“God wants to bless somebody specially today,” the 48-year-old’s voice blared from the huge speakers mounted at the top of the custom-built tricycle. “He told me to tell somebody here today that His will in your life shall soon come to pass, so fear not,” the evangelist from Kaduna State charged at the dozens who heard his voice at the popular Lagos bus-stop.
Last Tuesday’s episode, as eye-catching as it was, was not a one-off – it is a tradition Noah has kept alive at this part of the metropolis over the last few years. Morning, afternoon and evening, the father of four has made it down to the crowded gateway town to bring ‘God’s word’ closer to the people.
First starting out on foot in 2006 preaching the gospel from street to street around Ogba and Berger, Noah soon graduated into using a cart equipped with sound system and a generator to fulfill his ‘calling’ and reach more neighbourhoods. He pushed the heavy cart around for about five years before age caught up with it. The stress and harsh weather condition under which he operated at the time soon took its toll on him. He is lucky to remain alive.
“I pushed that cart for five years around Ogba and Berger everyday preaching the gospel. But when it became worn out and could not be moved about like before, I was really sad.
“As a result of pushing that heavy load around under the sun and in the rain for a long time, I fell seriously ill. A lot of things came to my mind at that time and I was in fact preparing to die because the sickness was so severe. Honestly I had wished God would take my life at the time because the challenges I was passing through were too many. But God spared my life and gave me new strength instead,” he said.
With that new energy, Noah built another cart which he called the ‘ark of God’ to continue spreading the gospel. This time, apart from just sound system and a generator, the cart had a pulpit fitted into it where he could place his Bible upon, had a huge umbrella attached to it to shield him from sun or rain and also had several other accessories on it to make it easier for his evangelism work. It was time to expand his frontiers and ‘conquer more territories’. From the bumpiest of roads to the harshest of terrains, the 48-year-old could take the ‘message’ everywhere. It was in the course of carrying on with this work that things took a different turn.
“After building another cart and keeping it on Akilo Road in Ikeja, God laid it in the heart of a woman to bless the ministry with a tricycle.
“The woman told us that God instructed her to buy a tricycle for the ministry. She gave me a cheque of N420, 000 for it and another cheque of N10, 000 for myself. I told her I was going to transform the tricycle to a mobile ark and God made that possible through kind donations from people who took care of the painting from yellow to white, money for speakers and other equipment. A total of N150, 000 was spent to customise the tricycle to what it is today,” he said.
Interestingly, Noah, whose ‘ark’ on wheels now navigates every nook and cranny of Berger, Ikeja, Ogba and environs preaching the gospel on-the-go to both young and old, did not start out as an evangelist in his early days. Instead, the 48-year-old soared to prominence in his native Kaduna in the early 1980s rocking dance floors across night clubs and other social gatherings. While some referred to him as ‘Michael Jackson’ for his impressive dance steps, others called him the entertainer for his ability to thrill with his voice and entire body. It was a cult following Noah enjoyed back then.
“Before now, I was a very social person who would always go to parties to dance and enjoy myself. We used to be hired from place to place to sing and dance. There was no Compact Disc at the time; it was only cassettes and turntables. We would dance to Michael Jackson, Sean Lamar, Cool and the Gang and sounds from other trending musicians of the time.
“I was the host of those shows and people paid to watch me dance and display. I used to pull crowd so much. I was employed by a White man from Rome in Italy at a club in Kaduna around the early 1980s. I was making a lot of money and having plenty girlfriends at the time. A lot of big men would come to me to record songs for them and add my voice signature to it. I also did jingles all around Kaduna because the people loved to hear my voice. Even the Nigerian Tobacco Company in Zaria at the time hired me to do jingles for them. But when the Lord spoke to me in 1989, I gave up all those things,” he said.
Finding his way to Lagos that same year in search of a new life, Noah soon realised that things were not going to be as easy as he had initially envisaged. Life threw several challenges on his path, forcing him to abandon God’s work and command. Out of frustration he took up a job as a driver for schools and later went into driving commercial buses when that did not bring expected returns. It was a terrible period for Noah and his family.
“But in 2008, God arrested me again after I had an accident. I damaged a car and one man volunteered to pay the N250, 000 needed to repair it. That incident opened my eyes and I began to wonder that if somebody that I did not even know could volunteer to pay such amount for me, then it means that Jesus truly paid for my sins. I went into the bush around Kara in Ogun State to pray and I vowed to God that I would only do His work and would never renege. I haven’t broken that vow since that period by the grace of God,” he said.
As a result of what he does today, Noah has become very popular among the people who encounter him regularly around these Lagos neighbourhoods. While some besiege him with special prayer requests, a lot more spoil him with financial and material gifts in appreciation of his efforts and impact on their lives. Though, the evangelist said he does not request any financial reward for offering prayers for people who come to him, he told Saturday PUNCH that a lot of individuals as a result of answered prayers often drop money in a basket in his tricycle.
“I remember a woman came to me once when I was ministering at Berger and told me that she had been married for several years but had never conceived. I looked up to heaven and began releasing prayers on this woman. I prophesied that before the end of that month, she was going to get pregnant. She dropped an offering of N100 but I asked her to take it because God gives out His blessings free of charge. The woman insisted that it was just her own way of thanking God for His goodness. The following month, the woman came across my wife and told her to tell me that God had answered her prayers and that she was pregnant.
“A lot of people like this and even women trusting God for a husband come to us for prayers and God answers and gives them testimonies. We also conduct deliverance for people who are troubled by evil spirits, especially women. It is not by my doing but by the grace of God and that is why many of them drop thanksgiving offering to glorify God,” he said.
Thirty-eight-year-old Jemimah, wife of the Kaduna State-born evangelist, told Saturday PUNCH that persecutions and trials have come in different forms but that the family had continued to forge on and even stronger in the face of mounting challenges. She admitted there were times she wished her husband had a major source of income rather than dedicating his entire life into spreading the ‘good news’ and winning souls all around Lagos.
“Though, when he decided that he would not do anything else apart from preaching the gospel, it wanted to bring confusion between us because I was worried how we would be surviving.
“But after he had that accident in 2008, I took things easy and accepted that the mission work was God’s plan for him. Shortly after that period, somebody gave him N90, 000 for the children’s school fees.
“Several times, people have come to me and ask me why I should allow my husband disgrace himself all around the streets preaching the gospel. But because I understand God’s plan for his life, I have learnt to support him in what he does,” she said.
According to Apostle Daniel Udah under whose spiritual guidance Noah is, taking God’s gospel from bus-stop to bus-stop and street to street for the father of four is not driven by the quest to survive but out of genuine passion for impacting lives. Udah who is the founder of Fire House, a fast-growing ministry in the heart of Lagos capital, Ikeja, said Noah’s activities have had great impact on the membership of his church.
“After I met him, he told me about his passion to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ from street to street and bus-stop to bus-stop but that his major challenge at that time was fund. I met him when I went to preach at a church and he complained that there was not much encouragement from the church where he worshipped and life was so difficult.
“On one of the Sundays after the ark he was building was completed, I called him out in church and gave him the keys to a small car that had been with the mechanic. I had initially given it to a pastor friend but he was not fixing it, so I bought it from the pastor and gave it to the evangelist. I thought this would reduce the stress he passes through. He told me he would still use the car but that there were places the car could not get to which the truck could.
“One day as he was preaching in Ikeja, a woman saw him and decided to buy a tricycle for him. She fulfilled her pledge and that was how the tricycle came about. The evangelist has been going round preaching the gospel, coming back every time with testimonies.
“Before he gave his life to Christ, they used to call him Michael Jackson in the North. Then, wherever he got to, he would floor their best dancers there. Sometimes he preaches and meat sellers would just gather meat and give to him. God has been faithful to him,” he said.
Interesting as Noah’s story sounds, he is not the only one who now preaches the ‘good news’ in many Lagos bus-stops and busy streets. Today, dozens of others have sprung up, too. While some like Noah say they are in the act as a result of God’s calling, Saturday PUNCH found a few others who are into mobile preaching for the seeming economic promise it holds.
Also at Berger bus-stop last Tuesday, our correspondent stumbled upon Ugbobine Andrew, a trained cobbler, who say he received God’s calling to take His ‘message’ from street to street across Lagos and other parts of the country especially Delta State from where he hails. Though, not sophisticated in operation as 48-year-old Noah, Andrew was seen at the busy bus-stop handing out flyers to passersby and preaching the gospel at the same time. Asked if he was in the act for what he could gain financially and materially, the 40-year-old said he is simply following God’s lead.
“When you have the passion for lost souls, you want to bring them out of that position and into Christ’s light. That is the reason why I went into evangelism, to win souls for the kingdom.
“After coming to Lagos in 2004 and giving my life to Him that same year, God instructed me to go into the ministry. Since I started, there have been people who are quite happy with what I do and also the others with a rebellious spirit who are not happy about it. But the God who called me has continued to guide me.
“I have been attacked spiritually and even physically on several occasions since I started this ministry. I was looking for job at a time and kept my original credentials at a corner around where I was preaching and by the time I finished, I couldn’t find them there again, somebody had stolen the documents. It contained my OND and marine engineering credentials, including my international passport.
“I am a shoemaker and was pursuing a career in marine engineering before God called me to do His work. Though, I still make shoes, God’s work is the most important for me at the moment,” he said.
Asked if he gets requests of special prayers from people who come across him and how much he charges for such services, Andrew told Saturday PUNCH that he collects whatever anybody who appreciates him offers. According to him, God had instructed him to eat to his fill because he was doing His work.
“There are occasions people meet me on the way and ask me to pray for them and I oblige them. Many of the women who request this special prayers are either looking for a husband or want a child. Some want to be delivered of spirits troubling them. After praying for them, I give them tracts and other materials and some of them appreciate us handsomely for that.
“A lot of times when I go out to preach, people out of their own volition, give me money even without asking. I accept such gifts because I know those people who have given would be blessed in return by God. Those people are sowing a seed into the life of the man of God and they would reap in abundance,” he said.
Before he passed on three years ago, Pastor James Odafe was a known mobile preacher in many parts of Lagos especially around the capital, Ikeja, where he took his ‘Holy Ghost Campaign’ from street to street in a customised car. Apart from a generator and sound system fitted on the roof of the vehicle, there was also an offering box at the back. a female relative of the late Odafe who spoke with our correspondent on Thursday , said many of the people who often called the evangelist on the phone for special prayers were women who wanted ‘fruit of the womb’ and life partners. She said some would even trail him home just to be prayed for and delivered.
“While my uncle was still alive and preaching with his car, women looking for fruit of the womb and husband would always come to him for special prayers.
“Some who are shy to be prayed for on the road would copy out his number on the car and trace him home through telephone. After such prayers, God always releases His blessings on them. Many of them come back to show appreciation,”she said.
While many of Nigeria’s big pastors started out on this same route before eventually establishing churches that have huge membership base and branches all over the country today, Andrew told our correspondent that he is content with what he does for now.
“I am concerned with spreading the good news for now. I do not have the intention of establishing a church soon because there are already so many churches around and it’s quite expensive these days to set up one. I have no problem managing what I have at the moment,” he said.
Though, none of the men Saturday PUNCH spoke with disclosed how much they were making from offerings and special donations on regular basis, the robustness of the amount could be the reason some have remained in the ‘trade’.
Sociologist, Wale Ashiru, told Saturday PUNCH that with unemployment reaching unprecedented levels and frustration spiralling across the country, many able-bodied men like Allen could continue to devise a means to survive the harsh economic situation in Nigeria by posing as ‘men of God.’
“I have seen some of these people you are talking about and I can tell you categorically that many are not into what they do because they love God, it is basically because they need to survive.
“As much as I know and agree that there are some who preach at bus-stops and street corners because God told them to do so and they are doing it with all their heart, there are many out there just playing smart on the intelligence and ignorance of the people.
“I can bet with you that if you create enough jobs and some of these guys are gainfully employed, you would not see them do some of these things again. The truth is that these guys who are not genuinely called by God understand the psychology of the people and are using them to their advantage. Even if you are religious, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t probe certain things. But as long as political leaders have refused to develop this country and free the people from servitude, things like these would continue to thrive,” he said.
Senior Pastor of Rapid Fire Ministries, Lagos, Rev Philip Edem, told Saturday PUNCH that any man not called by God but posing as His messenger is merely bringing curse upon himself. According to him, such persons would not go unpunished.
“No man can rip God off. If you lie and deceive in His name, you are only bringing His wrath upon your head. You cannot play smart on God, you’ll surely be punished,”he said.
It is estimated that there are over 40 million unemployed adults in Nigeria with majority of that number being university and polytechnic graduates. Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that many like Andrew in the business of preaching at popular and busy bus-stops across the country are below or often not more than 40 years old – the prime of an individual’s productive age. Ashiru says with jobs still in short supply and church or religious-based business proving to be lucrative these days, many smart job seekers pretending to be called by God, could take to the rising phenomenon.
PUNCH.
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