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 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.