How Losing 2023 Election Led Me to Pastoral Work in US — Banky W

Nigerian singer, filmmaker and politician Bankole Wellington, popularly known as Banky W, has revealed how losing the 2023 House of Representatives election prompted him to reconsider his purpose and eventually embrace pastoral ministry in the United States.

Banky W shared the experience on Thursday while marking his first anniversary in pastoral ministry, reflecting on how the electoral setback changed his outlook on life and his future.

The entertainer said the defeat left him deeply disappointed, but also pushed him to seek God’s direction on what to do next.

“In 2023 I lost an election. And while the experience inspired me in many ways, it also broke my heart into a million little pieces,” he wrote in a post on Instagram.

He explained that after the election, he turned to God for guidance, asking whether his future lay in politics, entertainment, business or ministry.

“When the dust settled, I took those pieces back to God. And I surrendered,” he said.

According to him, he eventually realised that he did not have to abandon one area of his life to pursue another. Instead, he came to see his professional interests and spiritual responsibilities as paths that could coexist.

“And somewhere along the way, I realized that I was asking God to choose between things He had never asked me to separate,” he wrote.

“It wasn’t either/or. It was all of the above.”

Banky W said the experience helped him understand that his responsibilities were expanding rather than narrowing.

“Turns out, God wasn’t trying to put me in a box. He was expanding my assignment,” he added.

The singer disclosed that he continues to work as a filmmaker, musician and entrepreneur while serving as an associate pastor at Union Church and as a teacher and leader at Union College in the United States.

He also joked about his transition into ministry, recalling that he previously said the letter “P” in his name, P. Banks, stood for professor rather than pastor.

“I used to joke that the ‘P’ in P.Banks stood for Professor, not Pastor. I guess God heard and said, ‘Why not both?’” he wrote.

Banky W acknowledged that travelling between Lagos and the Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia area to fulfil his responsibilities can be demanding, but said the experience had been worthwhile.

He contested the 2023 Eti-Osa Federal Constituency election under the Peoples Democratic Party but lost to Labour Party candidate Thaddeus Attah.

Reflecting on the past year, he said the outcome had not gone as he hoped, but had opened a new chapter in his life.

“The election didn’t go the way I hoped. But God’s plans for my life are bigger than the plans I had for myself,” he wrote.