© Nkosikhona Cykander-Ndlovu
Put off the lights!” – This was a command which caused many to shake like a reed in the cold waters of Thames on a cold winter morning. A group of cultist, man of the night terrorized Ambrose Ali University. Often times they would be seen in the middle of the night wearing their red and black apparel, carrying a coffin, singing as they moved around campus. It didn’t need much intelligence for one to notice that their lines were not meant to be crossed – you wouldn’t want to be the weekly sacrifice to appease their gods.
Among the first year students was a Christian Oyakhilome, who was just being introduced to the above situation. Several times he had heard about these shenanigans, but now the whole thing was in 3D. One certain night, the cultists were sailing through his hostel, they commanded that the lights be switched off as the norm was. No one dared to stage a protest, because precious Jolof was waiting on the other side; who would risk missing a date with her by acting a super hero? Every mouse retired to its whole, no dog dared lift its tail.
“Lord Jesus, it cannot be”, said Oyakhilome who was now on his knees right next to his bed. “It cannot be; as long as I am in this place there must be a change” he said, “how could I be here with all the Holy Ghost and we turn out the lights and do nothing about it?” All this didn’t amount to any sense to him. The matter bothered him so much that he couldn’t sleep that night, instead he took that time to pray about it. As he looked at these people all that he thought was “how shall we get in.” He knew by the power of the Holy Spirit, that yoke could be destroyed. He started gathering the cloud of prayer for monsoon that was soon to pour.
In his mind, he had drawn the battle line and was already testing the missiles. It didn’t take long before he dropped an inter-continental. The cultists faced a ‘goat bites dog’ situation – the least expected had happened. “The weapons of our warfare are not canal! The weapons of our warfare are not canal!” – The chants grew louder and louder day by day. There it was, an army that was growing exponentially faster than theirs.
“Who is this boy?” – They set an exam for themselves but still had to sweat like goats a week before Christmas, as they failed to find the correct answers. In all their years on campus they’d never seen a first year student with such influence. The students started to feel the breeze of freedom, weak souls within the cult were also enticed, and in no time he was aiming for the big guns.
One memorable night, the cultist were in full attendance at one of his meetings. They had crept in unnoticed with the motive to cause havoc, but they were left confused after they heard him deliver the message. The jaw dropping moment of the night was when they saw their Captain stepping forward when the altar call was made.
