‘Being a preacher won’t make me quit secular music’

Over a decade ago, Afro-pop singer, Soul E (real name is Emmanuel Okosi), dumped his promising music career, after a stormy breakup with his ex-wife, Queen Ure and a strained relationship with his former records label, Colossal Entertainment.

Soul E announced that he had become a preacher and after hanging around Abuja for a spell, virtually vanished from the music scene. Later it turned out that he had relocated from Nigeria to a country in Southern Africa where he remarried and settled down to a new life as a pastor.

The singer, in a recent interview with our correspondent, spoke glowingly about  Lesotho where he currently lives and works as a preacher.

Claiming that he found that a better place in that country and a better life than what he was used to in Nigeria, Soul E said he had no regret whatsoever.

“God has blessed me abundantly. I have no reason to complain. God exposed me to people who I never believed I could meet. Working for God opens doors for you. In my church in Lesotho, there are Nigerians, Zimbabweans and South Africans. When God calls a man, he fights his battles and He convinces everyone to follow you. We will be two years-old this month as a ministry. We have almost 300 members. The name of the church is The Evidence Church,” he said.

The singer also said that he was glad that he kept quiet when he had issues with his former records label and ex-wife.

Asked if he had really quit making secular music, he said that he was considering recording a new album. He said, “My spiritual life is different from my talent. People always think that once you are doing God’s work, everything that comes out of you must be gospel. My new songs will be inspirational and about love. But my spiritual life is more important to me now than my music career.”

Confident that his next album would be a lot better than the first one, Soul E Baba Dey, and impact the Nigerian music scene in a way that most music fans had never seen, Soul E added, “I am not the same Soul E that people used to know. I have grown and it will reflect in my music. When I joined the Nigerian music industry, I didn’t have to do commercial songs. Yet, I became popular.

“But I don’t plan to record the album in Lesotho. I still have my producers in Nigeria and I plan to work with them.”