Eucharia Anunobi is a reputable actress who came to the limelight with her role in the movie Glamour Girls. Today, she is an Evangelist in the Lord’s vineyard. In this chanced encounter with TOPE OLUKOLE, she reveals her journey in life, including her failed marriage, evangelism and her future plan for a new husband.What would you say to your fans who just heard that you are now an evangelist?
BEING an evangelist, to me, is not a day’s journey. I gave my life to God on the March 17, 1997. That was less than a year after doing the movie Glamour Girls and less than a year when God gave me a monstrous peak from the movie, Glamour Girls 2. So, what I will tell anyone who says, “oh, she is born-again now” or rather “she is ordained now,” is that the journey did not begin today. It was a journey that has spanned close to 15 years. Now, this is the harvest time, I will like them to follow me. I know there are people who might even have given their lives to God earlier than I did, but they have not harvested it.
So, how was life when you were at the other side and now?
I have God with me from the beginning. Yes, you would say that then I had not showcased loads of Him as I am doing now. This is because there was no platform to do that. God has been with me, and I have followed God closely all the while and now. He said the life He has given unto me, I am not supposed to keep it personally to myself, that I am meant to showcase it to the world so that the truth- that same secret that has been keeping me, that has made me a success of who I am- should be made known to the people. So, God says you must share the secret; you must not keep it to yourself. That is what I am sharing with people.
Do you still hope to get a role in Nolly-wood?
Yes! I haven’t stopped acting, because I did a movie not too long. But the cost of movie recording has gone up a little bit. So, we are not shooting as many movies as we used to do. I still do movie roles. I haven’t stopped.
What’s your reaction to nudity in Nollywood?
Well, I will say I wouldn’t want to be part of that because my God did not say that is the right thing to do. You should know that He gave us clothing to use to cover ourselves. In the first place, that means we are going contrary to the gospel. So, I would not be part of it, doing unnecessary outlandish character. I will not be part of it, because that is not what I am standing for or representing. I wouldn’t be part of it, that’s it.
How do you intend to do the work of God, being a young woman and a single mother?
I don’t have a love life. When I say I don’t have a love life, that does not mean people are not chasing me. Good of course, people are chasing me alright, but, if in the sense of trying to have what you call boyfriend, no. I am not doing that, but I rather would say what I am praying for, is for a partner who will become my husband. I hope he will come as soon as possible. But before then, I am not getting derailed because my bible is keeping me very busy. It puts me on my toes. I know that there are temptations in life, here and there. So, I am saying that in the not-too-distant future my partner will emerge; and then having been single will be out of the question, but I am not worried about it. My bible is keeping me very busy with the work of the gospel, going about is keeping me busy. I know and understand and appreciate your concern, so, you help me to pray too that he that God created for me should find me soon and I should find him too.
Have you been able to convert anybody in Nollywood to Christ?
Oh yes, but I am not going to call names. I am delighted. I want to say that there are a lot of them. But there is a particular artiste whose name I won’t mention. I spoke to her and she was like, “oh, my God. No one has ever talked to me like this. I am delighted you know.” She never really was close to me over the years of acting together, but after a while, God brought us together and we began to talk. Sometimes, when she had some personal issues and I talk to her, she will ask me, “What am I supposed to do concerning this or that; God, I never looked at you from this point of view.” Then I told her “Yes, it is because you did not see it from that point of view of how it is supposed to be.” I am delighted because I have got a lot of following. There are those that are with me and those that are under me; I am happy.
When are you starting your own Church?
I am a pastor at the Fresh Oil Ministry International Church, Egbeda, Lagos, pending when the Lord says that I will have my own church. Right now, that is where I’m anchoring with God; it is God who will do the leading. So, I am not saying I want to, but let God take control. I am working with my spiritual father, Apostle Sam Okpe, the founder of Fresh Oil, and I am so contented with the work I am doing with him. Let the leading of God take control. It is not a must that I become a General Overseer. You can work with someone and you have your total fulfilment as long as you are talking about the gospel, everything belongs to God. I cannot say what God would do in the future, but right now I am with God under my spiritual father and I am so happy.
What has Christian faith taken away from you?
It has not taken anything away from me; rather it has added so much to me. It has given me peace, joy, love and compassion beyond reason. It has given me a forgiving spirit and everything that is sweet. It has added wonders to my life; that is what the gospel has given me: sweetness of life, nothing bitter. Everything that was crooked in my life, faith has made straight.
What has life as a single mother taught you?
It is tedious. It is tiring. I don’t know the right word to use; I do not wish anyone to be a single mother. There is no one to share the pains with sometimes, not even to share the joy of life with. It is not what God created or how God wanted it to be. God never wanted one partner to be the one to take care of a child. It takes the mechanisation of the devil to scatter God’s original plan. The devil’s wish is that marriages do not work. So, he will do everything possible to scatter marriages. For me, being a single mother is nothing. But since, unfortunately, I am in it I believe that God will give me the strength to carry on. I do not wish a lady will open her eyes and say let me get pregnant and be a single mother, all because she is seeing a picture that looks rosy. It is not fun; those single parents will tell you it is not fun at all. Only God is the one helping me. Sometimes, I do not want to think about it.
There is this insinuation that you became an evangelist just to make men believe in you for marriage. How true is this?
No, why believe in me? Men have belief in me. They have been coming for me. Everything good is supposed to come from God. I think that would be a wrong assumption. I can find a man anyway, men are everywhere. When I got married, I still had God with me. I was not ordained when I got the first marriage. Did I not get a man when I was not ordained? So, if I get a man now that I am ordained, it will be even better because I am going to get that man in the vineyard of the Lord- a man who is refined and prepared by God. The whole joy of being ordained is being a carrier of the gospel and being an example for other people to spread the message of God, to let peace reign among men, and this is what I am here for. But if a man comes from the vineyard of God, it is well and good.
If you remarry, what would you do differently from the past?
Well, I won’t do anything different because I think I did everything I could in the course of my first marriage. I have asked myself a thousand times, in the past, where did I go wrong, because, you know, if you don’t tell yourself the truth, no one will tell you.
I have analysed my situation, asking, “is it that I didn’t give out enough love or I gave too much love or I didn’t cook enough food?” But when I put myself on the scale of justice, I think and will say I go quickly loudly, that I am the best woman that any man can have. I am the best wife material that any man can have and I know that God who has created me in His order of vision, created me well for a man. So, I wouldn’t have done something differently. But let me round it off by saying you can rather put a good thing in a bad place or a bad thing in a good place, either of the two.
Did you see yourself doing the right thing when you were in a marital relationship?
Yes, definitely. No one ever enters marriage and says I am going to get divorced. Yes, I was doing the right thing. Marriage needs the right approval of all involved in it. Yes, I did the right thing in the course of living in the marriage.
Even as you are not having a relationship recently, what would you want in a man?
Well, let the man come first. It is then I will see what I like in him or not.
Are you saying you can still fall in love again?
Oh! Yes. Of course, I will love and fall in love again, as long as the right man comes. The right man means the man that has got the spirit of God in him. Why not? And the sky will be no limit. I am open to love. So, I want love to be open to me too. I am not going to do something differently, but maybe I will just do much more- if I bought one chocolate then, maybe I will buy two now, if I bought one flower then, I am going to buy two flowers now. I will still love, I will still be a very prayerful wife. I will be an obedient wife and do more than I did then. I am going to love and love again someday.
Would you say you got your first marriage wrong from the beginning?
The man I married is not a child; and considering his status, he is not from the gutter. There’s no one that can say this is the person you should marry or not. You can’t determine where love would come from and where it will go, because love goes to wherever it wants to go to. I think you understand where I am coming from. I can say I made a mistake. And I really will say it was a process God really wanted me to pass through because He was preparing me for His work. So, for me I am not complaining. God wanted me to pass through that phase. Maybe my former husband did not fulfil the role he was meant to fulfil or rather he just fulfilled the role he was meant to fulfil.
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