RELIGION: NSPPD has grown in leaps and bounds to become the largest and most watched online prayer in the world, and currently ranked topmost amongst all prayer channels on the YouTube website.
WHAT WE KNOW
The popular Nigerian online prayer platform -NSPPD, which was birthed by Pastor Jerry Uchechukwu Eze has become a global sensation and a toast of some Nigerian celebrities who have spoken to CNN about their participation in the morning prayers on the platform.
In an very recent article published by the global media giant to herald the 40th birthday of the NSPPD founder, CNN identified some of this Nigerian celebrities to include the award-winning Nigerian singer D’banj.
Also mentioned is another Nigerian celebrity – a Nollywood actress and recently turned politician, Ms Tonto Dike, who is also the running mate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Rivers State governorship candidate for 2023, Mr. Tonte Ibraye.
Speaking to CNN, D`banji said that waking up every weekday to join the NSPPD prayers has become a routine in his life.
The “7am morning prayer”, which depicts the “strange acts of God” in the worlds of Pastor Jerry Eze has also become an addiction to the Nollywood actress – Tonto Dike, according to CNN.
NOTABLE QUOTES
Quoting D`banj, CNN wrote: “Waking up every day to NSPPD … has become part of my daily routine. I hardly miss it. It’s part of my family’s morning devotion,” adds D’banj, whose real name is Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo.
“I remember last year Pastor Jerry said we should write seven things we want to see happen, and we prayed and I believed. I checked the list the other day and … all seven have been answered.”
In the same manner, the global media giant also quoted Tonto Dikeh as saying that she began praying with the NSPPD crew in 2021 and since then has never looked back, as she is now “addicted,” to the prayers, the Nollywood actress told CNN.
Speaking on how he founded his church – the Streams of Joy International that birthed the NSPPD online prayer platform, Pastor Jerry told CNN of how he initially resisted the calling for ministry due to his difficult childhood, but his mother kept the pressure.
“I never shared those aspirations (to be a preacher). I wasn’t even listening to her. She and I lived in poverty, so I always asked why God didn’t first help us out of poverty before asking me to quit a job that was giving us money to be a preacher. The money I was giving her was coming out of the job (with the UN), so it didn’t make sense.”
“It was when she died that the reality of my assignment began to dawn on me,” he adds.
“I was very excited about the job (at the UNFPA), but my mum wasn’t. She said it wasn’t what God told her. According to her, God told her I was going to be a preacher,” Pastor Jerry told CNN.
