Happy Birthday Pastor Bankie
Today is a good day.
Permit me, because I am going to wax poetic.
As you know me, I am one of the proponent of giving people their flowers while they are here in the flesh — right in front of you. No need to write eulogies. Just tell them you love and appreciate them — no matter how awkward it might seems. It is for that reason that I wrote this seminal piece that has blessed many Don’t Gary Speed Me
It is the fourth day of the fourth month in 2025.
It also happens to be the birthday of a dear senior friend, mentor, teacher and preacher-man — Pastor Bankole Olusina popularly called “Pastor Bankie”. Let me give you his other names — Dr Bankole Daniel Olusina.
I remember going to see him once and someone asked if she could get Dr Olusina for me. I was confused for a minute. Though he is a cerebral and highly sought after pathologist, I rarely engage with him on that basis. To me and many other, he is Pastor Bankie. This Dr Olusina, you are telling me is not the same as Pastor Bankie — though they are one and the same person😊
I remember the first day I “met” Pastor Bankie. It was April 1998. I was a student at the University of Benin and the alumni fellowship of my campus fellowship had a re-union. This was an Emotan Hotel, Benin. We were waiting for the guest minister, Pastor Poju Oyemade, to arrive and the choir wanted to do a fill in — sings song of praise and worship until the minister arrives. Do not forget this was 1998 and there were no mobile phones. As such, we did not know what was happening to the guest minister. As it was in those days, it was only when we see you that we know you have arrived. There was no other way to know until he gets there.
A dark man, that is not very dark man, wearing a colourful monkey coat picked up the mic and told us things as there were. In his usual self (as I have come to know), he told us what was happening — the minister is not here and there is no need to sing lengthy songs of worship. He started thus “Let us open our Bible to ….” And he started ministering.
Brethren, that was one of the most impactful 40–50 minutes of my life. Pastor Bankie touched on why the earth vomits its inhabitants. Why sin is an anathema to any nation and why we as Christians are the salt of the earth. “Oh without salt, the earth would decay courtesy of the sins of the people and the earth is bound to vomit the people”. He went on and on and on.
Leviticus 18:25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.
For the first time in my life, I saw someone who was able to show to me the implication of my actions as a believer in a land. He linked scriptures to real life. I saw why I am needed as a Christian in a place. He was able to show me in that short space of time that Christianity is not about living by moral codes but actively partnering with the Lord to bring about His will.
When our guest speaker showed up, he told us and Pastor Poju took it from there and taught us about “The Tabernacles of God”. You see, I have refused to forget that experience.
Afterwards, Pastor Bankie started coming from time to time to minister to us as students. The sessions were always a blessing. I always left there filled with God’s word in diverse dimension.
In 2001, in what was to be my final year, ASUU had a strike for 6 months. I had an admonition not to leave campus but to stay back and be built up spiritually. One of the first things I did was to gather all the tapes of Pastor Bankie that were available with my brethren and drank of them. It was also that time that God showed me other things about my life. Fun fact, one of the things I got that period was the “I have a dream” speech by Martin Luther King. I wrote the wordings word for word from the cassette player and that is why I can still recite tit till date.
When Pastor Bankie launched out with Kingdom Word Ministry, the inaugural meeting, I was there in December 2001 (yes I am humble bragging, leave me alone 🤣). As life went on, we became friends as per egbon and aburo. And he has been there for me.
With what I have said, I think very few people have made the quantum of impact he has made on me. If I say my personal mentor and pastor, I am likely talking about him. From him I learnt a lot about how to live life from the scriptures. I have learnt to face life head on. I learnt to abase and abound. I learnt contentment and never to be ashamed in any condition I found myself. Na only sin fit make me shame, every other thing, na the will of God. I learnt how to face life and its vicissitudes via the teachings and preaching of Pastor Bankie. When life hits hard, rough and tough, as it does from time to time, he was/is always there with a word of advise and encouragement. All will centre on…we have to trust God.
I also learnt how to face life issues from him. He once said “there are 500,000 cars in Lagos and I do not have one. Do you know what that means? It means I do not have one”. He went on to say “Do not read any other meaning to it. It just means you do not have. It means that the crop does not permit”
Mark 4:29 — But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.
With that kind of mindset and teaching, one of our sisters made the mistake of her life to ask me why I do not have a phone in 2002 while other brethren have. I asked her if she had 30 minutes for my answer. She was startled and taken aback. I think she sensed that trouble was coming. And yes, it was. I brewed my answers on the spot and pumped it out. I went on and delivered my 30 minutes epistle by telling her “I do not have a phone because my economy cannot support it. I do not come from a family where I could be given one. My dad is an only child and as such I do not have any uncle / auntie that will spare me a phone. I do not have the kind of face that will make someone out of the magnanimity of her/his heart to give me a phone. Oh do not forget I am a man and most times people look empathetically to the other gender that I am not, to give things to ………”. The sister started begging for me to stop. I no gree o. I kept giving her reasons why I do not have a phone. She tire for me. If you have the effrontery to ask me a question, you should have the temerity to get the answer.
I think it was that day everyone knew that Gabriel, was the last person you could broke shame. The truth is that I just learnt to live within my means. I am happy with what I have and if I don’t have it — no wahala. I learnt how to enjoy a ride in a fine car and move on without asking “God when?”. Nah!!!It was not necessary.
On a personal note, I will share two events that touched me deeply. One was when my grandmother died. If you know me, you will know that my paternal grandmother, Mrs Alice Iquo Omin (nee Esoh) was a big influence and one of the closest persons to me. So when she passed, I cried like a baby. It was a horrible period for me.
I was very far from home when she passed (half way around the world) but that night I had this feeling as if I was in her room. Growing up, I spent all my sleeping hours in her room. The feeling was so strong (from that experience understood when Paul said that when he was caught up, he did not know whether he was in the body or in a trance). So when I woke up, I called one of my brothers and asked about my grandmother. He said she was fine and moved on to other topics. But when I boarded the plane to come back to Nigeria, it dawned on me that she had left this world. I was devasted. It was a restless flight for me. 14 hours of restlessness.
When I landed I called one of my brothers and asked him point blank with the intent that he cannot lie to me and that the answer has to be a “yes’ or “no”. Then my brother told me the truth. I cried unconsolably like a baby. I was in a five-star hotel but I care not, I couldn’t stop crying. I could not care because I was just lost. Adieu!!! my grandma was gone forever.
So when I broke the news to my friends about my grandma’s passing, they consoled me and some even said it was a celebration of life. (But dem no know say the thing pain me. Why I go celebrate say my dear grandmama die.) From the time I told Pastor Bankie to the time she was buried, Pastor Bankie was always calling me to console me. He prayed with me. This was the first time I was losing someone very close and family to me. So I was devasted. However almost every other persons was expecting me to take it as one other event in life. But how could I? This was my legendary grandma, the great “Eka Anthony” as we call her — full of quips, idioms and wisdom. Pastor Bankie comforted me in a time others felt I did not need any comfort.
The other time was when I had to publish my first book “Insight Into Stock Market Dynamics”. You see I had finished writing the book and could not find a title, until he arrived with one. So literally he gave the book a title. Secondly, he proofread the book, made correction, found a printer, printed the books and transported them to me in Bonny from Enugu. If that was a movie, you could have said he was the executive producer 👌🙌👍You want to hear another part of it; he paid for some part of the printing and also “launched” the book.
From what I have written you can see that I can write a book on not just Pastor Bankie but the great influence he’s had in my life. With people like Pastor Bankie in your life, if you go astray, na you know.
Finally, Pastor Bankie is a man filled with godly wisdom obtained from the scriptures, observing life and meditations. I have benefitted immensely from it. He is also one person that lives out what he preaches. Yes, he drinks his own medicine, figuratively. As such, it is easy to follow him. I have watched him fall on his sword on a number of issues. He would have made a way of escape for himself on those matters, but he chose to follow the pre-determined path.
So here is to celebrate Pastor Bankie.
This is to say…thank you for yielding of yourself to the Lord. Thanks for being an exemplary brother, egbon and mentor. Thanks for making it easy for many of us to follow Christ through your examples. It is easy to make it in life when you have examples and role models. And that is what you are to me.
God bless and keep thee. Amen
I will add the prayers that Jacob prayed for Joseph in Genesis Chapter 49
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
Regards,
Gabriel.
If you want to know about Pastor Bankie’s ministry, you can check it here http://pastor.ng/
