Banky W marks one year as US pastor, says God "wasn't trying to put me in a box"

• Banky W has marked one year as an associate pastor at Union Church in the United States.

• He says losing the 2023 election helped him rethink his future and understand that ministry could coexist with his other careers.

• The singer and filmmaker says he remains active in entertainment and business, hinting at upcoming projects.

Singer, filmmaker and entrepreneur Banky W has marked one year in his new roles at a church and college in the United States, saying a painful chapter in his life widened his path instead of narrowing it.

In an Instagram post shared on Thursday, Banky W, whose full name is Olubankole Wellington, 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. 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. 

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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.

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.

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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 say give details of the projects he teased.