By Christy Anyanwu
Pastor Tobi Adegboyega, also called PT by church members and fans, is the founder of London-based Salvation Proclaimers Anointed Church, better known as SPAC Nation. To many, the man is an unusual cleric. They wonder why a man of God would mingle with secular entertainers, just as well as how he can live large in all ramifications without collecting tithes and offerings like other clerics are doing. He explains all that and more in this interview with Saturday Sun in London.
Your church is a unique one. You don’t collect tithes and offerings. From where then have you been getting the money that you have been using to run the ministry?
A church should be a place that gives. That’s one of the reasons we are bold. We have never taken a penny from government before. We don’t finish church service and ask everybody to contribute. Rather, we finish church service and say we want to bless 10.000 widows in Nigeria this week. That’s how we live. So, how have we been surviving? We build businesses. If people are diligent enough to look at talents and potential around them, invest in those talents and you are able to wait, they will grow and they will give back to the church that made them. If you build people, people would come back to build you. And, God just gave me the right people. That’s my testimony.
I met Davido and his team in your house. Portable and a lot of other secular artistes and entertainers always come around you. As a pastor, why do you like to interact with people in the entertainment industry?
The entertainment industry in Nigeria needs all the support it can get. Remember, these boys made their own way. The government didn’t help them; the community didn’t help them. When we were growing up, if you tell your parents you want to be a musician, most families will abuse you and tell you to go and study medicine. These young men and young women made their own way. They started employing people. They made Africa proud more than our politicians. They have put us on the world map. That’s number one reason I think they need all the support. Secondly, whenever churches and pastors criticise me, asking why do you relate with all these people, I ask them one question: if that boy was your son or your daughter that has that much money or fame, would you not support him? They are talented. So, my job is to create a hub where all these men and women can come, feel encouraged, feel connected. I can pray with them. I can give advice and we can all grow together. They may not be perfect overnight. But when you keep an open door policy for people, they will see your lifestyle and they will begin to be influenced positively towards whatever God wants for their lives too. There will always be musicians in this world. And we cannot chase them away because they are not church musicians. Humans are humans. It’s about opening up your house and hands to receive them into the kingdom and encourage them. That’s what matters.
In June, you posted something on Instagram. What was it all about?
We woke up one day and we noticed that there was news everywhere. And the news claimed they have shut down the church. We saw it online like everyone else saw it. So, we had to find out what happened. We noticed that one of our companies that has to do with the church was wound down by the government. That’s a normal process in the United Kingdom. We wanted that company wound down anyway. But the news was everywhere before we could realise it. Even though we wanted that company wound down, they are claiming things that didn’t really happen. It is now in the Court of Appeal. We are appealing it. But we wanted our friends to rest assured that we behaved responsibly. That was why I had the post.
So it’s not as if your church was closed down as it’s being rumoured?
You can’t close down a church. A church is a collection of many people from all walks of life. So technically, you can’t close down a church. You can close down companies that have to do with the church. This company has to do with the church. They were not happy with certain accounts filing. If you are not happy with something, you will say suspicious or stuffs like that. Then we provide you with more details. But they jumped the gun and that’s why our lawyers are busy challenging them to say, this is completely wrong.
There are many misconceptions about you and SPAC Nation. How do you react to those misconceptions?
What can I do? I know there are many misconceptions. But the part that we see is that we are helping many young people. We are changing lives. The government has recognised that over and over again. We had returned to the government many ammunition and drugs surrendered by young boys and girls from the streets more than any other organisation had, including the police. These things are on record. We also understand that if you are doing something this big, it can’t be perfect. You have people within the organisation who sometimes leave the church and they would be unhappy. There’s no place in the world where that does not happen. Sometimes, some people in church, the leadership would misbehave. I had been in this country for 17 years now. Yet there has been no criminal offence to my name. I think overtime, people will understand our uniqueness. Our uniqueness makes us look as if we are showing off wealth. But if we are going to win this generation, we have to attract them and that’s what we are still doing. In UK, they said we are fraudulent. Yet not one person has been called to the police station. There is real misconception. But with time people would begin to understand us more.
There’s this speculation about selling blood donation. Tell us more about it?
If people take time to think a bit, they will know some things are not practical. How much do they sell blood? If someone goes and donates blood now, how much would they give you? That is, by the time you get 1,000 people’s blood? Maybe they would give them 10 pounds each (laughs). At first, they said it was loan. Will loan not finish? Then they said it is blood. Should the blood of people not have finished by now? We are businessmen. But nobody can go behind wanting more money thinking if they talk on the Internet, we will give them money. We are very business-oriented because we don’t take tithes and offering in my church. So how do we survive? We build businesses. People come and put their money in businesses. We also understand how people work. They think you are richer. They want to blackmail you. But everybody that has come in contact with us financially had ended up living a better life. That’s the truth.
How do you feel when you read all these things about you online?
I don’t feel bad about it. It doesn’t even concern me. There’s something that is worse than being talked about. It is not being talked about. Not being talked about is like you are dead; you are not relevant.
Your dad is one of the second-generation pastors. How does he feel whenever he reads such controversial write-ups about you?
He knows that I have always lived a selfless life. He’s always told me that selfless life is a problem because people are funny. But he knows that I’m determined. He knows me well enough to say ‘that is not Tobi.’ He knows I will never cheat a person in my life. My dad knows and my mum knows also. They read it but they don’t even tell me. If it is so popular like the last one, they would call and I would explain. That’s how life is.
When you are not preaching, what else do you do?
I like hosting people. As we speak, we have like ten guests here now. Davido is here. Every day I host people. I like hosting people – old, young, male, female. I love life. I like everybody regardless of their beliefs. They are human beings first, every other thing is secondary.
If there’s something like re-incarnation would you want to be a pastor in your next world?
I would have loved to be an entertainer. But since I have pastored in this life maybe I will like to go for something else. I would like to be around anything that brings joy to people. So I might be a musician or an actor. Anything that keeps me in good contact with people. But having said that, if I have the option to come back to this life, I would think twice. Maybe I should be an angel this time around (smiles). This life is tough. People are tough but good at the same time.
Next year, 2023 is an election year in Nigeria. What advice do you have for the electorate, especially the youths?
I’m glad that the PVC revival is going on. It shows that young people in Nigeria are waking up to know that the decision in nation-building is theirs now. So it’s an interesting journey into 2023. I want to encourage them to pick leaders who have track records. I mean those who know how to raise people, those who have built something before and those who have the capacity to unite Nigeria and to provide what is most necessary – economic power, prosperity for Nigerians.
If you were to come Nigeria to vote, who would you vote for?
Many people already know where I’m tending to lean towards. It’s politics. You listen to people, you understand people more. I like to meet people so that I can understand them more, make research about people because I also know how the masses behave. Most times, we don’t even look at people, we just listen to rumours. So, for me, I like people who know how to build people. People who can say, ‘you see that one, God helped me to raise him,’ people who have testimonies as people would call it. I would vote for people who know how to raise people and create economic power.