Evangelist Christian Okezie Chukwuma was sentenced to prison in Europe for eight years for pushing drugs. Abandoned by loved ones, he encountered Jesus in a unique way while in prison and is now sharing his testimony to prisoners and leading them to Jesus Christ.
Through his ministry, Abounding Grace Foundation, he has been to over 169 prisons across Nigeria where he has won many to Christ as well as taken responsibility for their rehabilitation. In this interview with Kingdom Times, he testifies of the miraculous workings of God in him and through his life.
KT: How did you get into prison?
COC: I was born and raised in Aba, in a poor family. My parents could not send me to school, and I stopped in primary six. I finally ended up in Lagos to be a businessman selling spare parts and made a bit of money from it. From there, the longing to travel abroad came and I began to go to African countries, and settled in The Gambia, from Gambia I travelled to Europe. I was a very young boy with no education and that limited me because over there you need to be qualified for any job you want to do, even if it is a cleaning job. And so I became a drug dealer and later got arrested with 1.5 kilos of cocaine on me and that was how I ended up in prison in Sweden with a sentence of eight years.
KT: How did you give your life to Christ?
COC: It is a very dirty story but I would have to tell it so that everyone will know my testimony. I was addicted to pornography and would watch all kinds of materials, especially the ones done with humans and animals. You know, I do not understand why it is the way it is but when you are in the world there are certain things that give you joy and it was the case for me; that was my source of joy.
One day, I was watching it and it involved a Nigerian lady and an animal and she must have felt something because she suddenly reacted in pain and it caught me off-guard as I almost felt her pain and reacted in the same way and my elbow hit the remote control and it changed the channel in the TV in my room. We all had televisions in our prison cells and were entitled to laptops to do whatever we wanted to do so we could destroy our lives if we wanted to; they didn’t care.
Anyway, the channel changed and I saw Creflo Dollar and he was saying “Renew your mind or you will die, do not change that channel”. It felt like he was pointing at my face, talking directly to me and I felt goose bumps all over my body and it was like there was an extraordinary move in my room and since I wasn’t born again, I didn’t know what it was. I was born an Anglican, served in the choir and knew I was a Christian but I didn’t know what Christianity meant and that day was a day I would never forget in my life. Fear gripped me and I jumped from my bed and began to tear down all the pornographic magazines I had on my wall and threw them away and that was how I gave my life to Christ.
KT: Did you make a confessional prayer?
COC: Not at all, no prayers, I just had this great fear, when he (Dollar) was saying “Renew your mind”, it was like a warning to me. It wasn’t that I didn’t know Christ, I just didn’t have a good relationship with Him. I was a very good singer in the choir as a little boy in Holy Innocent Church, Aba and so that was how I just surrendered everything to Him. There was nothing like a minister coming to preach to me or lead me in prayers. I just began to read the Bible myself – self-development.
KT: Did you join a fellowship in prison?
COC: There’s not much of that in prison but there was this Catholic priest that used to come visit and speak to us individually but when you are speaking to him, you would notice that he would sleep off and I didn’t like that. So I did everything on my own.
KT: How long were you in jail at that time?
COC: I am not sure, but I think I had spent a couple of years then but with the remaining years I used it to develop myself, did a computer study and read my Bible but I did this in secret (reading the Bible) because people would perceive you as weak and the last thing you want to be seen as in prison is weak and they beat you up. You have to be a tough guy and so I would go to the gym and train hard and then go to my cell room and cry quietly to God.
KT: So how did you manage to understand what you were reading in the Bible and develop yourself?
COC: I’d have to be honest with you. I relied completely on the Holy Spirit to help me because I didn’t know anything. I would just open my Bible randomly and read anything and you’d have to understand that the major contribution to my spiritual growth was a channel on television, God Channel and we were allowed to choose anything we wanted to watch. I watched Kenneth Copeland a lot, John Hagee, sometimes I’d watch Joyce Meyer. The then Pastor of Crystal Cathedral, Robert Schuller, leaning on my Anglican background and getting a Pentecostal foundation from Creflo Dollar. So that was all I watched, that and football; it was a drastic change, a 180 degrees turn-around.
KT: After that encounter, were you then released on parole?
COC: Oh no. I completed my full term but when it was six months before my release date, I was allowed to go out from time to time to mingle with the outside world and then, when I was granted my full pardon I was given an electronic belt to monitor me and I had to wear it everywhere I went to but when I had been cleared, I was finally granted my total freedom and I decided to move to another country.
KT: So you were not deported?
COC: No, I was a Swedish citizen although I was meant to be deported but God showed me mercy and besides, I have two sons there from two white ladies.
KT: After you were released what happened?
COC: I just decided to leave the country because if I stayed back there was a high risk that I might fall back to crime because of my circle of influence, the people I surrounded myself with. And since I am an European citizen I had free access to any country within Europe and so I moved to London and started a new life.
KT: How did you move to Nigeria?
COC: I had been in London for over ten years and got married again but that also didn’t work out.
KT: You were still a Christian then?
COC: Yes I was, but you know, Christianity is a journey. Every day you keep growing. What I am then is not what I used to be then; I have grown much better. And so I got involved with a Nigerian lady and we have five children together but things did not work out and we got divorced. After that, God told me to leave to Nigeria and He would show me what I would do and I did.
When I got back, I can never forget that day, it was the 23rd of January, 2013, I landed at the Murtala Mohammed Airport and I heard His voice loud and clear saying, “My son, I am sending you to all the prisons in Nigeria to set the captives free” and then reminded me of the scripture He had previously given to me in Isaiah 61: 1-3 particularly about having the keys to the prison doors and I wondered how I would do this. The question I kept on asking was that “Father, you know I am an illiterate, how do I speak?” and He said “My son, open your mouth and I will fill it”, and that was how I got the confidence to do what I do.
KT: Where was your first outreach?
COC: It was here in Lagos at the Kirikiri Maximum Prison, Ikoyi. There were originally four prisons I used to go to until I added the one at Badagry to the list. We have five prisons in Lagos and I had the permission to minister in all every month and so I would rotate weekly till I had covered all and from there I started going to other places and now I have covered 169 prisons in Nigeria.
KT: When you go on these outreaches do you have any expectations and are they met?
COC: Whenever I am entering into any prison, my prayer is to convert souls to Christ. That is my ultimate prayer and then obviously praying for protection because my life is on the line because I go to the North too. In Kaduna and Kano, they each have 15 and 10 prisons respectively. Those states have the highest number of prisons and there were many threats to my life. The same with Jigawa and Kwara States; my life was under a lot of threats because of the Boko Haram sect there. Plateau was a bit calm, and you can watch the videos on my YouTube page, how they gave their life to Christ. They surrendered their lives genuinely to Christ including Fulani herdsmen. It has been an outstanding mission and God is my witness I derive joy, I enjoy doing this, I love to see sinners come to God because I was a grave sinner. So, my expectation actually is to see them change and I will do all I can to make sure that they stand in Christ
KT: Is this a one-man structure or do you have a team?
COC: When I am travelling to other states I go alone because of transportation issues. Right now we are believing God for a 14-seater bus to carry the team and our speakers but since we don’t have that yet I go alone with my mobile Public Address System. Whenever I can afford I rent equipment, chairs, canopies for the outreaches.
KT: How then do you follow the new converts up?
COC: I have Dominion City Church, that is my biggest partner in Nigeria and Reverend David Ogbueli has mandated all his pastors in every branch in Nigeria to follow me whenever I come to their states for outreaches, give me a team to work with and train, after our ministration. I use the opportunity to connect them with the DCP in charge of the prisons who will give them a licence and a certificate that will give them free access and they can visit weekly to follow them up.
KT: Do you keep in touch with them personally?
COC: What I do is that after ministering I call out my number to them to take down but I give them a warning not to call me while in prison except from the welfare office which provides calls for them to make for a specified duration of time. I also try to avoid it because it would be stressful to talk to over a 100, 000 prisoners daily. So I tell them to call me once they leave the prison and from there I can help them.
KT: Have you had any of the reformed inmates join your team?
COC: Oh! So many of them follow me, like one of them called Chidi. We have so many of them in different states but here in Lagos we have so many of them following us and they were saved from death sentences lasting for six years, others eight. Once we pray for them God always shows them mercy. Although some have been killed but ever since I started the ministry I have been fighting against the killing so they have stopped it for now.
There are five (currently) that are slated to be killed and I have been protesting against it, appealing to Amnesty International and other organisations to help. A video I put up protesting this on YouTube has gone viral. My page is Evangelist Christian Chukwuka and it has reached Europe and America and creating awareness and they have been contacting the Nigerian authorities concerning the human rights of the prisoners. You know our prison conditions are very appalling.
KT: When they come out of prison is there a rehabilitation centre for them?
COC: We just rented a place in Awoyaya at Ajah-Lekki Expressway. We’ve paid money to accommodate 20 people, and I’ve given them money for the beds which are under construction at Sango-Tedo; ten wooden bunk beds. After this I’ll be seeking for money to buy 20 mattresses for the bunks. My dream is to add on a living room and kitchen so that they can cook for themselves. In that place though everyone must abide by the rules and the number one rule is that everyone must belong to a devotional team, you must pray, read the Bible, listen to the teachings and if you do not like it, you don’t come in. You must be a true Christian.
After four months and in that four months that they’ll be allowed to stay, they can also partake in skill acquisition classes and learn shoe-making, hair dressing, carpentry, aluminium work, and tailoring, amongst others. Whatever it is that you want to learn, we have people who will come in and train them. Once it is opened, we start our training and the rules obeyed. No woman will be brought in, smoking, fighting, drinking alcohol is prohibited, you know there are strict rules and no one is above the rules, I am in charge of it and I can handle it, trust me. I am very tough and this work is for someone who has been in prison or else they’ll mess with you. So when they look into my eyes they know I’m not just an evangelist but an ex-convict and so I put the rules and people who work with me respect it also. If I have to slap, I will so you see God has really prepared me for the work.
KT: How do you source for funds?
COC: That’s our major challenge and the reason why the work is slow, like this car you see me driving is from Dominion City. Everything I own, I put it into the prisons ministry. I don’t have a quarter of a plot of land or even a house to my name. I stay in a rented apartment after 27 years in Europe, and people don’t believe it. I sold everything to make sure this works. That is why I look for partnerships with various media and get at least 30 minutes of speaking time to address Nigerians and trust me, people will help me.
Right now, we manage with the little my friends on Facebook contribute to the ministry and so you see my pictures and videos on my Facebook page and anything we get we plunge it back into the ministry because there are daily needs. For example, for babies born in prison we give them N5,000 monthly for them to survive and we have so many babies in the prison.
KT: Is the facility at Awoyaya just for men?
COC: For now, we can have both men and women but one room and four beds for women and the other sixteen for men because we would rather rent a separate facility for the women when we have enough money to avoid sexual practices and unwanted pregnancies because men will be men and humans are humans. And also for the sake of their spiritual lives but we are believing God for another million naira to rent another place but how do we get help without people coming in to assist, that is my main reason for granting this interview.
KT: How do you maintain your relationship with your children?
COC: It is not so strong, I have to be honest but social media helps. My first son is in America playing basketball, second son in Sweden playing basketball too and going to school but we try as much as we can to connect via social media even though it’s not often. And the five kids in London we also try to keep in touch via telephone calls and social media and the two times I’ve been to London since I came to Nigeria, imagine that?
And it’s not as if I am a fugitive, I have my passport with me but imagine taking N250, 000 to buy ticket with when people need N5,000 to feed hundred people instead of travelling. That’s how I reason. Perhaps, it is not the best way but every time I say “Father, forgive me in any way I am going wrong but teach me, I am ready to learn”. Anything He says; “Don’t do it son,” I don’t do it.
KT: Watching your videos, I noticed that miracles occur during your ministrations. How do you manage this?
COC: I’ve learnt through obedience, you know, I was an illiterate who happened to have some level of arrogance inside. Imagine such a terrible combination? That is total devastation, that person is heading to hell and that was me. I didn’t know what humility was until my Father (God) finished breaking me. That humility part, let me be honest with you, it is something that you keep on working on, and you must never think you have gotten there. The Bible said “Let he that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall”, and so I am always conscious of that. When I go to the prisons I go in humility because I am there to impact their lives and they hate people with pride. That is why most preachers are not successful in this kind of ministry because you cannot reach them when they see you act better than they. When I go for the outreaches, I do my thing and look for souls not what I am wearing.
KT: Do you have any plans to mentor some of them to take over from you?
COC: Yes, I even have some of them with me; they will take over from me because I am going to leave the country soon to Asia. Nigerians are dying in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia to win them for Christ. If they kill them, fine they go to heaven because there at the airport it is written clearly that carrying drugs leads to death by hanging. So anybody who does so it is their business, mine is to convert you before you die. So I want to go to help.
KT: How do you deal with the attacks from these Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen? Do you have an arrangement with the police force?
COC: No, the police cannot help me; it is only God that protects. This is how it works. Boko Haram members are human beings like us, sweet and caring, perhaps they don’t understand what love is but they care for one another. So if you truly want to impact their life or lead them to Christ you come in the platform of love and grace. When you go to talk to them hold them as much as possible, don’t treat them as outcasts, and tell them they’ve done nothing unforgivable.
They say they have killed people, I tell them that I have killed too because all those people I sold the drugs to for over 20 years are all dead. because once you start taking those drugs, you are a dead man. The substance is dangerous, makes you act like a fool and if you have killed somebody spiritually, you have killed them physically. So I also have killed. I do not come as a man of God, no, I tell them that I am the worst sinner and by the time I abase myself they’ll end up pitying me and anything I ask, they’ll submit because they’ve seen a humble person. But that does not stop me; if you try to attack me, I will knock you down, no doubts there. You need to have the Lion face and the Lamb face, just like Jesus Christ. You must be like that to win.
KT: One last question, did you ever take the drugs?
COC: Oh, not at all. I’ve never even tasted alcohol till now. The truth of the matter is that if you see a child of God you will know. There is always something in the inside of him but the problem is that when the devil steps in, he can push you into things you don’t want to do. What is my name? Christian Okezie Chukwukah. Check the name, from the onset this is who I am, a follower of God. My parents would beat the hell out of you if you tasted alcohol. I come from a disciplined family, I was 20-something years before I knew what they called woman, and I am not a loose person.
I was doing it out of greed. Well, not necessarily but because I love to help people. I wanted to help people out of poverty and God sees my heart. That is why, out of the eight of us that were best friends in that business, I am the only one alive. All of them died while I was inside prison. So He put me in prison not to punish me but to protect me from death, I am exceedingly grateful for His love and care over my life.