When you meet Pastor Chris Okafor, Founder of Mountain of Liberation and Miracles Ministry, a.k.a. Liberation City, for the first time, you would immediately be taken in by his good looks and impressive style. Without a doubt, Pastor Okafor is a firebrand Evangelist and Prophet. He is a man whose oil of divine grace and anointing runs endlessly. His ministry has been experiencing explosions in all ramifications for several years running now. He has become a hugely popular man of God whose ministry’s impact has been felt in most nooks and crannies of the country. But that is not all there is about this amazing man of God. He is also very stylish and fashionable.
Pastor Chris Okafor is a tall, fair-complexioned handsome man whose flawless skin often glows in whatever he wears. And he is also an extremely fashionable man. He knows what suits his frame and picks fabrics that ooze nothing but quality. When he chooses to wear suits, you can’t but be impressed with how perfectly it sits on him. Same with natives and other attires.
In this concluding part of the interview, City People’s Senior Editor, WALE LAWAL (08037209290) got the charismatic Pastor Chris to talk about his fashion and style and why he is yet to remarry after his separation from his former wife and mother of his adorable children. He also bared his thoughts on the killings of several Catholic Priests and Pastors in the Northern Part of the country.
We also noticed that you’re a very stylish pastor. You dress well, you know exactly what suits your frame. How did this part of you evolve?
Basically, what I do is that I wear whatever I deem fit and okay for me. Sometimes, I’m not even the one who chooses what I wear myself. I have a boy whom I take as my son, who happens to be my nephew. He is the one that says, daddy, this is what you’re wearing today. He brought out what I’m wearing right now from the wardrobe. By God’s grace, I have quite a lot of clothes in my wardrobe but he chooses for me what I wear. Most of what I wear is informed by him.
So, you don’t have one or two choice designers that you fancy their works?
No, I just wear what suits me. See, I don’t believe in designers because a designer does not make you, it is what you wear that makes the designer who he is. If I wear an Ankara today, it’s going to fit me because I’m the one wearing it. The designer does not define me, I define the designer. And this is where a lot of people miss it. People want to wear designer bags, designer shoes and those things are not what define you. People can only compliment you for what you wear, nobody pays you for what you wear. So, I wear whatever I think is okay and because I’m the one wearing it, it becomes fashionable, so that’s basically what I do. For instance, if I wear an ordinary Ankara today, people will say, oh, look at what pastor is wearing, it’s very beautiful, but another person will wear same and people won’t pay him any attention. They will even think the stuff is really expansive. So, that’s why you don’t need to go and break your head just to wear a designer.
You’re a very charming looking man, sir. We also know you’re separated and you shepherd a congregation as large as yours. How do you deal with women who fantasize and wish they could be the woman in your home because surely, you must face this sort of pressure almost every day?
Oh, it’s a normal thing. You see, people can fantasize, people can wish. For instance, a lot of people wish to be the president of their country, a lot of people wish, oh, I want to buy this car, but the fact that you wish to buy the car hasn’t made the car your own. And there is nothing you can do to stop people from wishing or fantasizing. People will admire you and appreciate you. But you see, you can stop the bird from flying over your head, but you can stop the bird from nestling over your head. One of the things I do is to set up some natural structure and walls around me by the wisdom God is giving to me. This natural structure and wall are to deliberately prevent any funny occurrences and situation. Now, part of that structure is that nobody can just wake up one day and say you want to come and see me. There’s a process you have to pass through. If it’s the day I do counselling, I do counselling publicly. I meet people one on one, there is nothing special you want to come and do in my office. But even if there is anything that has to bring you to my office, the door will be opened. Then, another thing is, I move from my house to the church and back to the house. I’m not an outgoing person, I’m always in my house. In fact, I have an office and a library in my house where I read. I also have my prayer room where I pray. And my children are wonderful. I have a wonderful family. So, it’s even difficult for anybody to have that kind of access. Among our television lines, there is the one I control. That one is mainly about my messages. I’ve seen people send all manner of messages and I just laugh over them. So, like I said, people can admire, they can wish or fantasize, it’s normal. And you can’t really stop them. Like I said, you can’t stop the bird from flying over you, but you can stop the bird from nesting on your head.
Do I take that to mean that right now you do not have any immediate plans of remarrying at the moment?
No, not at all. Until the Lord releases me to do so. You know, this issue of marriage is not something people just go into just like that, a lot of things are involved, especially when you’re a man of God. You see, I come from a family where my parents are still together as man and wife. My dad is about 90 years old, while my mum is close to 80 years. And they both have been married for more than 50 years and I grew up watching the two of them live together. My uncle too was married to just one woman and they were together for a long time. The wife died about twenty years ago and the man did not remarry. Now, my number one problem is the fact that I’ve got kids. Number two, I don’t want to marry someone that will become a threat to my children, because once a woman comes in and she starts having children, the first thing they’ll start saying is, oh, maybe this man is rich or something and your children become a target. I wouldn’t want to put my children in such kind of situation. You see, you don’t see danger and deliberately go into it. Because the Lord says you will drink deadly poison and they shall by no means hurt you, that does not mean you’ll now say bring poison, put it in my cup and let me drink it, it will kill you. So, God does not work in that way. Another thing is that nobody has ever married two times in my family. Everyone got married and they remained married. So, why should I be the one to break that pattern? Sometimes we make a mistake. I’m not saying who I was married to was a bad person. You can marry somebody God has not ordained for you to marry. The truth of the matter is that a lot of marriages were not joined by God. A lot of marriages were joined by appearances when we did not know where we were going to when we did not listen to God. You can go into stuff that you may later come to regret. And if you don’t correct the mistake, the enemy can also set you up again, so that’s why, in that area, I’ve not been released and I don’t have it in mind. My children are now grown-ups, they’re growing with me. I have five of them that are biologically my own and four others that I adopted, my sister’s children that are bearing my name. And I and my children are very close, we’re like best of friends. If you don’t look closely you won’t know they’re my children, they’re almost as tall as I am.
How old is the eldest?
The oldest one is fourteen, she’s going to be fifteen soon.
A girl?
Yes, my eldest child is a girl. So, because of these reasons, with the issue of marriage or no marriage, I really want to be very careful. Even if it will happen, it’s not in the immediate future.
I will like to get your opinion on this issue, sir. Lately, there’s been an increase in the kidnap and killing of men of God. Before now, it was Boko Haram killing Christians but now, they’ve taken it to another level. Bandits, herdsmen go into churches, take out the Catholic priests and murder them in broad daylight, and the Christian community feels the government hasn’t done enough to address the situation. As a man of God yourself, how do you feel about this?
I have to tell you the truth the way it is, the thing is this, one, it won’t get better soon. It’s not going to get better. We’re going to keep experiencing this for the next three years. Yes, for the next three years, we will go through insecurity, for the next three years, we will still go through bloodshed. Now, I want you to listen carefully, I’m speaking to you prophetically now. It’s not just only Boko Haram, it’s not just about bandits, kidnapping has now become an everyday occurrence in Nigeria. There is no day you won’t hear somebody has been kidnapped in the country. There are so many strange disasters and occurrences also going on. Fire outbreaks, strange accidents, there are different kinds of disasters and calamities going on. Why? It’s because the land is reacting. And why is the land reacting, in the next three years nothing is going to change until this government comes to an end. It’s until the tenure of this government expires and they’re no longer in office. I want to put it this way when a mandate that belongs to another person is taken by another person…I’m not saying anybody took anything, I’m giving you biblical instances. When somebody takes a mandate that does not belong to him, the land will react and the people will suffer. If you read your bible very well, prophetically, all the time there is a problem in the land, there is a reason for it. When you hear there is famine in the bible, go and see, the bible says and it came to pass, there was famine in the land for seven years.
Now, the terminology, ‘it came to pass.’ if you want to understand anywhere the Bible says “it came to pass,” what happened before it came to pass? Or where the Bible says “and after all these things”, after all, what, after what happened? Look at David, when he slept with a man’s wife and killed the man, do you know the consequences on the hands of David? The consequences are, number one, somebody’s wife bis stolen. I’m giving you instances of stolen mandates. And what happened? God said, David, the sword will not depart from your house by the reason of what you have done. Number two, I will raise an enemy from your own house within your own people. And I will cause one from your own house that will become your enemy that will sleep with your wives and concubines. Do you know what happened? David said God forgive me, I have sinned. God said I have forgiven you. See, people must understand, there is a difference between forgiveness of sin and the consequences of your sin. Your sins can be forgiven but the consequences of your sin may remain unchanged. I can show you, it’s in the bible in 2nd Samuel chapter 12.
His sins were forgiven but the consequences remained. His son, Absalom, overthrew him and was actually in charge of the government for a while until the son died. And there were a lot of things that happened in the land. David did another thing and 17,000 people of Israel died. How many people are going to die in Nigeria before we get it right? That’s why the people of God need to pray and must continue to pray until the thing is balanced. Right now, it’s not balanced. We say one Nigeria, but the equation does not show it’s one Nigeria. If you watch the leadership of the security apparatus, they are all from one part of the country.
EFCC, for example, is like a northern affair. Go and check all the major positions in EFCC and their offices, they’re run by Northerners. They even speak Hausa there, that’s the official language. Who is in charge of the military? It’s either a Fulani man or core Northerner. Who is in charge of DSS? Either a Fulani or Hausa man. Who is in charge of Customs? Either a Fulani or Hausa man. Who is in charge of immigration? Hausa or Fulani. And you say we’re one Nigeria? It’s not possible. We can’t be one Nigeria when you’re telling us that kingship and power in the country belong to one section of the country. It’s not possible.
So, when things are not in place and the land reacts, it will de-sensitize the sensitivity of the people including the government of the day such that even when their people are dying and crying they will not even see the pains of the people. Look at how Nigerians are being slaughtered in South Africa. Imagine South Africa here, slaughtering Nigerians, yet the government has not been able to place any sanctions or take decisive steps that will send clear signals to the South African government since then.
Look at President Donald Trump, for instance, he has made it very clear that if you touch any American citizen you’re going to have problems with America. An American artist was once tried in court and adjudged guilty in a foreign country, set to be taken to jail and Trump said you can’t do that, send him back to us. They had to set him free, put him on the next available plane because Trump spoke. You can’t allow your people to be killed like that. Look at IPOB for instance, did they kill people before they were declared a terrorist group and slaughtered like chickens? What about the herdsmen that are killing and raping women every day, what have you done to them?
Why have they not been declared a terrorist group? I am not against the country dividing, but if somebody comes forward and says he no longer wants to be a part of you, I think it’s only fair that you hear him out and listen to his grievances first. Instead, they proscribed IPOB. Whether we like it or not, this country will still divide. It might not be now, it won’t even be Nnamdi Kanu that will actualize it, he will only be used as a forerunner. So, that is where the problem is until we get it right, things will continue to go wrong.
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