Actress Tonto Dikeh has spoken about how her son’s prayer led to her reconciliation with her former husband, Olakunle Churchill, after 10 years of separation.
Dikeh shared the account in a viral video, saying the moment happened during a 21-day fasting and prayer programme at her church, where members were asked to write seven things they wanted and seven things they did not want.
She said she encouraged her son to also write his own prayer points, which they later placed on the church altar.
“My son reminded me that Papa asked us to write seven things that we wanted and seven things that we didn’t want.
“And I said, yes, I told him, ‘Write yours.’ So, on one of the evenings when I came to church, I think it was on the fourth day of the third day, I can’t really remember, I was able to drop mine and his at the altar.
“I took the other one back home. Mind you, every other day we were praying, those papers, we were feeding his communion.”
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She explained that her son actively participated in the prayers and took his prayer points seriously.
“My son was literally taking and feeding his own communion. So, let me take you back a little bit. As a mother, I saw, when he was taking back his prayer points, I read them: number one, school; two and four, they were all different things.”
According to Dikeh, one request on her son’s list stood out.
“And he got to number six. My son wrote, ‘God, I want the embassy to remove my passport.’ And that’s where the story comes in.”
She said she had never discussed her issues with her former husband with her son and had shielded him from details of their long-standing conflict.
Dikeh revealed that two days after the prayer programme, Churchill contacted her and offered to release all documents relating to their son, including his passport.
“Two days later, his father reached out to me and said, ‘I want to give you every document this boy needs, every document that you left with me.’
“And for some reason, the Holy Spirit just told me, ‘He’s real, he’s serious, believe him.’ And I just stood there, and I believed him. He asked a series of questions, which led me to realise it was time to talk to my son about who his father was.”
She said the development made her realise it was time to speak to her son about his father.
“And the truth is, I tell you before me, you, and God, I have never spoken a word, whether it was a bad word or a good word, about my son’s father to him,” she said.
Dikeh said she later apologised to her son and explained, in simple terms, what had happened between herself and Churchill.
“I told him, ‘We were so bitter, we were toxic, and in the midst of all of these things that affected you, I’m sorry,’” she said.
She added that her son then asked if she had forgiven his father and told her that he already had.
“He looked at me and said, ‘So have you forgiven him?’ I didn’t answer.
“He said, ‘If you didn’t forgive him, I have forgiven him. But it’s okay, I can understand better now,’” she recalled.
Dikeh said that despite past interventions by influential figures, including Nigeria’s current and former presidents, she had refused to forgive Churchill because of the anger she carried.
She noted that the moment with her son marked a turning point, adding that she began praying for her former husband and slowly let go of the bitterness.
“And, church, I mean, I’m telling you that this is 10 years, 10 years of war, 10 years of public shame, 10 years without a boy knowing his father, 10 years of lack of love, 10 years of bitterness, of hatred; everything just dissolved in front of my child. I found my child holding my hand because I was crying.
“He held my hand, and I was just praying for his father. I prayed for that man; I prayed for that man. I have had so much bitterness and anger towards him. Immediately, everything just broke down.
“Church, I see myself, I see myself addressing my ex-husband as he should be addressed. Before I put one, you know, one sentence or something added to his name, I respected him now. We are talking like we are friends; I see myself forgiving,” she said.