By Christy Anyanwu
Rev Uma Ukpai, is the founder and President, Uma Ukpai Evangelistic Association, with headquarters in Uyo Akwa Ibom State.
For decades, he has remained a global evangelist, travelling the world preaching the gospel. In 1985, sequel to his Greater Lagos Crusades For Christ at the National Stadium, Surulere, the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN),was established.
On Tuesday January 7, 2025, Dr Uma Ukpai will be 80. He spoke with Saturday Sun recently, going down the memory lane about his childhood, wife, ministry, PFN and other issues.
You will be 80 on January 7. What does the day mean to you?
No, it doesn’t mean much to me. It’s just the beginning of a new beginning.
Oh, yes. God has been more than faithful. And he has supplied all my needs according to His riches in glory. And he’s been great. There is none as wonderful as He is.
There has been so much talk about your encounter with ‘Deco, the mad man at the Khana Country Council Secondary School in River State. What actually happened?
A mad man came to our school and sacked the entire school. He sacked everybody. As we were all running from the mad man, Deco, God said to me, you also can sack the mad man. So I commanded him to roll out of the school. And to our shock, he began to roll out of the school. While he was rolling, he said, do you know that I am naked? When a madman discovers he’s naked, that is an obvious indication and evidence that he’s been healed. I was about 10 years plus. He was very tall, well fed and groomed.
Sequel to that incidence, my headmaster came and asked me, at this tenders age, you are already in juju activities. I said to him. Sir, I gave my life to Christ and that I am a born again Christian, and that at the mention of Jesus Christ, all things were possible. My headmaster was surprised at my replies. He now added that, from tomorrow, you will start our prayer meetings in the school. You are now our Pastor. Every morning you will lead us all in morning prayers for the school.
So, will you say that was a confirmation of the power God has invested in you?
It is not just the power of God invested in me, but it is power that God can invest in anybody who has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it simply means you can do the impossible. It means that God has endowed you with power. And power means ability to change the future of people, life of people, and health of people. I was amazed yesterday morning. People were healed during our services. I am amazed that miracles have been going on without limit and without hindrances since I answered the call to serve God.
How did you feel about that incidence at that tendered age?
I did not quite understand it at all. To me, it was an unfolding situation. It was about me discovering what God can do, discovering what God is doing and what this God promises to do.
So, how did your parents react to that incident?
By this time, my father had died. My parents were not Christians. I was living with my uncle at Ogoni. They did not even know what God was doing. God had promised that there would be an endowment of power. He had promised he would do great, great things and new things. That was what was happening then. And still happening up till now. Lots of people were healed during our programme in Enugu.
How do you feel whenever a great miracle happens?
It is not about me. It’s about God doing what he promised to do in the life of his people. The only part I played was to do whatever God asked me to do. It’s not about me. It’s about God making a promise and fulfilling the promise and sustaining the promise over the years and still fulfilling till tomorrow.
You said your father died when you were very young
He was killed in 1955
So how did you and your mum cope?
When my father was killed, my uncle took me to Ogoni, to help my mother and to help me get educated. This turned out to be my arrival to the Promised Land. I started schooling, and as God would have it, I gave my life to God in the Assembly of God Church. This is the genesis that brought about who I am today.
How was growing up without your father?
Before I went to Ogoni, God gave me wisdom on how to generate wealth with the money I made. And from that money my mother was able to cater for my siblings and I.
You have described a particular day as the day of tragedy or the day God did not answer your prayers…
As God began to use me, I was privileged to attend a Bible school in Miami, Florida. God so favoured me and I got friends who began to invite me to minister in different states in America. A pastor friend, Dright Marable decided to take to Yongi Co’s convention and at the end of which we smuggled Bibles safely to China. I guess the devil got angry. God did reveal to me that the devil tried to kill my wife. I did pray and God said the enemy would go only the farthest He, God, would permit.
Though my wife almost got drowned, she was miraculously saved. But my two children and two cousins, who were in the car, that fell off the bridge, got drowned. Before we left Uyo, that morning, I discovered that my printing press had been robbed of all movable items. Then, while we were trying to retrieve the dead, news came that our bus, which was conveying some of our members to the burial was involved in an accident but no one died. Truly speaking, that was a day of tragedy.
Coincidentally, God revealed to a brother that the devil had planned the worse to kill my wife and to discourage me. But God did not let all that to happen.
Surprisingly and shockingly too, I still went to preach the next morning after the children’s burial. I was deeply grieved but God is faithful.
Your Greater Lagos Crusade for Christ gave birth to the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in May 1985. Please tell us more about it?
The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) was founded sequel to the transformation Greater Lagos for Christ in May 1985.
We had an overflow at the National Stadium, Surulere Lagos. We had over 23,000 prayer volunteers and turned Lagos into a prayer parlour. I picked those words, because those are the things that will draw or paint a vivid picture of what transpired at the National Stadium, Surulere.
We had over 5,000 boys choir singing throughout the duration of the crusade. So that was the gathering that metamorphose into what is called Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), which had become a national organization all over Nigeria. And over the years, it has grown and still growing.
In that gathering also, we were able to reward 3,000 councillors who had to counsel young & new converts. And we were to hire 84 molue buses a day for eight days. Before now, it was thought and believed to be impossible. But we did it with God on our side. We were strategic in our thinking, involving every church in Lagos. Let me tell you something, I invested 6months of planning and relocated to Lagos. I had to live in Lagos for 6months in an attempt to actualize that dream. It is no more a dream today; it is a reality and history.
So, after that, what has been the state of PFN today?
There was no PFN before then. We gave birth to it. After the pregnancy that delivered PFN in 1985, we were able to spread to every part of Nigeria. In fact, I remembered the leftover money after the programme was given back to PFN. And amazingly, every part of Nigeria cooperated and supported the programme and the dream and the desire. People that did not even know what the programme was all about invested their money, their time, before and after PFN. And it is still being sustained till now.
Your crusades or your services are linked with several miracles…
In a way, they were expected events. We knew that the impossible would happen, that the cripple would walk, the blind would see. And amazingly, those miracles are still going on till now.
For example, years back while in Owerri, I announced that the three cripples present in that meeting would walk. Two were born as cripples but God was going to help them walk home. What does that mean? We were simply saying that what was thought to be impossible was not only going to be possible, but that it shall happen without prayer, without shouting. It will become what I call a manifestation of the presence of God. The miracles happened because of the declaration, as directed by the Spirit of God, not because somebody prayed. And that is a miracle of its own.
When these three began to walk away from Owerri Stadium without prayer, without mobilizing prayer support, it was unexpected and the crowd became uncontrollable.
What informed the wealth creation empowerment scheme?
My wife and I are very passionate and very determined to see the body of Christ liberated from abject poverty into a life of abundance and comfort. This goal demanded the dream of assisting Christians who have the necessary ideas to create money and assist others in getting out of poverty. We believe that the Uma Ukpai Sustainable Wealth Creation will help us achieve the goal. The scheme is open to Christians who are ready and willing to have and share in our dreams of releasing men, women and children, the not too old, and the elderly from the bonds of poverty and enter into a better life.
The Bible says that we should support each other and contribute to those who currently have nothing. Eating is a form of labour and is a kind of remuneration and a reward system or processes for services rendered. So, you cannot eat if you don’t work. As a result, each of us must work. Again, it’s amazing, the Bible tells us that, you will not go through life without receiving anything. Let me say here that every born again child of God is alloted an angel. Angels are purse bearers that carry money for you and provide it to you when you need it. As a result, every believer must be a wealth producer and this is how you may help God’s mission. The empowerment programme is for members of our fellowship. This is because our courses will show you how to accomplish things and how things work and produce outcomes.
The wealth creation empowerment scheme is divided into several categories: The Ambassador gets N1million; The Governors goes home with N500,000 each, the pilots get N300,000 each while the soldiers go home with N200,000 each. In 2023, 11 young female fashion designers got N100,000 each with a sewing machine, while the overall winner of the Uma Ukpai’s fashion week received N1million cash. It will also interest you to know that about 125 participants of the Fellowship were trained by business leaders and experts in multiple business initiatives.
What is the Blessings of Abraham programme all about?
The Bible speaks of Abraham as a man chosen and blessed by God. In the programme, Blessings of Abraham, we remind the children of God that God can bless and beautify their lives if they would submit to this awesome and loving God of Abraham. Abraham obeyed God without questioning His wisdom and instructions. Neither did the barrenness of Sarah dampen his love for God. Rather, he went the extra mile to serve God. He was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Abraham’s faithfulness was evident to all, so should our commitment to God be. Then without doubt will His blessings and favour be our portion even extending to our children.
How was growing up with your mum like?
My mother was not a pastor. She did not even know what was happening around her. But she took note of what happened. She often wondered what had changed me. I was no longer rascally or troublesome as other young boys. An old man has spoken to her about my future and told her that this child is not her own. She was instructed not to allow me to cook, or be a houseboy and that God has a hand in my future. This added more value to my person. My mother had lost one or two children before I came to stay. So, she was willing to work around me, cook and take care of my needs, if that would keep me alive for her sake! So I was not allowed to work.
Your wife is a primary pillar in your ministry. How did you meet her?
I got to know her during the war when we all had to return to our villages. To keep ourselves busy, hoping the war would stop soon, we formed student union meetings to discuss how we could help out in the village and be the eyes and ears of our community. We also took out time to conduct programmes that encouraged us and made life meaningful in the midst of tears and hardship.
It was after the war, when the reality of death and hardship faced us that many of us began to seek God anew. By now, we were no longer children but youths forced by war to face life and plan for a better future.
I became a fulltime preacher and began to preach in universities. This was when God told me that she would be my wife. It took God another three years to inform and convince her.
Which year was it? And what attracted you to her?
It was 1975. Nothing particularly, just the voice of God. And the impression God gave, the leading God gave, and the urge God gave.
You’ve been married to her for 49 years. What is it in her that you’d want to correct?
I have not noticed anything worth correcting. I don’t have any knowledge of what can be corrected, except to accept the fact that we are normal human beings.
What is your sense of fashion?
That is what those who know me will say, not me.
Do you like the perfumes?
Perfume? That’s irrelevant.
You come out with a lot of attractive clothes, particularly white, with shoes to match, and so on. That’s a great sense of fashion.
I believe everybody dresses. There’s nothing particular or peculiar in the way I dress. I just dress by what comes my way. It depends on where we are in the world. We have travelled to every part of the world except Russia.
If you were not a preacher or an evangelist, what sort of profession would you have chosen?
I can’t think of any.
But you ventured into journalism at a time?
I read journalism in London School of Journalism for four years, then read theology in Florida.
On a lighter note, what are the types of food that you like?
I eat anything. Because I don’t know how to cook, so I eat anything that is presented to me. A man who doesn’t know how to cook will almost enjoy every food that is presented to him.
What are your likes and your dislikes?
I think I’m just a normal human being. I like what others like. And I do what most people do. I don’t see myself as being special in any way, no. I’m just a normal man, a regular Nigerian.
At the time you were growing up, what was the Nigeria of your dream?
I saw Nigeria as it came, but did not have any preconceived idea. I was expecting nothing, and I rejected nothing.
Would you say that the Nigeria of your dream is the same Nigeria today?
Yes, but Nigeria is about the best in the world, and to me it is an exciting place. And the people are friendly, the people are warm-hearted, the people are caring, and the people love God, and the people love one another. To me, that is just the best thing anybody can expect.
What are your favourite holiday areas?
I hardly go on holidays, I would not have any answer to that question but wherever life takes me to, I go there.
What lessons have you learnt in the course of growing up till now?
One lesson I have learnt is that all things are possible to them that believe. God can do all things.
Were you a daddy’s boy or a mummy’s boy?
I belonged to the two of them. My mother insisted I do whatever my father asked me to do. My father expected me to obey him and asked me to be an avid reader.
Do you have any plans of retiring?
As life comes, I am not expecting anything special, but I will go with the flow of the currents.
You just mentioned that your father was a disciplinarian. What does discipline mean to you?
Discipline means do whatever you are asked to do by your parents. And desire to please your parents, that there may be harmony and peace around you.
What advice do you have for the younger generations that are coming up?
Just love God and obey him. He is an all-round father, an all-knowing father who has a final say in the affairs of the world.
What is your final advice for Nigerians in general?
That they should love God and respect him and love one another. Nobody is good enough to be your enemy; therefore, nobody should nurse enmity or have an enemy.
As the world looks forward to your birthday, January 7, 2025, how do you feel about that date?
No, it doesn’t mean much to me. It’s just the beginning of a new beginning.
What are your words to the world or Nigerians?
My words to Nigeria is that we, in our attempt to improve the world around us, we must keep improving ourselves. Let’s make the world better.
What is it about you that you would like to correct?
No, nothing I know of.
What advice do you have for the Nigerian leaders?
Let them follow the sun.
What do you mean?
Yes, let them follow the sun. Or, if I use it in a proper expression, let them follow the Bible and obey the Bible. And love whoever is your neighbour. And care for one another.