Nigerian singer, filmmaker and entrepreneur Banky W has marked one year as an associate pastor and global ambassador at Union Church in the United States, saying his 2023 election loss broadened his path rather than narrowing it. In an Instagram post shared on Thursday, Olubankole Wellington, popularly known as Banky W, reflected on his journey since losing the Eti-Osa federal constituency seat in the House of Representatives.
One Year at Union Church and Union College
Banky W said he serves as an associate pastor and global ambassador at Union Church, a non-denominational church with campuses across the US, and as a teacher and leader at Union College. He credited the church's leaders, Stephen and Zai Chandler, for their influence on his faith, family and future. He added that travelling back and forth between Lagos and the Washington, DC area is not always easy, but said it has been worth it.
He opened the post with a joke he used to make, that the "P" in his nickname, P.Banks, stood for Professor and not Pastor. God, he wrote, seemed to have replied, "Why not both?" Banky W said he never wanted to be placed in a box.
Reflecting on the 2023 Election Loss
After losing an election in 2023, an experience he said broke his heart, he took the pieces back to God and asked whether his future lay in leadership or ministry, entertainment or business. He said he came to see that he had been asking God to choose between things He had never asked him to separate. In his words, God "wasn't trying to put me in a box" but widening his assignment.
He stressed that he remains a filmmaker, musician and entrepreneur, and hinted at more to come on the business, film and music fronts. He closed by thanking God and asking his followers to wish him a happy first anniversary.
Election Details and Legal Challenges
Banky W contested the Eti-Osa federal constituency seat in the House of Representatives in February 2023 as the Peoples Democratic Party candidate. The Independent National Electoral Commission declared Thaddeus Attah of the Labour Party the winner with 24,075 votes, ahead of Banky W with 18,666 and the APC's Babajide Obanikoro with 16,901.
Banky W and Obanikoro challenged the result. In September 2023, an election petitions tribunal ordered a supplementary election in 32 polling units, and Banky W reacted online with the words "It is possible." In November 2023, the Court of Appeal set the tribunal's decision aside and affirmed Attah as the winner.
His post does not give details of the projects he teased.
