I Was a Youth Corper Preaching on Sundays and Selling My Body on Weeknights in Aba

This was back in 2022, during my NYSC in Aba. I was posted to a secondary school as a teacher, but on Sundays I was a chorister at a popular Pentecostal church. I would stand on that altar in my white robe, singing 'Great is Thy Faithfulness' while my own life was a complete lie.

See, the allowance was not enough. My parents back home in the village were struggling, and I had younger ones depending on me. So I started going to a hotel near Aba main market on Friday and Saturday nights. An older man , he was about 45, married, with two children , would send for me. He paid 10,000 naira per night. Sometimes more if he was in a good mood.

I told myself it was temporary. Just until I finished service. But the money was too sweet. I started buying expensive things, sending money home, and still standing on that altar every Sunday morning sweating under the lights. The pastor would say 'God is looking for vessels of honour' and I would just smile and nod, knowing what I had done the night before.

One Sunday, the man's wife showed up in church. She was visiting from Port Harcourt. She sat in the third row and I was leading worship. She did not know my face, but I knew hers from the pictures he showed me. I almost fainted on that stage. My voice cracked and I missed a note. After service, I ran to the back and threw up. That was the closest I ever came to being caught.

I finished service in 2023 and left Aba immediately. I have never gone back to that church. I still sing in a choir here in Lagos, but I am clean now. The lesson? That altar does not hide what you do in the dark. It just makes the shame heavier when the light finally comes. And it always comes.