His is a classical example of one who has completely turned from evil to good. Jude Uchechukwu a.k.a one-legged pastor, senior pastor and founder, House of Liberty Ministry, Nsukka, was a leader of an armed robbery gang, but his life changed after he received Christ on his hospital bed at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH) where he was amputated following a gunshot injury he received during an operation. Two student doctors at the hospital preached him out of sin.
Pastor Uchechukwu, a product of a broken home, started smoking cigarette at the age of 12 and Indian hemp at 14.
But today, he is one of the leading charismatic ministers in the university town of Nsukka.
He preaches every Friday on the Lion FM Radio located on the Nsukka Campus of the University Nigeria, Nsukka.
The pastor has cause to be grateful to God as on three occasions, he had escaped death by the whiskers; one occasion was the day he was shot in the leg and caught by villagers, the other was when he was taken to the Nsukka police station where the then police boss did not see eye to eye with armed robbers and the third occasion, was when he wanted to commit suicide at the hospital.
His words: “My narrow escapes from death on three major occasions were evident that God had pre-destined me for service. I have been escaping deaths during our various robbery operations. But there were three major escapes, one was the day I decided to take an over-dose of Ampiclos?capsules after the doctors told me I was going to be amputated, the second occasion was the day I was shot and caught by villagers during an armed robbery operation. The third occasion being when I was taken to the police station where the then Area Commander did not spare any?armed robber.”
Rev. Uchechukwu recently granted an interview to Daily Sun on his life’s experience. The chat which took place in his office located on the third floor of Peace Mass Transport Ltd Nsukka depot building was interrupted occasionally by series of calls from people wanted him to minister to them on the mobile phone.
The man of God made this prayer before accepting to talk to our reporter. “In Jesus name, father in heaven, I thank you for this opportunity through this interview to minister to the life of young people who might find themselves in the same circumstance I had found myself early in life. Father we give you glory, we ask you to take control of this discussion today. In Jesus name”
Background
My name is Rev. Commander Jude Uchechukwu. I am a commander in the Lord’s army and not in the mundane. I am the senior pastor of House of Liberty Nsukka here in Enugu State. My ministry is about 10 years old, but signs had begun before then, but we started counting from only 10 year ago.
My family
I am from a family of seven, five boys and two girls. Some of them are dead. We are about five now. I did my primary school at Aba. I got to a level in the primary school and dropped out because of the prevailing circumstance. I came from non-Christian, but religious family. My father was a very religious man. At a time, there was a turning point in our life, our mother left us to marry another man and everything got messed up. The family was in shambles and everybody started to live independently, no control, no care; we were trying to survive because our mother was the bread winner. Our father was a retired teacher, the situation was a mess. We started growing up acquiring criminal tendency, picking things from people in order to survive; stealing petty things first and graduated to major things. When I entered a secondary school I joined a bad gang. You can mess yourself up if you don’t take your time. I joined a bad group and started smoking cigarette and marijuana (Indian hemp). I was 12 years when I started to smoke cigarette. I smoked the first rap of marijuana when I was 14 years and started smoking cigarette when I was 12. You know, the thing changed my life.
The gang I joined messed my life up. Everything turned around to the negative. Life is full of phases, there is always a turning point in someone’s life that will bring about a change either negative or positive. Because of the group I joined I started skipping school, started skipping class and eventually, lost interest in schooling. I was aspiring to become a lawyer. I was very intelligent, but very unfortunate because of the group I joined; because of what I was doing I lost interest in schooling, I got myself dropped out. I had a problem with the police, and I was finally expelled from the school. This was a turning point in my life. All these things started because of a broken home. I don’t want to remember that.
Going into 419 business and armed robbery
Now out of school, I graduated into another level of gangster and joined the 419 group. I saw it as a very quiet business, so I joined them and from there, I joined the armed robbery group and I began to rob. From there, things began to happen, I had many escapades. I could have been killed in our various operations. I did not know what was holding me. I came face to face with death on several occasions. But the Lord God who wanted me to be what I am today decided to keep me. There was a time when I could have been shot dead, but God made me to escape. It was true life of a gangster after I dropped out of school, full life of a gangster, women , was the order of the day; partying, I was just there to have a good time at all costs. I lived this kind of life continually and you know what you do continually becomes a habit, so I formed a habit and habit forms a personality. Mine was a negative personality. My life actually turned out to be very, very bad.
How I lost my leg
It was just one day, I went to see members of our gang and I met them planning to go out for a job, a hit as we used to call it. They did not inform me, I was very angry with them. So, I decided to join them immediately. It was just a beautiful day, bright as usual, but dark in the air for somebody like me. At the place of operation, there was a shoot out. The fire was too much and we took to our heels and I was shot in the leg, I was abandoned by my friends and the people that shot me down caught me and decided to set me ablaze. That time the vogue was to hang tyre around a robber’s neck, pour fuel and set him ablaze. They brought everything to set me ablaze – fuel, tyre and matches. And I made a prayer for the first time in my life. I decided to discharge my gun as it would have worsened my case. I threw it into the darkness. When they brought me out after that prayer, somebody (may be an angel) suggested to them to take me to the police. Going to the police was another danger because the police boss there, Mr. Uyiepken kills armed robbers anyhow.
The then Area Commander was cleaning the city and ridding it of bad eggs. But it was like the prayer I prayed was carrying me along because when we reached the police station, the Area Commander who ought to be on seat was not there and was to come back the following morning. Suddenly, a letter came from nowhere, directing that I should be taken to the hospital. This was strange because in such cases the victims are dumped in the cell and allowed to bleed to death or shot dead. I later learnt that the author of the letter was a police officer by name Sunny Ngwu, a very close lieutenant of Uyiekpen. So, I really thank God for him. I learnt that Uyiekpen tried to take me out from the Bishop Shanahan Hospital where I was admitted, but the authority resisted him. That was how I was saved and thereafter referred to the UNTH, Enugu.
How I wanted to commit suicide
I was on admission for six months when they told me that my wound has?been infested and that my leg was going to be cut off, I cried for two days and thereafter signed the amputation paper. After the amputation, I was like I want to kill myself. The devil told me to take overdose of antibiotics and die. That day, I was planning to take 50 capsules of Ampiclus at once. The nurses normally bring them in large quantity. But strange enough, that day the nurses came to announce to us that the hospital authority had directed that antibiotics were no longer to be supplied to us in large quantity. I was saved again by God just for this purpose. Two people came to preach to me. They told me about Jesus.
We have just been religious in the family, but I did not know Christ and nobody taught us even though we were going to Church with our father. The day I gave my life to the Lord; surprisingly, my mood changed and I was no longer thinking about suicide. But something continued telling me that my life was useless now, that I have only one leg. That was when I prayed another prayer asking God to discharge me without my paying the hospital bill as my father has no money to settle the bill. He answered the prayer because I was discharged free of charge. I prayed to God to do this to show me I have been His son and that I want to go home to preach to my siblings who are into crime also about Jesus. I also, told him to save me from police net because after my discharge I must be taken to the police. So, one day, the hospital authority discharged me and policemen came to take me to see the Area Commander, Uyiekpen. When I was brought before him, he did not know what to do with me because the hand of God was on me. He looked at me and ordered his men to return me to my father. It was a great miracle. I later learnt that my gang members were arrested; some of them shot dead and others died in prison custody.
Becoming born again
I desire greatly to see the two student doctors - Ndidi and Tokumbo, a Yoruba girl who led me to Christ. After they led me to Christ and I left the hospital, I missed them. I wish they read this interview and locate me. They preached to me at Ward two, UNTH in 1991- Tokumbo and Ndidi, these are their names. After that, I felt like there is a new life in me. They changed me, I realized that God still needed me even though, I was a gangster. I felt so good after meeting Christ.
Life with one leg
Oh! My God, it was so challenging, another turning point, another test of faith, another phase that was so challenging. Surviving members of our gang came to me to woo me back into their fold dangling good offers and I was poor, no source of income. They brought stolen goods for me to keep for them as well as arms and ammunition. The biggest temptation was that I needed this money, but did not want to go back to crime. My mum was not there, nobody to help me. So, they wanted me back at all costs, but I resisted them and made up my mind not to return to crime. I told the devil that “you took my leg, and I will not come back to you again”. Because the devil took my leg, I vowed to mess him up. I made a vow at the hospital and told God if he set me free from this problem am gonna serve you’. When I came back it was full of challenges, my father was not helping matters as he was always abusing me, calling me names, saying I was a disappointment, that he wanted me to get good education and read law.
This time, I had left Catholic Church and this worsened his anger on me. He asked me many whys without an answer. I did not actually know what was going on in my life then. It was just that, it was full of challenges. Remember that I was just about 22 years then. In spite of the pressure from my former colleagues, I joined the Deeper Life Church and worshipped with them for two years. After two years the Lord told me, I have a call and reminded me of the vow I made at the hospital. He said he wanted to use me to confound people, to show them that if a one-legged man can serve him, that there is no excuse for able-bodied young men and women. He told me to start and I left Deeper Life and started prison and hospital ministration. I did that for so many years and then started this ministry, House of Liberty, Word Liberation Assembly. The Lord told me it was high time I went and raised him people, men and women that will stop the days of evil and restore Christian authority in this city. So I started House of Liberty.
Radio Ministry
Yes, I started a radio ministry about two years ago. I have been sponsoring it. To come on air is expensive. But God told me to start it and many lives have been touched and changed by it.
With one leg marriage was tough for me
My marriage was tough because not many girls wanted to marry a disabled. However, we call ourselves the physically challenged, but it’s just about disability. Since I lost my leg, I proposed to about nine girls, could you believe that? Some of them would say yes and disappear; some would say they want to pray for it. But I prayed to my God and told him to give me a woman that is going to like me the way I am; just the way I am, I was so poor then. I was disabled, with bad background, with ugly stories following me. You know what I mean. The parents of my present wife did not find it funny when their daughter consented to marry me. They fought her vehemently. But she stood her ground and today, we are happily married. Esther is the name of my wife – my queen.
The Lord has blessed us with three beautiful kids, two boys and one girl - one is Emmanuel, the other David and the girl is Joyce Ada Ebube. I strongly believe the scripture which says that he that findeth a wife findeth a good thing”. I was really poor when I got married. But two years after our marriage, things changed for the better. Today, we have two cars. We have settled and we are changing new things yearly. This is why I believe that anyone that is single out there is not yet complete until he or she is married, because the level of one’s financial breakthrough is not known until you have a good wife.
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