I would not. But people will say many negative things, especially when it concerns someone like myself even though you can not please everyone. Some people may even say that they should not invite me for programmes.

Do you have girls among your children?
Of course, there are girls among them, and I encourage them to be optimistic about marriage irrespective of what happened to me their mother. But my prayer for them is that they would not have to fight the same battles that I fought.

Culled from Punch