Apostle Johnson Suleman: Celebrating a visionary evangelist 

DAN AIBANGBE

The present and future of Nigeria are in dire need of heroes in a season bereft of quality leadership and mentorship. In a seemingly hopeless environment, we need to deploy our prisms to amplify rare spectres of individual phenomena, such as the commemoration of the birth of a man of impact in the mould of Apostle Johnson Suleman, the founder and senior executive of Omega Fire Ministries Worldwide.

For those who know, it takes just a few good men to turn the fortunes of a nation around, yet the more good men, the merrier. Nigerians need to positively identify and showcase those men whose starlight must adorn the consternation of the firmament known as Nigeria. The youths must never allow gross darkness to obliterate their vision of a brighter future.

It is now over five decades since Apostle Johnson Suleman, the firebrand who this article is showcasing was gifted to mankind through the family of Hon Imuodu Sule and Deaconess Esther Imoudu Sule, in the ancient municipality called Benin City.

Apostle Suleman is an early riser. By his late teenage (at 19), he had already become a successful person, having completed early childhood education as well as earned his first millions in Cocoa trading!

That early success is nothing, compared to what his youthful vision and passion have brought him to become today, for he still deemed it fit to pursue tertiary education at the University of Benin. He still deemed it necessary to increase his passion for hard work, discipline, humility and patient submission to tutelage, training and experience, which trajectory culminated in the thoroughbred Edo Man with a multinational flavour that we know. The youths of today must take note of this very important detail and also realise that education is not a scam but rather a necessary enabler!

By the time Apostle clocked 33 years in 2004 (about that same age Jesus fully blossomed in ministry), he had been inspired to establish the Omega Fire Ministry International. Of course, he went through the process, having been ordained as a Minister by the fiery pioneering Pentecostal Evangelist, Archbishop Benson Idahosa. Apart from the maturity process, he also found reliable mentoring and ministerial parental guidance in Pastor Adeboye of the RCCG, Pa Ayo Oritsejafor of the Word of Life Bible Church, Dr D.K. Olukoya of the MFM, Papa David Oyedepo of the Winners and many other notable Generals of Christian Ministry in Nigeria.

The Apostle’s adventure into Christian Ministry can be traced to his early life’s fervour for the Word of God, which culminated in the direct instructions he received to start working to alleviate the sufferings of the poor, indigent and underprivileged backed by what was revealed to him as the Omega Fire anointing. He is definitely not one of the many ‘Pastorprenuers’ we see today, who are mainly driven by the search for glory or wealth, having already been a millionaire by the age of nineteen.

His close associates affirm he does not make decisions without the leading of the commander in chief of the armed forces of Heaven, the Holy Spirit. I am also reliably informed that he started out after realising he had been invested in what he calls the Omega Fire, which assured him of success and victory over challenges and circumstances he used to fear.

The Omega Fire Ministry is the core vehicle through which he ministers empowerment, peace and reconciliations. Essentially it is an environment for networking for personal growth and spiritual development.

Driven by compassion for the underprivileged, you will find a large chunk of the Apostle’s charity going out to Widows and the indigent members of the society. Apostle Suleman is also an aggressive soul-winner and evangelist whose philosophy is that there’s an earthly replica and manifestation of the spiritual hellfire, which he must actively confront and deprive of access to afflict believers and unbelievers alike.

Aside from Apostle Suleman’s distinctive personal traits of humility, compassion, passion, discipline, industry and vision, he is closely supported by his ideal help-mate, Pastor Lizzy Suleman. She is a highly empowered but extra-ordinarily submissive spouse, in spite of her advanced education. She is the ideal homemaker, fruitful, industrious and adorable woman of substance that is rare to find in our modern times.

Pastor Lizzy Suleman, a mother of six vibrant children, effortlessly combines the demanding tasks of raising God-honouring biological children as well as children of the ministry. I guess her secret recipe must be her extreme devotion to God and her spouse with love on a level that transcends common human frailties. You can never find her wanting either at the home front or at ministerial levels. Her peaceful demeanour is pervasive and indispensable to maintaining the atmosphere for progressive growth that Apostle Suleman and the Omega Fire Ministries have enjoyed to date. The two-in-one disciples of Jesus Christ form a perfect core team, with Sister Lizzy as the goalkeeper and Apostle Johnson as the striker.

Regardless of the highly demanding schedules of an international minister of the gospel, Apostle Suleman remains an easy-going and jovial person. Beyond his passion for soul-winning and care for Widows and the indigent, he is also a sporting man who takes to football and Table Tennis, among other recreational activities. He is a strong believer in early childhood education as an essential pillar for success.

For this purpose, he provides high-quality standard education at subsidised rates at primary and secondary levels solely for the benefit of the indigent children in society. When this writer asked about the logical extension of this enterprise to tertiary levels, the response received from an inside source was that the Apostle would not think of it, no matter how good and logical it may appear, except at the direction of the Holy Spirit!

Beyond the noise and hypnotic kaleidoscope of social media today, beyond the prevailing environment suffocating with obscene vulgarity, near madness and debauchery, I hereby present a viable option to our teaming youths, that they do have a better future beyond yahoo-yahoo, money rituals, gambling and other vices. The fact you were born indigent is not a genuine excuse to remain so.

On this occasion, I join other men of goodwill to congratulate the firebrand Apostle Johnson Suleman and his amiable wife Pastor Lizzy. Happy birthday Sir!

Dan Aibangbe is a media and public relations consultant