The story of his life is a blockbuster any day. Though his parents were disciplinarians, Apostle Ayo Akingbade chose to live a weird life while growing up.
Born August 11 1964 to Mr and Mrs Lawrence Akingbade; a former Manager with WAEC, Yaba, Akingbade said his unconventional lifestyle was influenced by the abuse he suffered while in primary school. That abuse trailed him till secondary school and then hunted him after leaving school. He became the black sheep in the family. But Jesus came through for him.
Just when it seemed all hope was lost, Akingbade who is now a grandfather surrendered to Jesus and became a mighty instrument in the hands of God. He is now an apostle to the destitute particularly people living with HIV/AIDs. He founded Light in the Darkness AIDS Patients Ministry. With the ministry, God has used him to do tremendous work in rehabilitating those living with HIV/AIDS. Find below excerpts from the interview with Church Times
How was it growing up sir?
I came from a family of five boys. That is why my dad was hard on us. But that did not make me live a good life. My father was WAEC manager in those days. His name was on GCE forms in the 70s 80s early 90s.
I had a rough background; I grew up with bitterness towards women because a woman tried to poison me. And another woman hated me for no reason. She would tell me I was a bad boy and that nobody would marry me. I grew up hearing that from the woman who incidentally was my primary school teacher. So, I said to myself that since she was calling me a bad boy, I would be bad to the core. That made me become a devil’s disciple.
For there to be peace in my class, they had to make me class captain. I was also made school prefect because I led the first riot against the school authority, African Church Comprehensive High School Ikere Ekiti very popular school in those days. I became so bad. I became a DJ. Music became my god. I had a direct relationship with American musicians and producers. I was a fan of so many artists in the US. Rick James was my god then. But thank God he got saved. I used to have posters of music stars in my room then. I had T-shirts of artists with their identity cards. I was so sold to music that my father dared not touch the music items in my room. I idolised those items. Every 2 am I would be worshiping music items. I mean real worship. I got exposed to evil spirits. This spirit would visit me at midnight and teach me how to rap. I was looking forward to meeting Evang Sonny Okosun to produce my album. But he became born again. So that stalled my ambition.
Did that make you rethink?
That did not affect my relationship with the devil so to say. I was a thug and a hooligan apart from being a DJ. At one point, I wanted to run away from home because I was not getting much love from my father. I did not want to submit to him. So, I planned to raise some money and run away from Nigeria. That made me become an armed robber. I single-handedly robbed police stations with police on duty. They nearly caught me but they could not. On my way back from one of my robbery outings, I met a mysterious woman in the dead of the night and then contracted a strange spirit. My head was swollen and I was almost dying. I got home and was vomiting. But God saved me. I got out of the sickness.
What then happened?
After surviving the illness, I started packing my things from home. I just wanted to leave home. But as I stepped into my mother’s room, I saw her crying. I asked why she was crying, and she said, it was because of my bad lifestyle. I said Well if that was why she was crying, I would change. It was not long after that I became born again.
You talked about deciding to change when you saw your mum crying. Was the change instant
It did not happen immediately. But I got to know later that my cousin who knew I was a bad boy started fasting and praying for me. My teacher in secondary school also tried to reach me with the gospel. But that did not stop me from being aggressive and unfriendly. I used to drive those who came to preach in our house then.
But as God would have it my cousin invited me to a crusade by Archbishop Benson Idahosa. That was when Idahosa brought Richard Robert to Nigeria. The first miracle was that I agreed to attend the crusade. When I got to the crusade, they gave an altar call and I surrendered my life to Jesus. But before then, when I got to the ground of the crusade, I heard a voice that said to me, take up your Bible and preach. I was wondering who spoke to me and began to ask those around because the crusade had not started by then.
They said to me that the crusade had not started and nobody said anything. I was getting violent again. But they pleaded with me to take it easy. So, when the altar call was made, I surrendered my life to Christ and I was declared saved. I said, just like that? The following day I resumed my wayward life. I remember tearing a sister’s cloth into shreds because of a minor provocation.
But what finally led to my salvation was when I went to live with an uncle. Then, I did not pass my WAEC in one sitting even though my father was a manager at WAEC. So, my parents sent me to my uncle in Ondo so I could prepare for GCE. It was while in Ondo my uncle spoke to me about Jesus again. He asked why I did not want to give my life to Christ. I said because Music was my god. He said there is music in the church too. I was excited. I was taken to their church and it turned out to be a Deeper Life church. It was a Monday Bible study. I was angry when I got to church. I saw that women sat on one side while men sat on another side. The clapping was systematic.
There was nothing like the kind of music I was expecting to listen to. If I had a gun, I probably would have used it that day because I felt my uncle deceived me to the church. But then a man came up later to share the word of God. He preached on sanctification. As he was preaching it was as if every word he uttered, was a knife in my heart. And he said if you want to receive Jesus come out.
Before he finished talking, I jumped out. I knew something had happened to me. I felt the weight of sin lifted. It was June 1984. Love overwhelmed my heart. The following day I began studying the bible voraciously. When they came to follow me up, they said to themselves that they were the ones who needed follow-up. I started growing fast in the faith. I now gained admission to Lagos State University to read Political Science. While in LASU God used me to start the first Christian fellowship
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There was nothing like the kind of music I was expecting to listen to. If I had a gun, I probably would have used it that day because I felt my uncle deceived me to the church. But then a man came up later to share the word of God. He preached on sanctification. As he was preaching it was as if every word he uttered, was a knife in my heart. And he said if you want to receive Jesus come out.
Amazingly, you turned out bad despite having disciplinarian parents. How come they could not tame you?
As I said, I had a nasty experience with my teacher in primary school. But then I had this quiet look that made it impossible to believe I could be that bad. I never had friends, not even girlfriends. I did not smoke. I was always keeping to myself and yet my eyes were always red. Those evil spirits that taught me how to rap would give me designs of cloth to sew from the spirit world. I would draw the designs on paper and give them to my tailor to sew for me. Whenever I wore those clothes, people got attracted to me. People would be driving; they would slow down to look at me because the designs of those clothes were out of this world.
My father tried his best. I will not judge him for being hard on us. Where things changed in my life was the women who played a negative role in my life. I was sexually molested by a woman when I was 10 years old. There was another woman who put poison in my food. Then, I had a teacher who just hated me. She would beat me at the slightest opportunity. Those were the things that toughened me. My class while in school was full of bad students. The man who led the famous Ali Must Go riot in UNILAG was my class teacher. Both of us in that class were a crazy combination. If anything was missing in school, it could be traced to my class. Incidentally, I never told my parents all the experiences I had in school with women who molested me till they passed away. But then, nobody cared to ask what made me live the kind of life I lived.
Let’s talk about your passion. How did you come about reaching out to HIV victims?
Shortly after I surrendered my life to Jesus in 1984, I listened to a message by Pastor Adeboye on “Let us Fly”. It was on how God used a lady to pray for a crippled man and the man was healed. Pastor Adeboye said he asked God why he could not do what the lady did and the Lord said because the lady prayed in tongues more than him. I chew that message. I had also been baptised in the holy spirit after I listened to a message by Pastor Kumuyi titled, “God has your name with a miracle attached to it”. I was just listening to the message at home from a tape player when I got baptised in the holy spirit.
That happened before I listened to the Adeboye message. I was later invited to Ibadan for the Holy Ghost Convention hosted by Bishop Wale Oke. It used to hold in September. One of the guest speakers at that convention was Pastor Adeboye. He taught us the message, the crucified life. After that teaching many of my friends said they would not eat again because of the impact of the message on them. I went ahead and ate. But when I got home, I went through my notes again. By the time I finished going through the message again, I decided to fast for one and half years. I did not sleep on the bed while fasting. I chose to sleep on the table so that I could be alert to pray in tongues. It was while fasting that Jesus walked into my bedroom in a vision.
A day before that day, I had a dream. I saw myself in a large hall and I asked where was this, a voice said to me this is the rehabilitation center. The following day Jesus came to me and said he was sending me to rehabilitate those who had HIV AIDs. I said okay. But my challenge was, how do I find those with HIV so I could rehabilitate them?
I was just about 21 years old then. I did not know any HIV/AIDS person. I was a novice but zealous for the Lord. The only time I heard about AIDS was through a friend who was taking care of people living with the virus. I also heard about it when I visited Uganda and met a lady who was miraculously cured of the virus.
When I met the lady and heard her testimony, I felt the vision had been fulfilled. I started preaching in different parts of Nigeria and the world at large. I went to about 40 countries preaching the gospel.
While doing that I also became a Bible smuggler to China. That is a story for another day. I was fully involved in crusades as a healing evangelist.
But then, God had to call my attention to what he had asked me to do. In 2019 while I was in my hotel room during a trip outside the country, I heard an audible voice that reminded me of what God had called me to do. The voice said to me, “I sent you to rehabilitate HIV victims”. I woke up from that dream and took my laptop to find out how I would get HIV patients. I got to know they were in South Africa and Benue State Nigeria. I came back to Nigeria and went to Otukpo in Benue State and for the first time, I saw a medical facility with HIV patients. I went there with drugs, and food and supported the people. About 150 patients were in the facility. I was trying to get a place to settle in Benue so I could continue to support them. But God said no. I returned to Lagos and began work with HIV patients in LASUTH. Initially, the hospital did not want to accept us because they felt many people who come in the name of church dissuade HIV patients from using their drugs. But I was able to convince them that in our case, we give drugs and food support to HIV patients.
We met a nurse who helped to facilitate our relationship with HIV/AIDS patients. Later we went to LASUTH with about half a million naira worth of drugs. That was our first outreach in Lagos. I preached to them and told them Jesus sent me to them. I gave them drugs and food to eat. The matron was shocked by what we did and asked for our address.
After that outing, the patients were directed to our office, 29 B Bishop Street, Mokola Bus stop Egbeda close to Gowon Estate. That was what made us start a regular meeting with HIV/AIDS patients.
What kind of meeting do you have with them?
We meet every Tuesday to fellowship; we pray and share the word. That is like our own Sunday service. We also meet every second Saturday of the month. We hold convention every November. People started coming to our programmes and God was healing them. At that point, we felt God had given us the healing power. I made a big signboard asking people who had health challenges to come that Jesus would heal them. But rather than being healed, nothing was happening again. The healing stopped and God rebuked me; almost killing me. God said I made him stupid. He said he had only sent me to people with HIV.
What did God’s rebuke mean to you then?
I have been in ministry for 35 years. I have never seen Jesus as specific as that. I went back to our people and repented. I asked those who don’t have HIV to please excuse us. A woman was pleading that we should allow her to be coming and that she was blessed coming, I said no way. I could not afford to disobey God again. In November 2023 we had about 700 people in our convention. Our meeting is only for people living with HIV. We preach to them the word of faith and we give altar calls. We preach forgiveness. Many have been healed. We used to have a full-time nutritionist who came to advise them on what to eat. They also get drugs from our in-house pharmacy But I had to relieve the nutritionist of her job since we could not pay her salary. I sold my house, sold my car, and put the proceeds into the work. It’s a charity. It is Jesus’ project.
How did you integrate yourself into taking care of HIV/AIDs patients when you had no background in medicine?
I had to go back to the University of Michigan to study how to take care of HIV patients. That is why we do all the necessary things we had to do in trying to rehabilitate HIV/AIDS patients. There is what is called opportunistic infections. We give them drugs to take care of such infections. We liaise with licensed hospitals for them to undergo check-ups and we give them our drugs free of charge. We give them food to eat. We don’t allow any form of stigma. I hug them I play with them. That itself is healing. We discovered that some commit suicide because of stigma so we have to show them love. After giving them food to eat during our convention, we give them raw food to take home. Each patient goes home with a quarter crate of eggs and a bag of wheat.
Where do the patients come from?
They come from everywhere in Lagos. The Senate Committee on Health has heard about us. We got an award from the Lagos State Network of People Living with HIV. Those who come to our meetings are given money for transportation to go back to their base. We empower some of those who lost their jobs because they are carriers of the virus. We look forward to drug companies that will support us with drugs to assist in our rehabilitation effort. We have been to several other parts of Lagos. We just came back from Akwa Ibom, Uyo which is number 1 now in Nigeria. About 250,000 people living with HIV are there. But we were only able to reach a fraction of them.
It is amazing you are doing such a massive work and nobody seems to know. By the way, what is the state of HIV now in Nigeria, has it gone down considerably?
Well, when God does His work, he does not make noise. HIV infection has not reduced in Nigeria at all. However, the rate of transmissions may have reduced because of the ART drugs which help to suppress the virus. I need to correct something thing here, I am a man of faith. When someone testifies that he has been healed of HIV/AIDS it’s not as automatic as we think. It is not like a blind seeing or a lame walking. In the case of HIV, we still need to do several tests to confirm that the virus is no longer in the system. It does not mean one is doubting God, but the truth is that the virus is very stubborn. If a patient takes the ART drugs regularly. It helps to suppress the virus. If the viral load is high, it is easily transmissible to other people and it leads to AIDS. Transmission can only occur through sex, or blood contact with a carrier, etc not through coughing or hugging of people with the virus.
When someone is infected, the virus will multiply and fight back and it may lead to full-blown AIDS for those who don’t take their drugs. For those who take their drugs regularly, it will get to a point where the viral load in their body will be reduced minimally. They may even get to the point where the virus cannot be detected. That is when they say they are healed. But that does not mean the virus is not there. It is just that it undetectable. As a man of faith, I want to hear that you are healed. And to ascertain that you are healed, we have to do a lot of tests. Sometimes the virus could hide in the brain cells and some other obscure parts of the body, it could be in the bone marrow because you have used drugs to suppress them.
But since you started do we have cases of people that have been healed and no longer have the virus?
We have had cases of those healed. The first testimony of healing came at a particular year I was discouraged about the ministry. I saw that many of my friends were having branches of their churches everywhere, collecting tithe and offering and doing great but here I am stuck with HIV patients. I said to the Lord that I was tired. But this particular day, it was a Tuesday when we met, I woke up as usual around 4 am to pray for HIV patients. But I could not pray. I was still sulking and wondering if I was making any impact. I said to myself, can’t I just get any testimony of what God is doing? I was complaining that I was just spending money without visible results.
So, this woman came on her own. She had been to the November convention. She said she had a testimony to give. I asked her to sit down that we don’t want testimonies of what happened to them in their churches but what God had done in the meeting as regards their HIV case. I said she was going to relate how God had healed her. She now narrated how she came to the November convention with a 3 million viral load and how we prayed for her. She believed God had answered her prayer. By January the following year, she went for a test and the load dropped to 700. She went for another test weeks later, it dropped to 300 and then to 150. She went back again for a test and they could not detect the virus again. That for me means the virus is no longer active. But for us to confirm complete healing, she had to undergo a test that will run for about 6 months to one year before we can now say she is truly free and that she may not take the drugs again.
After her testimony, another man came forward and said he had a 4 million viral load and his own too undetectable. But last year convention took another dimension. We had a longer time to pray this time around. I invited a friend to come and preach at the event and pray for the people. We hardly invite pastors because we don’t have an honorarium to give. We only invite the few who understand what we do and can speak our language. So, I invited this brother who preached powerfully and prayed for the people. As God would have it, by January this year, we recorded the first negative result. What many testify in churches is that they could no longer detect the virus. Despite the testimony, I had to send the patients to YABA and they still tested negative. We have three cases of such now.
Many still believe HIV/AIDS is a fluke. How will you react to this?
If it is not real Jesus will not commission us to do this work and still be releasing grace for us to do it. I undertook a course where the whole thing about HIV was unveiled. I was trained. It is not a white man’s disease like some people claim. Some say it is from a monkey and all that. All we can say is that it is real. It started somewhere and spread to Africa. Poverty played a major role in its spread. That is why it is no longer common in the West. When it came to Africa, we played politics with it. When it got to South Africa, the government then said it was a white man’s disease. They discouraged treatment and testing. But in a place like Uganda, the government took action immediately because it affected many people. There are so many orphans in Uganda as a result of the death of parents who had the virus. That is why it is being given much attention in that country.
In the US they removed the price of their drugs after a while. The main challenge is with Africa. The real origin of the virus I don’t know. But we were told a lot of stories which I was not ready to know. The fact is that it is real and it came to Africa. Leaders were slow to respond. That is why it spread. But thank God for the ART drugs. Once the viral load is suppressed and undetectable they can even marry, and give birth without giving birth to babies with HIV. Someone can look healthy yet be a carrier of the virus. Our target is to make sure they are healed and get to undetectable status.
How is your family involved in this?
My wife and children are actively involved in supporting the work. My wife has been quite supportive. As I speak, my wife told me she is already saving for the November Convention. She is a practicing nurse in the US. My daughter is also a practicing nurse in the US. The future is bright, and glorious for the ministry. We are trusting God to take this initiative to all the states in Nigeria and beyond. If it is just to heal, that will be easy. But God asked us to rehabilitate. God has provided us with a bus of our own for the project. We are looking towards other African countries, especially East Africa and South Africa. We look forward to having a big farmland to plant crops that will help boost the immunity of HIV/AIDS patients.
