REVELATIONS: I carried a bag full of charms to the United States

Apostle Alexander Bamgbola was one-time Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) and then Chairman of the Lagos Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria until 2020.

He has been playing active roles in the church since the 90s. He was next in line to Pastor Gabriel Oduyemi, founder of Bethel Ministries known as Wonder City.

He moved on later to start a fresh work, Zion the City of the Lord Ministries, from where he was appointed the Chairman of Lagos PFN. Beyond the church, Bamgbola was one of the leading bankers in Nigeria in the early 80s. He came back to Nigeria from the United States in 1979 and was Managing Director of then-Nigeria-America Merchant Bank. Now 75, Bamgbola, shares his story. Excerpts:

To attain 75 is not a joke in Nigeria. Did you ever envisage getting to this age?

I will not say never because of the circumstances surrounding my birth. My mother had three children before me while in Lagos in the late 30s to early 40s and each one of them died. When she was pregnant again, my grandfather, who was a monarch and also the chief priest of Ifa oracle for the whole of Yorubaland then, would not take chances. He saw through the oracle that if she put to bed in Lagos again, the child would die.

My grandfather then asked my mother to come and stay with him under his power before having me. That was how I was born. At the age of nine months, I was taken to an unknown place as revealed by Ifa just like Jesus was taken to Egypt to escape from those who wanted to kill him.

So how does that make you think you would live to this age?

I was sure because my late parents had been told by people who used to see into the future that I would live long.  My parents used to tell me that. So, it registered in my psyche that I would live long. But I think the grace of God has just been there for me.