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Pastor Joseph Adelakun, popularly referred to as Ayewa has come a long way in the Nigerian gospel music scene. Ever since he repeated the album Amona tete mabo, things have not remained the same for him. In this interview, he spoke on his life, his music and his 'foolish exploits' with native powers. Excerpts.
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Background
“My birth was historic because the host of hell contended with me, even in pregnancy, to get my destiny and I aborted. According to my mother who was childless for 10 years before the arrival of her first child, my pregnancy was almost aborted at the fourth month.
"As a Muslim, my family depended so much on charms for protection. When my mother began to see signs of miscarriage, she was immediately given some concoctions known as Aseje and was immediately taken to a nearby town, Ago Are. I was named Amusa, the second child of my father but the first and only son. I was brought back home, Saki, when I was four years.
“One of my joys today is that my mother, who was the fourth wife of my father's five wives, and we, her four children are now in Christ. Then known as Rafatu, my mother is now called Sarah Adelakun.
“My love for music began early in life because my mother said I always gathered various metals together, hitting them to make rhythm. My father saw me as a lazy boy because of this attitude. In spite of my strict Muslim home, my love for music led me into sneaking into one Oke Ero Baptist Church near our house in Saki to beat drums with my friends. Of course, my dad never knew.
School days
“I loved sprinting when I was in primary school. My Sister, Ayo and I were sprinters who represented our houses at inter-house sports meeting. Through this, we brought our family name, Adelakun to limelight, as everybody would be shouting Adelakun! while running on the tracks.
“My struggles for education began in 1965 after the death of my father. His death that year plunged me into utter hopelessness because there was nobody to continue financing my education. My brother was a salary earner who could not do more than his income could afford.
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There were temptations from women also. In 1986, when I visited Dalston Market in London, a lady who admired the dress I wore approached me and said, “I love you”. Without any erotic feelings, I also replied, “I love you too”, unknown to me that the word love meant lust to her. We both exchanged our addresses.
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"After my primary school, I could have proceeded to Olivet High School, Oyo and I also had an opportunity to attend Oyo State Trade Centre (now Technical College) yet there was no means. I then decided to join Kareem Electrical Engineering Company, Ogunpa, Ibadan as an apprentice in Electrical Engineering. This was from 1966 to 1968. Though my mother was scared of anything electric, my elder brother who facilitated the job assured her of my safety.
“After the training, my poor state led me to join the Nigerian Army in 1968, during the war. I joined the army purposely to die. I had written-off myself. I had lost every hope. But it turned out to be the Lords way because every disappointment became a blessing.
"Though I thought of dying, God contrived some saving grace for me through the army. My training as an electrical engineer led the Army to put me in the Nigerian Army Engineers Barracks a.k.a. Engineering Construction Regimens (ECR) based in Ede, Oyo State now Osun State.
Meeting with Jesus
“While in the Army, I got mixed up with various kinds of people. Before I knew it, I had become a smoker and drunk. From home I was armed with juju. At that time, our belief was that nobody could get to the top without doing all these. Another habit I formed was hemp smoking. In fact my friends and I had our place of smoking but my arrest by God began through this experience.
“One day, on our way back from Oke-Egan area in Ede, we heard some people praying and singing, we decided to go and joke there. On getting there, we were welcome by the leader of the church, CAC, Prophet S. O. Akande popularly called Baba Abiye. He encouraged us to join the church and we all obliged.
On getting home, that night I had a frightening dream, which I narrated to Baba Abiye. At the end of his interpretation, he said the Lord told him that if I would follow Him, He would change my life for good, that He has marked me out as an instrument long ago.
“Three days after this encounter, I had another terrifying dream where two men commanded me to lie down. They dipped some instruments into my mouth after which dirty blood began to gush out. Gradually, the blood became cleaner until it became as pure as water. When I told Baba Abiye again, he said God was carrying out a spiritual operation on me. He said all the concoctions, alcohol and Indian hemp. I had taken into my system had been gradually flushed out by two angels so that I could be mightily used by God.
“At this time I had become a nominal Christian, though I was still known as Amusa. My rapport with the prophet began to send jitters into my being and so I decided to join the church. Despite this, I was still smoking and drinking. I covered the mouth odour by licking Trebor sweets and body odour by wearing perfume always. I also disallowed deep interactions with church members and I preferred to greet them from afar. All this gave me no peace of mind. I began to think about the hypocritical life I was living.
"One day, with the last hedge of the Indian hemp in my hand, I challenged God, “God, take this hemp from me if truly you are my saviour”. After this short prayer, I threw the hemp away. This was in 1972, exactly nine months after I joined the church. To my surprise, the knack for alcohol, cigarette and hemp left me without struggles or nostalgia.
Charms and me
“Not many people knew the level of my appreciation and confidence in the use of charms. My Islamic background and environment promoted reliance on charms such that I couldn't do anything without it. As a soldier, I couldn't travel or go for any assignment without applying them as directed by my diviner.
I remember the day I was travelling from Ede to Oyo to visit my brothers. It occurred to me on my way that I had forgotten one of the charms called Egbe (disappearing charm). The charm was meant to take the user instantaneously away from any area of danger like motor accidents, etc.
“When I got to Iwo, half way between Ede and Oyo, I discontinued the journey, and returned to Ede to take it. With those charms, I felt confident to sit any where in the vehicle or even face the bullets without fear.
"It never dawned on me that I was foolish. I never knew that if I could travel from Ede to Iwo and from Iwo back to Ede without a charm, I could still go on to Oyo and come back to Ede safely without my trusted power. I did not know that God was preserving me for a purpose.
"Not until I met Evangelist Joel Ogunleye who supervised the destruction of the charms. He mentioned all the charms one after the other and I was afraid. But much later, I found out that Pastor Ogunleye was also familiar with the charms because before his call into the ministry, he was a politician who also depended so much on them.
Musician in the army
“Since I joined the Christ Apostolic Church, (CAC) Ede in 1972, I've not stepped out of the CAC fold. The call to full-time ministry came gradually but I refused to acknowledge it. I persisted in going to church even in my military uniform and I was able to release my first seven albums while still a soldier and in the same CAC denomination.
“The first album came miraculously in 1978 through the instrumentality of one Paul Kehinde Bankole, then the Evangelist in-charge of CAC, Shomolu, Lagos. He is now an Acting General Superintendent (AGS) of the CAC. I was a member of the church choir.
" When I completed recording the album, there was no fund to produce the needed quantity for the market. Surprisingly, Evangelist Bankole went and sold his Vespa motorcycle at a give-away price of N200.00. He gave the whole amount to me and asked me to use it in pushing the album Emi yio p'okiki re into the market.
“After I had recouped the money and attempted to refund it, the pastor met me with a question “Did I ask for the refund from you?” Up till now, he has not collected the money from me.
Ayewa Group
“The identity of the group, Ayewa International Gospel Singers came in 1976 at CAC Kawo, Kaduna. Still known as Brother Amusa, I joined the church in 1974 and functioned as the composer of the choir. But the Lord called me to gather some talented members of the choir and I obeyed by assembling five people with whom we sang and performed in the church.
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“Before the album release, my reputation as a gospel musician circulated within my family and church. .. But the divine instruction to repeat the album, Amona Tete Mabo brought our breakthrough. |
" On a day when the choir sang a song entitled Akuku Yewa (It is well with us). The song touched many church members that they all greeted one another with it. When the group later met to choose a name for the band, so as to avoid naming it after me as Bro. Amusa and Co., I gave the members an opportunity to suggest names for the group. Their suggestions include Akuku Yewa Singers, Gospel Voices, Angelic Voices, Ti o Ye Wa Singers, Ayewa Gospel Singers. Immediately somebody heard the last name, he quickly added ‘International' and called it ‘Ayewa Gospel Singers International'. The whole house agreed on this and so the name stuck.
“After much spiritual wrestling and personal conviction that the Lord is taking me to a higher height in life, I agreed to get out of the army and concentrate full time on the ministry. I was then at Command and Staff College, Jaji, Zaria, Kaduna State as the orderly of Brigadier D. O. Ajayi (Rtd).
"I must mention that Brigadier Ajayi loved me so much that any time I was going for any performance, he would release me. He encouraged me greatly to carry on with the vision. After my resignation from the army, I came to Lagos and joined the CAC Shomolu, Lagos. Amona Tete Mabo
“One of the greatest gospel albums to be released in Nigerian was Amona Tete Mabo. The song was laden with lyrics that are both political and injurious to the interest of the government of the day. The 1984 album had earlier been released in 1981. The direction to release the album again came to me in a dream.
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"It never dawned on me that I was foolish. I never knew that if I could travel from Ede to Iwo and from Iwo back to Ede without charms, I could still go on to Oyo and come back to Ede safely without the charm. |
When I discussed it with my band members, their reactions were divergent but we later agreed to release it again according to the instructions of the Lord.
“In the studio, the lyrics came to me spontaneously and I went on singing. I did not write down anything. It was purely inspirational and I knew it was directly from God. After the recording, we agreed to include it in the album, unknown to us that it would be the greatest hit that would bring us into limelight.
“Before the album release, my reputation as a gospel musician circulated within my family and church. At least, these were the channels through which we sold our albums. But the divine instruction to repeat the album, Amona Tete Mabo brought our breakthrough. The album sold like a hot cake. It became an anthem all over Nigeria. Invitations to perform began to come from far and near. The name, Ayewa became a household name. It was thus fully and permanently recognised as a formidable gospel music group in Nigeria.
"An album that made no impact when it was earlier released became the conveyor of our breakthrough. I hope some gospel musicians would learn something from this. The album was distributed and marketed by Pa Chief Joseph Ola Afolabi, Chairman, Ogo Oluwa Group of Companies.
Agogo Ikilo
“Another controversial album laden with political lyrics was Agogo Ikilo. From my experience, I have found out that gospel musicians must have reasons for releasing album. Agogo Ikilo was released on instruction from God when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was in power.
"The album brought me into confrontation with the government. Initially I was ambivalent on releasing the album because the message was heavy and my family was scared of possible political repercussions. But when the spiritual nudging persisted, I made up my mind to release it. My family quickly alerted one another and summoned me to a meeting in the presence of some respected people. Having listened to them, I agreed not to release the album.
“At a stage when I went to pray at a mountain, a message came again that if I did not release the album, the Lord would abandon me and pick another person to release the album. Knowing the implication of this, I returned home to release the album.'
Temptations
“After the short prayer I said that led me into quitting smoking and drinking, temptations came again at different times. The first temptation was in 1979 when I was preparing for my second album Okan mi bale. I suffered from a bad voice that I had to correct before recording commenced.
"A day to the studio recording, a member of the band whom I respected so much advised me to take a sip of Dry Gin to clear my throat. This suggestion was good to me after all I thought it was to achieve a good purpose. It gave me an opportunity to taste alcohol again since 1972. But then, that “good idea” may not be “God idea”.
“I took the first sip of the Gin and gargled my throat with it. I did it the second and third time. Rather than heal my voice, it went off totally. I began to feel so uncomfortable as my eyes began to turn. I knew that trouble had set in.
"A night to recording, I was down and the studio had been booked. Another suggestion came that I should take Ogi (raw pap) to neutralise the effect of the gin. But I did but it only compounded the problem. I was full of compunction and the feeling of guilt enveloped me. I had taken alcohol under false pretences. I knelt down, prayed and sought for forgiveness.
" Then the Lord told me that he had forgiven me but I should learn how to seek counsel first from Him in times of trouble. The spirit then told me to bless ordinary water and drink, which I did before going to bed. On the D-Day, I was whole.
“Another experience with alcohol came at a social engagement in 1986 after the second release of Amona Tete Mabo. That day, I noticed that they served us some Dubonet drink, which I received and served all members as if I was conducting Holy Communion.
"One day, the Holy Spirit said I was gradually going back to my vomit because Dubonet has a percentage of alcohol. I then stopped drinking it or serving my band but took it home as gifts for the aged around me. But I was still troubled by the Spirit until I decided not to honour it from any celebrant again. My peace returned and I have since then relied on fruit juices.
“ There were temptations from women also. In 1986, when I visited Dalston Market in London, a lady who admired the dress I wore approached me and said, “I love you”. Without any erotic feelings, I also replied, “I love you too”, unknown to me that the word love meant lust to her. We both exchanged our addresses.
" I was surprised when she phoned me that she was coming to visit me. I was shocked and I began to shiver so much so that I told my friends. It was then explained that they to me that the word love, in their culture, meant more than a plaything.
“Having been laughed at, I thought of what to do: I decided to go out so as to avoid her. Later she phoned, lambasting me and calling me all sorts of names that my friends interpreted to me. But I thank God that, just as Joseph refused the advances of his master's wife in Egypt, I did not shatter my future over lust for women.
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As the years rolled by, the Lord did His part while I forgot the vow I made. I proceeded to build my own house. I had laid the foundation and the building was getting to the lintel level. Then the Lord reminded me of my vow in 1979. He said ‘build my place of worship first and I will surprise you with hidden gifts that you have not known.'
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CAC Mercy Land
“The idea of the church came about in 1979 while I was praying, making a vow and covenant that if God could help me to be successful in life, I would build him a house of worship.
"As the years rolled by, the Lord did His part while I forgot the vow I made. I proceeded to build my own house. I had laid the foundation and the building was getting to the lintel level. Then the Lord reminded me of my vow in 1979. He said ‘build my place of worship first and I will surprise you with hidden gifts that you have not known.'
* Adapted with permission from
Ayewa at 25: The story of the Glory. Updated by Bola Adewara.
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