Rekindling the fire of faith

THE BIRTH

My mother who had twelve children with me had been the eleventh told me that I was born on the 15th November 1985 in Benin City, where my Dad was still serving in the Nigerian Air force. I did not know of this period because I was too young to know anything then. All I knew was what my mother and older siblings told me. My older siblings told me that my mum gave birth to me at home and everything about me was kind of mysterious. When I was one year old, I experienced convulsion that left me breathless, but those who came to my rescue resolved to flog me back to life. When I heard everything, they told me about my birth, I smiled, because it does not make sense to me then, however, now it does. How would someone back to life from death? The things I have experienced in life truly is beyond what one could think or imagine, and these things have built my faith by reshaping my mindset on how I see life. The rekindling of my faith has placed me beyond the confines of operating in my senses to the confine of operating in faith.

My late mum told me there was something about me that she could not at all figure out to reach the knowledge, but she acknowledged that I have a divine seal. I could remember when I heard her say to me, “You are an enigmatic baby, mysterious a kind of… I have done everything to understand you to the extent of going to enquire from prophets, but all they could say is that you are a child of destiny.”

Deep within my being of the essence, I knew I have a seal of God, but could not just understand why me. I knew when my mum handed me over to God, holding to the fact God alone could understand me. Moreover, from the moment my mum handed me over to God, I became God’s very property. God gave me to my mum; my mum through divine wisdom gave me back to God. Since my mu knew that she will not be able to keep me because of my divine mandate, of which she has no single idea, however, she knew I have something great to do in this life and she never stops reminding me.

When I got to myself in Makurdi in 1987, I was two years in Air force Base. From that moment forward, I could remember vehemently everything that happens in my life, until this moment. Moreover, I am going to pour out the contents of my experiences to reveal to you that I am an alien in this world, I mean; this world is not my home. I have to know we were twelve in number in my family and I am the eleventh born. I have a little sister then by the name Patience in 1988, who was still sucking. However, she is now grown and even married with kids. I also had my eldest sister who works with the United Bank of Africa (UBA) who is now late. She had three kids; two died and left with a son by the name of Jacob. My other siblings were, Ajene (late), Aladi (late), Agaba, Ekenyi, Acheinu, Paul, Mary (Late), Emmanuel, Ene (Late), me and my younger sister Patience.

My sister Ene was called by the name Blessing and I cannot tell why she was given that name. However, she had a rough time in her marriage before she died. She was the tenth in my family. I did not know my siblings then, while I was advancing in 1988, I only knew of some of them, but was used to the ones who were home present. The ones I knew were the ones I grew up in in their custody.

Ajene was my eldest brother, who left for Kano, where he went to learn mechanics. Ajene was the second born of the family. I heard about our third born named Aladi, who remained in Kainji, after my Dad’s transfer to another state. Aladi who was based in Kainji then where my family was before my Dad’s transfer remained because she got pregnant for a man whom she bore a child for out of wedlock and later, had three more kids for him, without any traditional rites to confirm her being legitimately married. Therefore, she remained in Kainji until the moment of her death, when she became ill. She returns home to Otukpo when her condition became very critical. Nevertheless, in the process of time, she died.

Agaba is the fourth born of my family. He stammers. I grew up under Agaba’s tutelage. Agaba is an extraordinary genius whom I have learnt greatly from his well of knowledge. From him, knowledge is like an endless flow and I am never tired of drinking from his reservoir. My brother has a great endowment of knowledge. His love for music and creativity drives him into studying theatre art at the University. He taught me fine art and I grew up to love music. His creativity is what drew me closer to him and I became more like his improved version. Agaba and one of my other brothers, Paul who also stammers attended Air force Secondary School, Makurdi. Paul was the seventh born in my family who graduated from the Federal University of Agriculture as a Mechanical Engineer.

My experience in Air force Nursery/Primary School was sweet and funfair. I had good and unforgettable good and bad times. I cannot remember now the block of our house, but, it is still fresh in my memory our apartment. Our block of flats and other blocks of the flat I usually go to play with my close friend Oche, who is a younger brother to my elder brother Agaba’s friend, Adakole. There were series of experiences I can never forget. Experiences like going to hunt for crickets in one of the blocks of flats that had a muddy swampy land. We go there to dig out the crickets from their holes. I used to enjoy eating fried crickets and termites, which we call change. I will never forget the experience of removing white maggots from pilled and dried cassava. The interesting thing about this experience is the fact that we usually fry the maggots and eat them. These maggots are such a delicious delicacy, irritating to those who do know how delicious the fried dried `cassava maggot is...

I used to follow my late mum and my siblings to farms that seem never reachable because of the vast distance very far away from home. The terrible aspect of this journeying to the farm is the fact that we do not go in the vehicle, but by leg through trekking. We use to farm maize, cassava, groundnut and okra. Sometimes, continually we usually plant guinea corn and millets. Life was a whole lot of lessons for me growing up. I used to follow my friends to a nearby stream not too far from our blocks of flats. We used to go fishing. Most of the time, we do the childish form of fishing in some nearby gutters that run through some curvet around the barrack. It was indeed great fun for me when I go fishing with the barrack kids. However, something happened and it is still fresh in my memory. The incident that remains fresh in my memory, made me stop-go fishing.

I went to a stream some distance away from home, with my hook, line and sinker. Immediately I got to the stream, I launched my hook, line and sinker into the water. I noticed some ripples spreading. It was an amazing sight of ripples caused by my fishing hook drop into the water that is crystal clear, as I could see some of the fishes and fingerlings. After some time, the water became clear of the ripple effect and I could see through the water like seeing through a transparent glass, because I could see the reflection of the cloud that is above my head, no below cast on the water like a large screen. Indeed a good sight inspires me at that tender age and what I saw was inspiring. I think I was four or thereabout.

Nevertheless, something happened and that which happened on this very day, I will never forget. I saw in the water the image of a cloud formed like a human being with a hand stretched out as if it is a person praying. When I saw the image, I could not believe my eyes. I deliberately decide to confirm if actually what I saw was true. Therefore, when I lifts my head toward the sky and open my eyes to behold what I sain w the last image in the water, I realized it is a cloud that forms into a human being, similar to what we see as the painting of Father Abraham on children Bible storybook. The image was in a praying position. Immediately I saw it, no one told me what to do. I left my hook, line and sinker and took on my heel. I ran without looking behind or up from where I saw the cloud cast of images that looks like a praying man. When I got home, I did not communicate to any person what I saw, but the memories remain permanently stuck in my mind. This experience got me pondering, and I started asking myself series of questions, like who was the person I saw as an image form of a cloud? Could this be God? Well, I did not get an answer to my questions until this moment. However, all I know, I saw an image of a human being formed by a cloud and this image look like father Abraham. I said, “This image looks like father Abraham”, as I have seen and known him, but the mental picture they have painted for us makes me think, what I saw was father Abraham.

I remember something that happened before my experience seeing the image of a man formed on the cloud and what happened did happen when I was still tender from the cradle. When I asked my mum, she screamed! In addition, all I could hear her say is, “Who told you?” and I replied to her, “I could still recall everything”. I actually could not explain how I was able to remember something of such because I was tender. My um told me, “You were less than three months old, how come you remembered what happened then?”

My mum could not fathom out how I was able to recall that experience that occurred in Benin City. Therefore, I discovered that something was calling my attention deeper.

I used to be very, very sensitive to sound and at that tender age, I could tell exactly whatever sound was connecting the spiritual source and any evil sound used to provoke my spirit. Moreover, the only way I could fight back then was to start crying. I just hate evil as something deep inside of me that would always decipher evil. I grew up struggling to stop hearing those evil sounds because it is always tormenting me. Since I was without knowledge and because I had no knowledge of what was happening, fear became my companion, which led to recurring convulsions that lasted for eleven torment years.