Lord’s Chosen, where Sakimin’s life changed

She didn’t know anything about the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries and neither had she ever been to Nigeria. But her encounter with God in far away Ghana brought her to Nigeria for the first time.

At the yearly programme of the Lord’s Chosen tagged: “From Sorrow To Joy” held recently at the church’s headquarters in Ijesha, Lagos, she shared testimony of how she became a Chosen member.

By birth, Sikira Sakimin was a Muslim. She hails from Volta Region in Ghana. Her father, though late, was fondly called Alhaji (Baba) governor, while the mother, Hajia is still alive.

Though she has other siblings, she is the only Christian in her family. Her testimony sounded unbelievable, prompting journalists to probe further.

The 36-year-old woman, who now bears Joy after attending baptismal class in the church, narrated: “A man in white suit appeared to me in 1997 and showed me people in a boat, as they were clapping their hands.

The man said to me: ‘my daughter, you see this river, you cannot cross it unless you join those people in the boat.’ I didn’t understand the meaning. So, I told my parents that there is a man who always appears to me in white suit, and would show me people in a boat clapping their hands.

“Each time he appeared, he would show me the same people in the boat and then disappear. When I told my family, they felt something strange was happening to me, and because of this, they called an Alfa, who put marks on my body to stop the man from appearing to me.

I think it was also on account of that that they decided I should stop going to school, where my other siblings attended. They said I should attend an Arabic school. I didn’t argue with them.

“Along the line, they changed their mind and said I should go to Saudi Arabia for my studies. They processed everything, including my travelling documents, but a day before I was to travel to Saudi Arabia, around 4am in the morning, the man, who was to take me to Saudi Arabia, ran mad. As I speak to you, he is still in that condition in Ghana. That was how my parents’ dream to send me to Saudi Arabia was shattered.”

In 2000, when Sikira lost her father, one would have thought everything about the ‘man in white suit’ was over, but surprisingly, the ‘angel’ still continued appearing to her. But this time, he told her to leave Ghana.

“The man said I should prepare to leave Ghana, but considering my age then, (I was born in 1982), I was confused, as I didn’t know anywhere apart from Ghana, where I was born and bred.

However, I mustered courage and informed my mother that I am leaving Ghana. Her reaction was: ‘where are you going and where do you even know?’ I said I would just board a bus and go anywhere. They thought I was pregnant and was using that to deceive them. But I told them I wasn’t pregnant. So, I was told to undergo pregnancy test, which showed negative. It was then that my mother allowed me to go.

“As I left the house that very day, I didn’t have any money on me, but as God would have it, I saw my father’s old friend at the junction. He was a driver and he called my Muslim name Sikira. I was shocked.

The man said: ‘I learnt your father is dead,’ I said yes. I told him I was going to Kwa Lem in Togo. Coincidentally, he was going my direction, so I joined him and we got there at 6pm.

To my greatest surprise, I met someone that knew me. He also was surprised to see me there. I explained my mission; that I came to look for a job. He couldn’t believe it because of my age. He also knew my father very well.

I told him I wanted to leave Ghana and from Togo, I would be going to Cotonou. He promised to take me there, but said the journey would commence the following day. So, I passed the night in his house with the family.

“The following day, he took me to Benin Republic. On getting there, I saw another old friend of my father’s. It was as if he just finished playing football because he was in tracksuit.

He said: ‘What are you doing here?’ Initially, he thought I was a ghost, as he never expected to see me there. After exchanging pleasantries, he took me to his house, where I met his family members.

Again, I explained my mission to his family and was warmly received. One day, I wanted to go and buy eko, as I was tired of the food in the house. As I stepped out, I met a lady I knew and in a surprised tone, she said: ‘Sikira, Baba governor’s daughter, what are you doing here?’ I showed her where I was staying. It was after our discussion she promised to take me to a white man she knew very well. The man had a company in Benin Republic.

“On getting to the white man’s house, I was introduced to the family. The man said he had no job to give me, but appealed to my friend to allow me stay with them, promising he would train me.

Not long after that, the white man’s contract finished and he got another contract with Chicken Republic in Nigeria. That was how I came to Nigeria.”

Along the way, Sakimin met her husband, a Christian, who also hails from Benin Republic. But the caveat here was that she couldn’t marry the man because of his Christian background. How she convinced her mother to allow her marry a Christian shows she was destined to be a Christian.

“In my family, we don’t marry anybody who’s not a Muslim,” she said. “However, I informed my mother about it and she said we should come to Ghana, that she would like to see him. So, we travelled to Ghana. I was surprised my mother approved the marriage.

We did everything we were supposed to do. After that, we wedded. But my mother and the rest of the family could not believe that they allowed me to marry a non-Muslim. They said we used charm on them, but we never did such thing.

“Thereafter, my husband and I returned to Lagos and the man in white suit continued to show to me that same boat with people in it. I told my husband about it and his reaction was, ‘God wants you to be a Christian.’

So, he took me to one church in Itedo, Lekki. But in the night, the man in white suit appeared to me and said: ‘This is not the church I asked you to go.’

“He pointed out things that were wrong with the church. I explained this to my husband. He took me to another church, where, according to him, they pray very well. We attended the church programme one Thursday and the topic was: ‘I shall not die.’ While we were still there, the man appeared and for the first time, I heard ‘go to the Lord’s Chosen.’

I asked the person beside me, what’s Lord’s Chosen? She said, ‘it’s a church.’ Is it in Nigeria here, I asked? She said, ‘Yes, at Ijesha.’ She described the place for us.

Personally, I don’t know anywhere. We decided to locate the church, but on our way from Ajah, there was serious traffic. So, we went back. Just at our bus stop, I saw the lady that gave us the description. She directed us to the Lord’s Chosen branch nearby. When we got there, we met Pastor Amaobi, who was in charge. Immediately, he saw me, he said some things about me, but I didn’t know what he saw.

He told my husband to take the baby from me, while he prayed for me. Immediately, I fell under the anointing. He did deliverance prayer for me about three times and each time I fell under anointing.

“He gave me one assignment, which was to spell the name JESUS. I did, and from there, he changed my Muslim name, Sikira to Joy. After that encounter, I joined the baptismal class and was baptised. That man in suit still came, but this time, he asked me to join the intercessory group in the church, which I did.”

Sakimin and her husband, Frank now attend the Lord’s Chosen.

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