Back to page 1 After this, the police read all what he had said to him. He agreed to it. They then asked him to sign but his hands couldn't write anything again, so they helped him to thumbprint the paper. “One of the police officers who had had pity on me asked the man for his passbook and saw how much I owed him. He quickly went to his house, gathered the money and paid the ‘dead man' who was then told to send for his relatives in the town

" I was then told to go home but to go and commit suicide so that no case like this would come to them again. They told the man that they would have taken him to the hospital but as he was under arrest, he would have to wait until they formalise things. As he was pleading with the police for mercy, he collapsed and finally died. "If you were me, what would you do? Was it not God who came down to save me? If nobody believes in the miraculous power of the Lord, such person is dead long ago.

Prostitute to the Rescue
“As I was going home after my release, I pondered on what to do. I resolved never to go out again as a way of avoiding my debtors. However, some days after, another problem occurred. Some of my debtors who have been searching for me saw my younger brother who had gone to fetch water for me and held him.
"As a youth, rather than pacify them, he began to fight them. They fought so that people came to inform me that my brother has been held because of me and that he could be killed unless I came out of hiding. I forgot my troubles and went there. Immediately they saw me, they released my brother and held me. That day, I saw hell.

“They beat me like a common thief, spat on me, tied my hands and legs and laid me down. They ran tires around my legs and neck with another one in my mid-section and were searching for fuel and matches to roast me alive.

" However, those who knew me and knew how the business collapsed came to my rescue. Many of them fell on top of me crying that I would not be roasted alive. Aba people gathered again because the news had spread that Okwexco had been caught. I was popular in Aba because Okwexco Savings Enterprises was one of the best. If I had 3015 people left to be paid, it would show that my customership was in the realm of about 7,000, many of who have been paid before the problem began.

“As the drama to roast me continued, out of the crowd came a prostitute whom I also owed. She seized the jerry can of fuel, brought out her passbook from her bra and said if anybody had more money trapped in Okwexco than she does, the person should cast the first stone by pouring the fuel on me and set me ablaze. Hush fell on them all. The news had gotten to the police who came there in a commando style and dispersed the crowd by firing in the air.

" Nevertheless, for this prostitute, I would have been roasted alive. The police gathered what I would call the remnant of me, with the tyres still on my body and dumped me in their vehicle. They said, “This man, your matter is disorganising us and the whole of Aba . You'd better go and commit suicide quick or you leave this town”.

They said if I escaped the mob today, what about tomorrow. I told them that leaving Aba was not the solution. The Lord who delivered me from the dead man's case, who delivered me during the civil war, would deliver me again and show me how to pay the debt. Since nobody was arrested for trying to kill me, I was left to go home.

The Vision
“On getting home, I locked myself inside and told my wife that I would not come out until I see God. If God is real or not, I want to know. I would go on fasting until I die or God comes down to reveal Himself to me. By the last incident, I had grown in the Lord. I told my wife to stay in another room while I stayed in the parlour and that nobody should be told that I was in. I then locked myself in and began to fast.

“On the fourth day, my wife came to knock my door telling me that God would not reveal Himself by man's ultimatum. I told her to go away that if God truly exists, He would reveal Himself to me. I did not go out, as I had my potty in which I urinated inside with me.

"On the sixth day, I became so weak. At a particular time, I saw myself on the ground while another me was up. I found myself leaving my body, running away on a lonely road. At a stage, I saw a very gargantuan leg, coming from heaven trying to smash me. I began to plead for mercy.

"Then, the leg withdrew and I began to run again thinking I had escaped. But the leg followed me again until I gave up, waiting for the leg to smash me. But the leg did not. I then heard a voice: “Okwey, Okwey, Okwey. Do you want to know my name?” I said yes. The voice then said “My name is “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” I said I have not heard that kind of name before.

" The voice continued thus “I have arranged for how you will clear all the debt you owed. You will go back to the world, to your body and I will show you how to defray your debt” The voice said ‘look up' and I did. I saw a host of angels singing and the voice said, “With music, I will defray your debt. But you must take this bible and preach my Word. Soon the leg disappeared. I stood up and began to run home.

"On getting home, I saw my body on the floor, went into it and so I woke up. When I checked the time, it was about 4am. When I looked around me, the floor was so wet that you would think water was sprinkled on it. I even thought I had urinated. When I smelt it, it smelt sweat. I then knew I had left my body and was at the brink of death. I then called my wife.

"When she entered and saw the water on the floor, she also thought I had urinated on the floor. When she smelt it, she said how manage I had sweated so much.

It was then I told her to put water in the bathroom for me to be refreshed because I have seen God and He has spoken to me. Thus I always have angelic music and choir connections when I'm asleep. Recovery
“The following morning, one man who was a pastor at Igbere, Patty Obasi came to my house. He said the Lord had told him to come and see a man called Okwey in Aba , that I would produce his gospel album which the Lord would use to elevate him and I. I asked Patty that didn't the Lord tell him that I was in a financial mess? He said no.

" To cut the long story short, I braced up myself. I decided to sell my car which I had parked away somewhere. The money was not enough to produce an album.

" I met Chief D.E. Ikoro (Ikoratex) my property owner whom I have not paid his rent. God gave me favour in his sight such that he gave me money with which I produced Patty Obasi's first album. The album was a monster hit. It sold greatly that Obasi was able to travel to Greece and I paid part of the debts I owed to people.

“So many people now saw that I have gone into music production. When Obasi returned from Greece , he released the second album, soon the third and fourth album. By this time, the success of the albums had helped me to defray almost all my debts.

" Soon Obasi left my label. I felt bad. In my quandary, I heard the voice during my prayers again, telling me that if I thought Obasi's departure from my label was the end of my life, I have not seen anything yet. The voice said if I should cough on a vinyl, He would bless it and it would sell. That was how I came up with my first album, Uwa akala nka.

“The album sold like a hot cake. It took over the market as if I had made it with juju. Many people thought it was a temporary success but when I brought out the second album, Ike Eme biwo, it brought me into greater limelight. With proceeds from those albums, I was able to clear all my debts. I became debt free, and whenever I moved on the streets, people began to hail me. Many of them praised me as a man of courage.

“Since then, I have recorded more than forty albums. I am like a miracle to so many people. Many of them have wondered why I left active and flourishing music business and career to become a full time pastor. They did not know that it was in full fulfillment of my promise to serve God.

Matrimony “I got married in 1979 to Martha Ada Ijeoma, a teacher just before the problems of Okwexco Savings Enterprises began. My wife was castigated by my family who labelled her an Osu (Outcast) They said she had brought me bad luck but I did not bother about that. Immediately after our wedding, she took in. She was

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