Veteran juju artiste turned evangelist, Ebenezer Obey, who clocked 73 yesterday, while thanking God for adding another year to his life, has said he sees life differently in the past three years when he turned 70.
In a telephone conversation with Saturday Beats earlier in the week, Obey said, “When one is climbing the ladder of age, he would be seeing things differently from how he used to see them. I have come to realise that in life, I don’t need to run unnecessary race other than having the will of God to be done in my life. In the last three years, I feel great and happy. The reality that one is growing older becomes a good thing. I know my number of years on earth is lesser. I will not spend another 73 on earth.”
For somebody who is that old, many would have expected him to be slow and would not probably be able to perform for long hours like he used to do when he was much younger. But to him, nothing has changed and he could still (and he still) performs on the stage for hours nonstop.
Obey attributed his strength to God while saying he doesn’t even feel any stress performing at this age.
“I am used to playing for hours. I can still do it now as I was doing it when I was younger. When I handle the microphone and I am playing, it gives me joy. Whenever I sing, I see joy written on the faces of people I play for. That alone gives me joy. To be on the stage is the easiest thing for me,” he said.
And by the way, Obey said he is going to be a singer for the rest of his life, not ready to retire any time soon.
“I combine winning souls to God with my singing. I use music as a vehicle to preach the gospel. The first thing people always want from me is to sing. This has helped me in my evangelism. One is not disturbing the other. It has helped me to be able to reach those who would ordinarily not want to listen to the gospel. As I lecture at Olabisi Onabanjo University, I see the young ones in love with my music and I see the way they want to relate to my music. It is an avenue for me to impact on the younger ones,” he said.
He also told Saturday Beats that he doesn’t regret becoming an evangelist as the decision did not affect his career at all.
“My popularity did not diminish when I turned an evangelist. I still do ‘special appearances’ where I charge people. I spoke to God about it and he said I could do it. I can tell you, I am gaining more popularity by the day. It is not all artistes that have enjoyed the kind of acceptance that I have had.”
Having lost his beautiful wife some years ago, Obey said he misses her but then, he isn’t ready (yet) to fill the vacuum her absence created.
“To be frank, my children are making me happy. When you are lonely, that is when you would feel the vacuum. My children don’t allow loneliness to overwhelm me. They take care of me. My grandchildren are always around me as well. At the moment, I am even a great grandfather. I am not thinking of marriage for now. I am well taken care of, so marriage is not on my list. I can only tell you to wait and see,” he said.
punchng.com