Immediately the Governor stepped into the conference room of his office, 17 September, 2025, everyone sprang to their feet. The old man with silver hair highlighted by thick silver beards, made to stand up too. But the Governor rushed to him and forbade him not to stand up. “No, No, No Papa, don’t stand up please, sit down, sit down”, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State said.
Quickly, the Governor removed his brown trademark cap and bowed his head before the 100-year-old pastor. Unexpectedly, the rare old man, the President and Archbishop of Mount Zion Lighthouse Full Gospel Church in Nigeria, Nyong Davies Ayakndue, began to fire a staccato of prayers for the Governor, holding his hands in a visibly tight and firm grip. He must have prayed for about three minutes or so, as the Cabinet members and aides of the Governor watched in reverential admiration.
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And the courtesy visit had not even started yet, at least the way protocol officers had scripted it. This was an unusual and an uncommon guest. Protocols had to wait. Governor Eno, a pastor for 23 years, had never seen a century-old serving pastor before and official procedures didn’t matter much on this historic moment.
All protocols reversed
Governor Eno now went ahead to hug other Bishops and Apostles of the Church who accompanied their centenarian National President to visit him. Among the bishops was Rear Admiral Ekwere Ekwere (rtd), celebrated navy pilot and one-time Acting Military Governor of Akwa Ibom State. The Admiral’s eyes were darting everywhere, obviously amazed by the metamorphosis and transformation the Government House he once presided over had undergone.
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In the delegation also were some children of the greying Archbishop: sons and daughters, dressed in branded T-shirts, emblazoned with their father’s 100 years anniversary uniform. The 100-year-old Archbishop has nine children, two sons and seven daughters, all alive. The oldest is Emmanuel, 65, older than Governor Eno who is 61; and the youngest is Queen-Esther, 39, the baby of the house, who lit up the room with her toothpaste smile and humour.
Obviously, the 100-year-old pastor is a strong man. Not just spiritually but physically. At 100, he is not frail nor has any need for a walking aid except to complement his elaborate episcopal vestment, which included a crimson cassock, a yellow zucchetto, the small, rounded skullcap that typically covers the crown of the head, and of course, a pectoral cross, suspended with a long silver chain that dropped down his cassock.
He walks erect and ramrod. Like the Biblical Moses, who was 120 years old, his strength doesn’t seem to abate neither is his eyes dim.
But when it was time for the Father Abraham look-alike to read his written speech at the occasion, he beckoned with alacrity on the National Secretary of the Church, Apostle Dr. Ekpe Effiong to get the job done. That was just a formality, not that he could not. Perhaps, it was part of the episcopal privileges of a centenarian pastor. After all, after Apostle Effiong read the speech, the old man repeated audibly almost all that was read in his tête-à-tête with the Governor.
“In you, I have clearly seen the salvation of Akwa Ibom State, as in Luke chapter 2, verse 9…And in line with Matthew 5, verse 9, I can safely conclude that indeed you are a blessed child of God for recognising and enthroning peace as the bedrock of economic progress and development in the State”, the Archbishop said.
But that was not all that the Archbishop came to say. He heaped praises on the Governor for his ARISE Agenda. “With my eyes, I have seen your good works through the uncountable life-changing projects and programmes; and with my ears I have heard the testimonials of your good works across the State”.
He continued: “These testimonies have come from the youths, pensioners, widows, civil servants, religious bodies, traditional institutions, traders and students alike. As the president of a religious organisation, The Mount Zion Lighthouse Full Gospel Church, with branches in all the 31 LGAs in Akwa Ibom State, I can conclusively say without any fear of contradiction that God has really used you to touch the lives of Akwa Ibom people…”
Of course, the Archbishop did not forget to ask for a piece of the cake from ARISE Agenda for his community. After all, charity they say, begins at home. He requested the Governor to construct the road leading to his country home in Afaha Offiong village, Nsit Ibom LGA, “as it has always been my earnest desire to drive on a good road to my house before I depart this world”.
And the old man got everybody bursting into a prolonged laughter when he said: “Your Excellency, this road has done serious injustice to my vehicles”.
But in awe of the moment, the mood of the Governor along with his responses were simultaneously deferential, reverential and preferential. It’s not every day you meet a 100-year old pastor. And the best person to deny a request is not a 100-year old man.
“Papa” the Governor began, “we are happy to meet with you today. When I got your letter, I was surprised that we still have men who live up to this age. That means we still have elderly men of wisdom and strength. My own grandmother was 97, but to find a man of God who is still serving God at 100 years of age is both a blessing and an inspiration. So we welcome you with joy Papa, to Akwa Ibom Government House… May God continue to keep you healthy and strong for us”, the Governor said.
Turning attention to the left flank of his table where his Commissioners sat, the Governor continued: “Thank God the Commissioner of Works is here. He is hereby directed to fix that road to your country home so that it will no more do injustice to your vehicles”.
Coincidentally, the good old man shares the same birthday with Akwa Ibom State, namely September 23. It’s a busy period for the Governor as his State turns 38, which dovetails into Nigeria’s 65th Independent Anniversary a week later on October 1, 2025. Still, the Governor would have wished he attends the centinary Anniversary of the Archbishop personally in Calabar, Cross River State. But he promised his government’s full participation in the centenary celebrations.
The Archbishop is a giver. He does what he preaches. He came with a gift for the governor. It was a classic, extra-large Dake Annotated Reference Bible. Some would say the Governor is a Pastor too and has more than enough Bibles. But one of the aides of the Governor countered that opinion. “This particular Bible will have a special place in the Governor’s heart and Library because it is a precious gift by a hundred years old pastor”, the aide said.
It was already past 8p.m., when the historic visit came to an end with group photographs and scampering by aides of the Governor to shake hands with a 100 years old man, just to ‘tap into’ his longevity, in the lingo of Pentecostals.
Curious journalists who had planned to catch up with the senior man for an interview were promised to do so the next morning at the Archbishop’s Ewet Housing hotel suite by 8 a.m. The next morning, both his aides and journalists who arrived to interview the old man were outfoxed and outsmarted. He had left for Calabar by 6 a.m.
Said Apostle Dr. Effiong, the National Secretary of the Church, who spoke with this reporter: “Do you know that the man surprised even us this morning. Last night he told us that we will be leaving the hotel back to Calabar by 8a.m. By the time we came down at 7:45a.m., they told us that the man had been gone since 6a.m.”.
On arrival in Calabar, the Archbishop did not go home to rest. He passed straight to his office to work. “He was in the office by about 9.15a.m. when he called me to say ‘where are you, where are you’. And I said Daddy I am still on my way, please”. By the way, the old man’s office is on the first floor of the Church headquarters in Calabar and at 100 he climbs up all the way on his own every day.
According to the Apostle Akanimo Davies, the second son and seventh child of the Archbishop, the 100 years old Archbishop and Head of the Church, is a strict disciplinarian who doesn’t joke with his duties or the responsibility he assigns to anyone. “He does not tolerate any delays in carrying out the assignments and responsibilities he gives you. He would tell you immediately that ‘delay is dangerous’”.
It is the same thing the National Secretary of the Church, Apostle Effiong said. “Some days he will call me and say ‘come here, you think you are doing Ayakndue’s work. The owner of the work is looking at you. One day you will give an account of how you have worked for him`…Ah, his brain, his coordination, his concentration and everything is 100%. He is still fasting and praying and meditating as in his younger years. The grace of God upon his life is too much”, Effiong said.
Beyond ‘grace of God’, there must be other secrets to this man’s longevity and strength! Maybe food? What is his favourite food, I asked Queen Esther, the last child of the Archbishop, who is a Human Physiology lecturer at the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.
She laughed out loud before she opened up on the old man’s favourite foods. “He is not much of a foodie, but he likes seafood, more of seafood. He doesn’t joke with mfi (periwinkle). His favourite soups are white soup and okra soup, but whatever you cook for him, you must put mfi”, Queen Esther said, laughing.
In spite of his long lifespan, his journey to 100 years of age has not been a bed of roses or without rough and tumble. Witnessed some roughs and tumbles. He lost his 76-year-old wife, Paulina, in 2019 to the “carelessness of doctors”. She would have clocked 82 now as the Archbishop turns 100.
Born on 23 September 1925 in Afaha Offiong, Akwa Ibom State, Archbishop Ayakndue is said to have grown with “quiet resolve” to make it in life. In search of the proverbial green pastures, after his GCE, he literally wore many hats in the Nigerian Police Force, COSTAIN, a British Construction firm in Lagos, and eventually ended up in Guinness Nigeria in 1963, where he rose to become the Assistant Sales Manager in Lagos, Warri, Onitsha and Calabar.
At the age of 60, in 1985, he stepped out of the secular job and began a deeper walk with God in the Mount Zion Light House Full Gospel Church, a first generation Pentecostal church, founded in February 1946 by five former members of The Apostolic Church Nigeria.
He was ordained an elder in 1974, Pastor in 1979, Reverend in 1982, Bishop in 1991, Archbishop and President of the Church in 2021. The journey has not ended yet for a man who perhaps is the oldest serving pastor in the world.
Said Governor Eno: “Papa, your remarkable life is not just a blessing. Your life is an inspiration to all of us here. May your legacy continue to motivate us for a life of service to God and humanity”.
