Steve Obidi: Poetry Lines In Search Of The Truth (Book Review)

 Book: Eternal Truth (Poems: Timeless Wisdom for Purposeful Living)

Author: Steve Obidi

Pagination: 122

Publishers: Kraft Books Limited, Ibadan, Nigeria

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale

Russian-American poet and essayist, Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996), won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, going on to become, in 1991, the United States Poet Laureate, which classed him ‘’among the most influential Christian poets of the 20^th Century.’’

Pastor Kumuyi At 85: Discipline, Distinctives And Disquisitions

By Banji Ojewale

Vladimir Kuts was Russia’s unforgettable long-distance runner who, in a wildly combative career that lasted only three years in the 1950s, trashed the records for both the 5000 and 10000 metres in one single competition. He didn’t believe there was any limit to man created in the image of God. Any being with such Divine trappings couldn’t fail.  They would strive to reinvent the wheel, march across dreaded territory and plunge wordsmiths into uncharted depths to attempt to capture their achievements.

*Pastor Kumuyi

Therefore, retiring from global athletics while still at his peak when there were no more challenges, Kuts worked as a coach in the Central Army Club in Moscow and declared his mission: to discover a boy who would run faster than himself. It was a tall call; nobody could match Kuts’ tenacity, iron will and speed in his day. For many, it was illogical and inconceivable that a mentee would align with his lionized mentor’s agenda to outdo the legend.  But the Russian Spartan didn’t rubbish race records resting on rational thinking. Nor on public opinion. Or on emotions.

Daily Manna: Rescuing Mankind Through A Devotional

 Book: Daily Manna: A Daily Devotional Guide (January – December 2026) 

Author: W.F. Kumuyi

Pages: 379

Publishers: Life Press Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria 

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale 

In ancient times, the sages sought to know the bowels of the future by looking into the bowels of animals. They would spread the skin of a slain beast, and after studying the surface contours, lines and features, they would determine whether a journey scheduled for a future should be undertaken or not or whether the gods approved or disapproved the levying of a war. For a long time in history, according to legend, this meeting point between living men and lifeless creatures was the answer to man’s immanent crave to see beyond his present. 

Between Kumuyi And A Daring Pakistani Woman

 By Banji Ojewale

The 1978 book, I Dared to Call Him Father, by Bilquis Sheikh, sacked the staid and sacral stance of the slumbering world with its contribution to the generational interaction between Muslims and Christians. Bilquis was an aristocratic Pakistani Muslim whose conversion to Christianity plunged her into a whirlwind of rebellion, rejection and ridicule at the hands of family and society. Her book, with Richard Schneider, is the granular account of her epic battle to battle those who challenged her daring moves in a conservative community.

*Kumuyi

Her religion doesn’t admit God as a personal father. She writes: ‘’No Muslim, I felt certain, ever thought of Allah as his father… Wouldn’t it be sinful to try to bring the Great One down to our own level?’’ Now, Bilquis did not only call God her Father; but also, she went ahead to follow her deep-seated convictions to become a follower of Christ, sacrificing convenience and convention. She spoke of threats from kinsmen to visit her with honour killing.

Revealing The Secret Behind Kumuyi's Prayers - A Book Review

Book: Riches Of Prayer

Author: W. F. Kumuyi

Pages: 157

Publishers: Life Press Ltd, Lagos, Nigeria

Reviewer: Banji Ojewale 

Years ago, a journalist approached Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, eager to know what he hid under his miracle-laden prayers that always landed, bereft of boisterous baggage. The newsman wondered: ‘’What I find amazing … is that some other pastors would lay their hands on people and shake them till they fall down and roll about. But you don’t do that. You just stand at the podium and pray a simple prayer, a normal prayer, no theatrics, and people get healed.’’

Ghana Looks Into History To Hear From God

 By Banji Ojewale

Ghana, Black Africa’s oldest independent nation, is preparing for two landmark events in 2026 and 2027. In 2026, the Black Star land will be looking decades back, recalling 60 years after the tragic overthrow of the legendary Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, its founding president.

*Mahama

Then, in 2027 Ghanaians and the international community will celebrate the 70^th anniversary of the country’s bold and befittingly blistering break with colonial servitude. The one sought to kill the foundation for a different approach to governance adopted by Nkrumah in a world weighed down by imperialistic paradigms. The other, an unforgettable African narrative scripted by Africans, will bring back the story of how one country triggered the revolution that consumed the Western imperatorial order imposed on the continent since the 19^th Century.

W.F. Kumuyi At 84 And Lessons On Legacy Leadership

 By Banji Ojewale

A newsmagazine editor was troubled after traveling extensively with Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, on his missionary trips to parts of Nigeria, Africa and Europe. He was intrigued with how members of Kumuyi’s Deeper Life Bible Church, DLBC, embraced the evangelist wherever he went.

*Pastor Kumuyi 

He observed the dignifying discipline, stability and rare aura of oneness Kumuyi’s persona was giving the organization. But the newsman had concerns, agitated and worried about a post-Kumuyi order. Would the Church hold together again after the departure of its leader? Wouldn’t it suffer the fickle fissiparous fate of others orphaned by their founder’s exit? Wouldn’t that be a huge loss and complete cancellation of gains meant to be harvested by the future?

W.F. Kumuyi Abroad: Africa’s New Narrative

 By Banji Ojewale

 The West has no business sending missionaries to Nigeria; they can’t help us; they have lost Christianity…substantially…They are the ones who need us. We will give (the erring West) pastoral help…Africa is now the historical custodian of (true) Christianity. – Bishop Professor Dapo Asaju, former Vice Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State, Nigeria.

*Pastor Kumuyi

As July of 2022 closed, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, was also closing a chapter that, according to some theologians, made his ministry somehow ‘insular and centripetal’, even if his messages, as we all know, have always been universal. At an event in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, Kumuyi drew our attention to a new point in his evangelical trajectory, when he formally launched the initiative he christened Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK.

Kumuyi In Ogoniland: A Crusade With A Golden Touch

 By Israel Mkpaoro and Banji Ojewale

Ancient Greece had a mythological king with a golden touch. The tale is that whatever King Midas handled became gold. It was a power he was said to have requested from a god. Midas enjoyed this boon until it threatened his sanity and humanity. He couldn’t eat food nor drink water because all turned into gold when he touched them. 

*Pastor Kumuyi in Ogoniland

The situation became tragic when, upon hugging his daughter, she was changed into a lifeless golden image. The monarch was sad. You can’t celebrate a possession that denies you life. Midas’ sea of gold was devoid of the true joy that should come with wealth.

But in our day, we have in our midst Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, a servant of Heaven who preaches that God’s abundant blessings come without any accompanying sorrow experienced by a king. This is what we see repeatedly at Kumuyi’s outreaches, which we have come to know as Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK. 

Between God And Science: Kumuyi’s Take

 By Banji Ojewale

Dateline: August, 2022, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

In a hospital, the fate of a pair of conjoined twins lies in the experience, expertise and exertions of some 100 medics. Dug deep in a duel to divide the duo where they are congenitally cleaved –the brains- doctors put up "one of the most complex processes ever’’ adventured.’’ Finally, after 27 hours in the theatre, preceded by months of trialing initiatives, the 3-year-olds are broken loose. 

*Pastor Kumuyi

For the first time in the world, surgeons across several countries take part in the separation task, wearing headsets to communicate. A "virtual reality room’’ is the ‘command centre’.  Dr. Noor ul Owase Jeelani, who led the team along with Dr. Gabriel Mufarrej, says: "In some ways, these operations are considered the hardest of our time, and to do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff.’’

 Described as space-age feat, it delivered a miracle humanity is applauding as the elusive Eighth Wonder of all time brewed in the recesses of science.