Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Dr. Mike Okonkwo, has led an epoch-making and revolutionary life in the ministry of the Word. Okonkwo, who clocks 70 this week, has been a source of inspiration to many, writes Correspondent, SAM NWOKORO.
Celestial, energetic, spirit-filled, faithful, lively, impactful, philanthropic, cerebral without being showy, a politician without ideological leaning. Advisor, counsellor, teacher of teachers, pastor of pastors, orator, mentor, pathfinder, a homely father, an ardent follower of the Abrahamic faith, Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM), Mike Okonkwo, has lived an eventful life which any mortal could ever pray for.
In the last 34 years, he has been ministering the word of faith and salvation. Nigerians, young and old, have come to see him as Mr. Integrity who has shown that in our age, when it is increasingly becoming difficult to ascertain among the flock those who genuinely embraced the scripture with the aim of transforming lives, it is possible to imitate our ancient father, Abraham, in faith and righteousness.
It is exhilarating to discover that Dr. Okonkwo is a man of God set apart from the crowd. For in such adventure for ego-massaging, they wilfully forget they are diluting the chastity demanded of their calling with the putrefying lucre of worldly lust. No matter the degree of sophistry with which they often try to explain away the embarrassing moral conflicts inherent in such open flirtation (not even casual) with partisan politics of self-interest and gains, at the end of the day, they get polluted along the line, as sassy stories of moral corruption and ethical quandary inherent in politics gets spewed out. That has been the lot of many men of God in Nigeria of this genre, of which Dr. Okonkwo luckily has never been spotted with.
Says Professor James Dikeocha, a philosopher don in one of the nation’s ivory towers, about Okonkwo after chairing one of the many educational essay writing competitions regularly organised by the Mike Okonkwo Foundation: “Mike Okonkwo, the presiding Pastor of TREM, has shown consistently in the past, more than a decade, since the inauguration of the children’s essay competition that youth empowerment is central to national growth. More than 3,000 youths have found fulfilment in various vocational training skills through the Mike Okonkwo Foundation. And the fact that he is not the president of a conglomerate, those who eat your money in alliance with Nigerian governments make Mike Okonkwo’s philanthropic deeds in the area of education most commendable. We cannot thank him enough.”
Spirit-filled Apostle
It is not in doubt that Dr. Okonkwo is a motivational speaker whose exhortations touch the marrows of the bone whenever he espouses the word from the altar. For a man whose baritone voice quakes, with or without microphones, his messages resonate the undiluted frankness of the power in God’s word.
Okonkwo does not colour the Word to suit his motives. He had not been seen openly courting any political party, be it the incumbent establishment or the opposition. Yet he is abreast with the social condition of his people as much as the policies and the implications of government’s actions.
There is no aspect of national affairs or agenda Dr. Okonkwo does not follow. And he is never weary of preaching the virtues of goodness in leadership.
On the country’s failure to attain economic progress commensurate with its age, the cleric once lectured: “My solution to Nigeria’s backwardness is to get the electoral system right and other things will fall into place. We should come up with a law that will ensure that if any public officer is caught embezzling public funds, the government should take the money back and then send the person to jail.
“I am sure it will act as a deterrent to others who might want to go the same way. The issue is the people who are going to promulgate the law. Are they clean? Are they not the ones the law would catch first? But I believe we must start somewhere. We should not do plea bargaining with any corrupt officer. We should not do it at this stage of our war against corruption. The place they do that are places where corruption is minimal.
“In Nigeria, corruption is gargantuan and we need to tackle it with iron hand. If you introduce that in Nigeria, what you will have is people saying ‘no problem; I will steal as much as possible, and later release some of it and enjoy the rest later’. There should be no plea bargaining. Corruption has caused a lot of problems and we should tackle it head-long.”
There is no doubt from his aversion of corruption that he would have been a progressive politician had he chosen politics as a vocation. His trenchant barbs on corrupt leaders has been a tonic that constantly reminds leaders that they owe obligation to the human race to conduct governance as fitting of God’s appointed angels on earth. And this reflects so much in the activities of TREM.
The TREM Young People Project has been a worthy mentorship school which has, over the years, redirected the lives of youths from warped socialisation processes afflicting many homes in Nigeria; a problem caused by the heathen, anti-God beliefs and practices of ancient days. Even in this cyber age, the TREM young people programme has been effectively moderating cyber-malediction of our time with sublimating spiritual foods to checkmate rampaging godlessness that has come with cybernetics.
The TREM International Women Prayer Group has succeeded also in engaging the women in the project of turning many of them into worthy instruments in the hands of our Lord, executing good works that the Almighty purposed ab initio at creation before the bad one called Lucifer surfaced to pollute their faith. It is remarkable that TREM’s Women International Prayer Group has been influential and impactful motivational speakers and effective intercessors.
Another arm of Bishop Okonkwo’s TREM Commission that has impacted on humanity’s consciousness for good is the annual Kingdom Life Conference, a gathering of global leaders from diverse fields who at the end of each conference hardly come short of divinely inspired blue-prints for tackling mankind’s many challenges.
The conference has been a rich resource for contemporary leadership, even in the secular world. For from it, leaders have come to appreciate the indispensability of godliness and righteousness as essential leadership tools.
TREM’s Kingdom Life conference remains one of Bishop Okonkwo’s revolutionary imputes in evangelism.
Another flagship of this time-honoured cleric is the ELP Foundation. Through it, many children got access to elusive education, computer knowledge, scholarship and various degrees of mentorship. TREM’s Microfinance Bank has been rated among the few surviving microfinance houses that have been effectively managed and that has impacted on those on the lower rungs of entrepreneurship for which the concept of microfinance institution was created in the 90s. The bank has never been mentioned in any of those spiteful excesses of finance houses rampant nowadays in the financial world.
A pathfinder
TREM, as it marks the milestone of its founder, would reminisce how impactful its televangelism has been in the days of yore when mass media was not as preponderant as it is today. For it was Okonkwo that popularised the use of electronic media for effective outreach. Back in the 1970s, the high decibel vocals of Okonkwo dominated the airwaves east of the Niger, then before it gradually spread to other parts of the country. He was a pace-setter.
Also, whenever the story of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria was written, the name of Okonkwo would dominate early chapters. He certainly was one, if not the first, motivator for the gathering of men called to the ministry of faith into a fold for effective ministering of the Gospel (as Apostle Paul would posit). For the Kingdom of God strives not in division, but in the unity of faith. Thus, there is little doubting that the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) has been serving as an effective point of constellation of the spirit and Christendom in Nigeria, more than the individual churches. Yes, in unity there is strength, especially in these times that followers of our Lord are facing the worst kind of persecution since the days of Apostle Paul centuries ago. The PFN has been a good rallying point.
Another feat of the Bishop Okonkwo is his openness in admonishing leadership in the country. His precise opinions are delivered without equivocation, simply frank, non-partisan, non-tribal. He always has something to say on Nigeria’s leadership. On former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, he says: “I admire Jonathan so much. But he did not have the guts to fight corruption.”
On fellow men of God: “I will say the men of God failed Jonathan. Because Jonathan was operating like somebody under a spell, and we, the men of God, had the responsibility of taking him out of the spell, pray with him even for three days, and whatever was holding him would have been removed.”
He says of Buhari: “It is unfortunate calling Buhari ‘Mr. Go Slow’ now. Do you want him to come and clean the mess of 16 years in two days? I don’t know why we are never truthful to ourselves. If the only thing Buhari can do is just to instil fear against corruption, and all the machinery and agencies of government are working to dissuade corruption, then we would have achieved a lot.”
Okonkwo was not kind on same sex marriage. “It is part of the end-time event. Don’t also be surprised if other strange things follow. I won’t be surprised if bestiality is introduced. I will be shocked if the church gets involved in it, if nations endorse it. Nations don’t go by the Bible; they play politics. Parents must talk to their children and let them know that is not the right thing.”
Destined man of God
Dr. Okonkwo goes down in memory as one African whose name has entered the ancient Jewish history books, ‘the Scroll’, as was recorded about the kings and judges that ruled the State of Israel of old. This is as a result of his undiluted faith in the words of the Holy One of Israel. Little wonder the motto of the church, ‘Power in the Word’.
For the musician-turned reformer/evangelist, Okonkwo’s life is really worthy of emulation, for the youth and the new breed ‘men Of God’ whose faithlessness and pranking involvement in matters of the Great Commission has not measured up. At 70, both the secular world and the clergy would be glad that this General in God’s vineyard is strutting our shores.
