My first contact with a church in Port Harcourt was The Carpenter’s Church, and I made up my mind from the day I came into the church that I wasn’t going to look for any other place to worship. The Word I heard seemed new but exciting to me because it was simpler than what I had known as the Word of God. I became so drawn to understanding and doing what I had heard, and I really immersed myself in it. Like people would say, “I take am like government work.”
Joining the choir was also a great step of faith for me as a student, considering my aim for my final year result. Every year in the university, for me, was quite easy because I never had any issues with my results or any of my lecturers. I remained one of the best in my department until I came across a lecturer who graded me poorly and unjustly in his course, but I didn’t really care.
Everything after then went well until my final year at the university. At the end of my first semester in the final year, I calculated what I needed to make a First Class, which I was aiming for since my first year. It seemed quite easy because I didn’t see any obstacles coming. I had already put in all the grades I wanted for the different courses and I worked toward them. I had achieved all of them except for one course. I knew I could get an A, but I ended up getting a B which made things complicated.
The day I was to write the final exam for that particular paper was the same day that Oasis 2016 was to hold. As a member of the choir, I had to be around for the dry run rehearsal the night before that day. I was almost prepared for that paper, but the rehearsal took more time than expected that night and I got home really late, and the unimaginable happened; I slept off on my books. I woke up at about 5:00 a.m. in the morning to read what was left of my notes, but inside my head, many things were going on. I wrote the paper the next day to the best of my ability and left. I was graded a B, instead of the A, I needed.
The first thought that went through my mind when I saw the result was, “Who send you message? You for no die if you no sing!” I knew that was a lie because my service in the church, done with organization, cannot make me suffer loss. I had read before going for the rehearsal, but I couldn’t explain what happened though.
The final results were collated and my CGPA was 4.49, which was 0.01 short of a First Class. I just needed a CGPA of 4.5 for that. Immediately I saw the result, I started pleading with my course adviser then to help me speak with the HOD if there was anything they could do about it. He was quite lax about it and just replied, “Where will the remaining 0.01 come from?” However, a lady in my department took it upon herself to help me follow through with it and gave me hints on what to do. Finally, she called me a day before the Senate was to sit on the results to tell me that the result could not be resolved at the departmental level, only the Senate members could vote for the moderation of all boundary scores. My only hope was to go and stand in front of the Senate building and plead with the deans and HODs going in for the Senate meeting to vote in my favour. Before then, I had reached out to my zonal pastor to tell her what was happening, and she assured me that the favour of God had gone ahead of me and I should not be afraid.
I had always used Psalm 5:12 as the Scripture for everything related to my results. “For You, O Lord will bless the righteous; with favour, You will surround him as with a shield.” All I needed for my CGPA to change was for a particular lecturer to call a quick meeting and make an adjustment in that course I had a B, which was his course. He gave so many excuses for his inability to do that and decided not to call the meeting. After the Senate meeting, the results were approved, and the VC turned down the motion for the moderation of boundary scores. So, I had to graduate with a very high Second-Class Upper result.
Prior to my final year, I had a meeting with Pastor Kech and desiring to graduate with a First Class, I sowed a seed towards it because I knew she made a First Class in the same course I studied. I remembered all this, and I knew deep down that the result wasn’t mine because I didn’t sow for a Second Class Upper. I was so sure of that. In fact, on my results spreadsheet, my department had even written First Class as my grade even with the 4.49 CGPA, but the Senate had declared otherwise. Thus, the certificate wasn’t going to tally. I didn’t go ahead with my clearance then because I was having mixed feelings of confusion; I had thoughts of running away with that certificate.
On April 2nd, 2017, Pastor Kech was about preaching Abundant Resources on Every Side (Part 8) and I was so surprised to have her call me out to be celebrated as a First-Class graduate. She assured me of the fact that I’m a First-Class graduate, but the school had not recognized that. She made declarations over me that day and I held on to them strongly. I didn’t know how to show my amazement at the confidence with which she did that. I was so happy to hear that, and I recognized that it was beyond what I saw. I started day-dreaming about all the miracles that could happen for my grade to be changed. Really weird thoughts went through my mind then, but I was confident that God had called me a First-Class graduate and every earthly report has to follow suit. How this would happen, I didn’t know because impossibility was visible, and the possibility wasn’t in view at all. All I had as an anchor was the knowledge that Pastor couldn’t just say that something had been on her mind for almost a day and that thing would just be some ordinary declaration. I sowed seeds towards this whenever I had the opportunity to, and I stuck to my Psalm 5:12 prayer and believed that the favour of God was at work on my behalf. I refused to do my final year clearance as I waited patiently for a miracle to happen.
It seemed like I was running out of time to go for my NYSC when another unfortunate news came. It felt like a trailer had hit me. The university had enforced a policy, which wasn’t clearly stated during the period of my final year but was backdated to my session, and I was affected by it. It required me to go back and take my whole final year exams again for both first and second semesters. This was difficult to handle as the reason for this whole seemingly big problem wasn’t supposed to affect me and I could not even explain, till now, how I got into that situation. Also, the time lag after school would be something to worry about. Worst of all, considering the time out of school, could my results be as good as they were before if I took those exams again? I had already started an internship program with a company and also had some other engagements, which required much of my time. Combining all of these with academics looked quite impossible. However, I had one reason to be happy: I could take those exams again and hit all the As I needed to get a First Class.
That became my dominant thought even though the devil brought various thought bombs of what if I met those wicked lecturers again and finally, they deal with me. As long as I had a reason to do it and be happy once again, I gave no attention to the negative thought. My dominant thought was me being favoured of God and knowing that God’s Word had gone ahead of me through Pastor Kech, so I wasn’t going to relent.
I had spoken to my zonal pastor, Pastor Tayo, about it and she assured me once again of God’s favour in whatever the outcome was going to be. Every time I had a reason to think negatively, I would go back and watch the declaration video by Pastor and get some encouragement to move on. I did this during my first semester and the results were awesome. I also had struggled during the second semester, but I maintained my confessions of what Pastor had declared and written the exams, awaiting the results that would determine my final CGPA.
In those two semesters, I was so favoured that I effortlessly went through both of them. My lecturers were so supportive, and I was shocked that they were even trying to help me hit the 4.5 marks. The most surprising was the lecturer who refused to call a meeting for the moderation of his course during my first hunt for a change of CGPA. I had to take one of his courses in the second semester and I was so afraid that this man would just finish me there. To my surprise, I greeted him one day and he replied and said, “I remember you. Are you taking my course? Do you need any help from me so you can get what you want?” I had written his course very well at that time and I just replied, “Everything is fine, Sir, I wrote very well in your course. Thanks.” I wasn’t able to attend most classes during the semester as my internship program didn’t give me much time for that, but I never missed any test or exam.
Glory to God! Finally, the results were out, and l hit the 4.5 marks. My results in that last year were the best I ever had since my first year in the university, and this was done with no effort compared to the major school days. I now have my certificate from the University of Port Harcourt as a First-Class Graduate of Electrical/Electronic Engineering just as Pastor had declared two years ago. It took a while, but it is real now!
I’m so grateful to God for the strength to get through this successfully. It wasn’t all that rosy, but I never lost hope. I also want to say thank you to all TCC members, who are the staff of the university that helped me during that period whenever I needed them. I was shocked to see church members I had never met before helping me like I was their child. Also, I want to thank my family members for their immense support during this period; I’m so grateful. My thanks go to my zonal pastor for always having the right words for me whenever I reached out to her. Finally, to my man of God who gave me a sure word to hold on to during this period. The words you spoke over me on April 2nd will always be remembered and the manifestation of every one of them will be another testimony! I looked forward to seeing these manifestations!
Thank you, Pastor, for always hearing from God and for the undiluted Word you give to us from this pulpit! They have really changed my life for good!