I have cried like you before (1), By Ayo Akerele

One day, out of frustration, I decided to take the bull by the horns by writing directly to Tony Elumelu, UBA’s chairman. Don’t ask me how I got his personal email address. I hunted for it. I explained that I wanted to work for him in Nigeria and promised to help transform his business. Within a week, I received a call from Tony Elumelu’s office. His Personal Assistant informed me that Tony had asked me to meet him at The Dorchester in London, one of the most iconic and prestigious hotels in the UK.

Out of desperation, I wrote to the then Chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Tony Elumelu. Yes, you heard me right. I did this in my quest to break the back of poverty and to fully leverage my skills and exposure for the benefit of my family, and for the advancement of the Kingdom of God at large. Journey with me through this captivating timeline of my path to discovering what heaven had written about me.

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Truly, nothing in life surpasses divine positioning and alignment. For the believer in Christ, there is a place set aside for you in destiny. The Bible is deeply rooted in the principles of divine purpose, times, and seasons. Jesus is the supreme example of divine alignment: He lived intentionally to fulfil dozens of prophecies. Bible scholars generally claim that Jesus fulfilled about three hundred Old Testament prophecies.

As destiny would have it, Jesus was prophetically scheduled to go to Jerusalem, where He would begin His final journey to the cross. From nowhere, the city gathered to honour Him after He found a donkey to ride upon. You will find the story in John 12:14. Up until that time, Jesus had travelled on foot across cities and villages. But, with spiritual sharpness and perfect discernment, He recognised that it had been written in His prophetic calendar to enter Jerusalem on a donkey.

This is written in Zechariah 9:9, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.”

He knew what was written about Him. He entered into His prophetic destiny.

For many of us navigating battles and crises, we have not yet discovered what was written about us. We coast along, conducting trial-and-error experiments to extract meaning from life, and sometimes we copy what others have found out about themselves. If it is working for them, it should work for us, sadly. You cannot function like that if your goal is to maximise destiny. You need to discover what heaven has mapped out for you, your destined career path, your destined physical location per time, your destined marriage partner, your destined spiritual mentors, and your unique giftings and talents that were deliberately packaged for you. No discovery, no recovery.

Divine purpose is not a myth, it is sacrosanct for any follower of Christ.

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“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28).

Now, let me return to my story, how I found what was written about me.

After my graduation from the university, my heart was fixed on a career in the oil and gas sector, largely because of the prevalence of juicy wages and extensive benefits that oil and gas professionals enjoyed in Nigeria in the 1990s. I am a trained engineer: I studied Industrial and Production Engineering, then went to South Africa to study Industrial Systems Engineering, and later obtained an MBA from Robert Gordon University, where I chose to major in oil and gas engineering, post-MBA.

After gaining years of quality work experience in Africa and Europe, I became a headhunted candidate for Production Engineering roles in the oil and gas sector. I pursued those opportunities with full commitment. In Nigeria, I was interviewed by Shell. There was no offer. In South Africa, I was interviewed by SASOL, South Africa’s leading oil-servicing company. There was no offer. In Europe, I was interviewed by Subsea7, ExxonMobil, and a few others. In fact, one of them even booked me on a flight for an interview. Still, no offer was made. I concluded that this was a spiritual attack. I did not realise that God had a different agenda for me – something specific He had written about me.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11).

One day, out of frustration, I decided to take the bull by the horns by writing directly to Tony Elumelu, UBA’s chairman. Don’t ask me how I got his personal email address. I hunted for it. I explained that I wanted to work for him in Nigeria and promised to help transform his business. Within a week, I received a call from Tony Elumelu’s office. His Personal Assistant informed me that Tony had asked me to meet him at The Dorchester in London, one of the most iconic and prestigious hotels in the UK.

I travelled to London, arrived at the reception, and was invited to come straight to his suite. I took the elevator up to his room. Mr Tony Elumelu was seated on the bed with three other people in the room. We exchanged pleasantries. In his words: “I got your email and proposal. You want to work for me.” I replied, “Yes, sir.” He then asked one of the executives with him to take me downstairs for further discussions. To cut a long story short, Mr Elumelu later came downstairs to meet us, shook my hands to congratulate me, and we sealed a mouth-watering offer to move me and my family to Abuja. “Wait for your package from HR,” Tony said. To be continued.

Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through [email protected]. You can connect with him on: YouTube: @Dr Ayo Akerele, TikTok: @drayoakerele, Instagram: @drayoakerele, Facebook: @ Ayo Akerele