The power of prayer was made manifest during a Service of Testimony organized by National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), in its Weekly Christian Fellowship at its Abuja Headquarters, to thank God for delivering the Director of Arojah Royal Theatre, Abuja, Mr. Jerry Adesewo, from ritual killers.

The Executive Secretary, Dr. Barclays Foubiri Ayakoroma, who gave a brief exhortation at the fellowship, said that, “with prayers we can conquer all obstacles,” emphasizing that as long as Christians continue to pray to God and have faith in Him, God will dismantle every obstacle, and that, “no opposition can stop Him.”

Taking his reading from the Book of Acts of the Apostles, chapter 12 verses 3-7, the ES encouraged staff to be prayerful, stressing: “Do not lose focus; because when you do, the enemy will come in easily into your situation.”   

He said in spite of the fact that Apostle Peter was clamped in prison, with many soldiers on guard, an Angel of the Lord delivered him and that, while Peter was being kept in prison, the church fervently prayed to God on his behalf.

Narrating his blood-chilling encounter with ritualists, Jerry Adesewo said his ordeal started on Thursday, June 21, 2012, after he had collected money from the bank to pay the artists, who had taken part in the “Festival of Barclays Ayakoroma Plays (FESTIBAP),” organised by Arojah Royal Theatre, and entered the front seat of a cab from Federal Secretariat to Wuse Zone 3, Abuja, where the cast and crew were waiting for him.

He said: “Why I did not enter the back was that a friend was stabbed, when he entered the back seat of a cab recently. The driver told me that he will put on the AC for me to enjoy though I did not agree to pay the N500 he had bargained. The next I knew was finding myself in a place where I was chained, both hands and legs, mouth gagged and eyes blindfolded. This has really affected my sight up till today. They collected all the money I had, N840,000.00, and still demanded that if my wife wanted to see me alive, she must pay one million naira into my bank account so that they will use my ATM card to withdraw. In the first night, they took four of us out to kill, but the leader recognized me and said I should be taken back inside, so that I can enjoy the money they collected from me. As they brought more people to the place, they took them to “the blade” to kill them. Each time they took people to kill, I was spared, saying I should stay alive to still enjoy my money a little. Incidentally, I had just finished a 7-day fasting. Also, I was in constant prayers since they held me. I knew so many people were praying for me too. They served us food, but at a point I refused to eat to their food. I told the lady that was serving the food that there was no point eating the food as they will eventually kill me.”

According Adesewo, only God knows how he was delivered after spending four nights in the ritualists den, confined to a spot, stating that he never stopped praying as the ritualists kept postposning his being sent to “the blade,” as they (the ritualists) called the ritual killing for an Alhaji, who used to come around midnight to collect the body parts.

He continued: “It was a terrible experience. I have had many of such miraclous escapes from death. I was around Thisday office on the day of the bomb blast; I was around UN office, the day it was bombed; three days after my birthday, I had a mishap but nothing happened to me; I was once involved in a road accident where only two of us in the vehicle survived. So, in this, my mind kept telling me that God will save you. I believe God used the money the kidnappers collected from to manifest Himself because it appeared that my abductor did not declare the real amount he collected from me. The truth is that prayers really saved me.”

Concluding, Adesewo said: “I want to thank all of you, members of my Church, NICO (National Institute for Cultural Orientation), NANTAP (National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners), ANA (Association of Nigerian Authors), and so on. My advice is that it is good to be prayerful. We should be security conscious but it is God that secures; so, we must always pray to God for safety.”

 

Nwagbo Nnenyelike
Corporate Affairs