Banky W says one year as a US pastor showed him that God never asked him to choose between ministry, music, film and business after his 2023 election loss.
Remember when Banky W used to joke that the “P” in P.Banks stood for Professor, not Pastor? Well, he’s now both. And he’s got a story to tell about how he got here.
The singer, filmmaker and businessman just marked one year as an associate pastor and global ambassador at Union Church in the US. He’s also a teacher and leader at Union College. He shared the news on Instagram on Thursday, and it wasn’t your usual anniversary post. It was a look back at a really painful season.
Banky says that after he made the Professor-not-Pastor joke for years, God seemed to answer back with a simple question: why not both?
That question didn’t come out of nowhere. It came after the 2023 election, when he ran for the Eti-Osa federal constituency seat in the House of Representatives under the PDP and lost. He admits it broke his heart.
He took those broken pieces to God and asked a big question. Was his future in leadership or ministry? Entertainment or business?
Then it clicked. He’d been asking God to choose between things God never asked him to separate. In his words, God “wasn’t trying to put me in a box.” He was making the assignment bigger.
That’s a pretty comforting thought if you’ve ever felt stuck between two paths
If you’ve forgotten how close it was, Thaddeus Attah of the Labour Party won with 24,075 votes. Banky W had 18,666, and the APC’s Babajide Obanikoro had 16,901. Banky and Obanikoro both challenged the result.
In September 2023, a tribunal ordered a supplementary election in 32 polling units, and Banky posted “It is possible.” But in November, the Court of Appeal set that decision aside and confirmed Attah as the winner.
Don’t expect Banky to disappear into church life. He says he’s still a filmmaker, a musician and an entrepreneur. He even teased new things coming in business, film and music, but he didn’t give any details.
He also thanked Stephen and Zai Chandler, the church’s leaders, for their impact on his faith, his family and his future. And he was honest that flying between Lagos and the Washington,
DC area isn’t easy. But he says it’s worth it.
It’s a nice reminder that a loss isn’t always the end of the story. Sometimes it’s just the plot twist. Now we wait to see what he’s cooking.
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