Paul Bamikole Joseph hails from Ondo
State(Akoko South). He attended JEFAP and Comprehensive Schools in Suleja,
Niger State, Nigeria and he has a certificate in Computer Science. During the
interview in his words he told I am Best Networks that: “Giving up was dysfunctional.” He added that he grew up with his
grandmother in the village and it was adventurous and was fun. In his words- “Growing up in the village shaped me but
Christ modelled me.” Bamikole was a drug addict and when he was asked how
he met Jesus Christ, he explained… “It
was one morning; I woke up and went to take marijuana with my friends and all
of a sudden I turned back and didn’t
go again.” He told I am Best Networks that a VOICE clearly spoke to him and
he heard the VOICE clearly talking to him about changing his ways and following
Christ. He pointed out that nobody came to preach Jesus to him physically
before accepting Him but He was convicted the divine voice of God. On his
journey of life, he met with Jide Santana who owned a Computer School and
according to Bamikole, Mr Jide contributed to who he is today. Jide Santana who
is not a pastor but a true and dedicated Christian who has made impact,
affected souls became a role model to Paul Bamikole Joseph. Bamikole according
to hm, he said he has been called to teach people, educate and enlighten. He is
a writer and a dancer too. He started Crystal Company in Suleja. Crystal Company
was the first non-denominational dance group in Suleja and Bamikole was the
founder. He further added that he does Freelance teaching, Pattern dance
teaching, he organises events for people all for a living….

The
interview was interactive and educative between I am Best Networks and Paul
Bamikole Joseph. He continued telling what inspired Ground Zero – a
quarterly program he does to teach and inspire people and also how it all
began. Read the rest of it below…

I AM BEST NETWORKS: What inspired Ground
Zero?

BAMIKOLE –Hmmm
what inspired Ground Zero? Ahh will say what inspired Ground Zero is the need
to enlighten people… to actually empower people. Like if you look at our own
world, lots of people with potentials and talent, how much are they doing with
it? And even those who claim to have been enlightened to a point, I found out
that they are not really enlightened as they should be. Especially as a
believer most of the things we do, are not the way they ought to be done, for
me is like we fall short naturally and we fall short spiritually, so the reason
why we started Ground Zero is to serve as a platform to enlighten and empower
people, especially young people. By the grace of God we have been able to do
so… this would have started four-five years ago but because of the general
fear…. (Laughs) it got to me too and how we are going to go about it… the fear of
inadequacies especially. Like I do not have what it takes to pull this off,
eventually God has His way around things… no matter how we try to avoid things;
He does not care if you are forty. If he wants you to do it you will do it. You
are the one that will suffer the consequences for not starting earlier. I found
out that this is what God is calling me to do, to be someone who will bring his
light to the area of insight. Because I believe a man cannot operate beyond
what he knows. And I think it is a universal law for everybody, no matter who
or what you are. So what inspired ground zero was the need… (laughs) (I don’t
want to start talking about spiritual things) just to enlightened and inspire
people to discover their God given abilities and potentials.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– what criteria do you use in selecting the people you invite?

BAMIKOLE  – The way we do it is
this…, I believe this town is blessed with so much, I use to tell people Suleja
is a ticking time bomb and is set to go off anytime and their are people who
are hiding, they have been blessed with so much and personally I think we ought
to bring them out and showcase them. And I think one of the reasons why they
are not coming out is that they don’t believe they have something to offer and
the world is dying to hear from them. One of the ways is that… (Chuckles) sorry
to bring scriptures. When Saul the King wherever he goes and he sees a young
man who is well endowed, strong and agile, he recruit him into his army. So
that what I do basically like I see someone who has something to offer, has
something to say, even though we are not friends I walk up to the person and
say ok we have this thing and we will like you to come and be a blessing to us and
those that will be at the event and, they will be like ‘I don’t think I really can
do it…’  just come, just come… there is
always a first time for everything , that’s what we have been doing. In most of
the SPEAK most of the people you see are people you have never seen before,
like we gave Pastor Paul, Paul Karl the first platform to minister in this town
and other young people… that if you see them you will be wow have they been
Pastors for several years? And they have so much to offer and so much to say
but they’ve not been saying anything. The way we have been selecting them is
that personally I go to an event i see this person ministering… Personally
you have to touch me first, when you have blessed me and I think the way this
person have blessed me he can also bless someone else and again I meet people,
when walk up to you I ask a lot of questions. The first thing I ask is why do
you do what you do? Some people can talk but their lifestyle does not match, so
we want someone that when people have heard from him and they now see him in
another place, offstage they can really say ‘wow this person is for real’, his
lifestyle matches what he preaches. These are some of the criteria we use in
choosing people, we do a lot of investigation.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– What gave birth to the
name Ground Zero?

 BAMIKOLE
– Hmmm the name Ground Zero stems from
the Beginning… Ground Zero is the start off point. The Bible in the Book of
Genesis 11 says that the whole earth was of one language and they were moving
as one and they came to a place, a plain land there was nothing, they call it
the Plain of Dura and they said let’s build something. I tell people that there
are a lot of lessons to be drawn from the Book of Genesis 11, the only thing
that made God stop the work was the motive behind it. It was an act of rebellion
against God, they didn’t say let us build to the glory of God… let’s build
something that can challenge God,let’s show God who we are, for their own
selfish interest and it was against the will of God, because God said
spread  and they wanted to gather in one
place and do their own thing, an act of rebellion against God. So Ground Zero
is the starting point, Christianity began from a Ground Zero, Jesus Christ said
‘you shall be witnesses unto from Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria and to the
outermost part of the earth’. So Ground Zero is wherever you have been called
to begin what God has called you to do, wherever your vision begin from,
wherever you start implementing your idea is your Ground Zero. Another Ground
Zero is the valley of the dry bones, spoken of in Ezekiel 37 where there was no
life and God began to raise an army from that same spot, that’s a Ground Zero.
Ground Zero is your garage; your store room where you throw all your unwanted
stuff and God is saying this place where there are unwanted things is the place
where He wanted to build something, that’s what Ground Zero is about.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– Is it your vision that
anybody that comes to  Ground Zero event
it should be a starting point for something new in his/her life?

BAMIKOLE– Actually
that wasn’t it. Like when Mr Kenneth Sunday was talking to me and he was like
‘that was also my Ground Zero’ I was like wow I didn’t know. One thing I always
relate with him is his sincerity; he is very open hearted and sincere.
Personally I love sincere people, eventhough I may not be too sincere sometimes…
(Laughs) I envy that in him, I never knew it was his Ground Zero… not until we
met the last time and we were talking… I didn’t know. Often times we give
people the platform at the end of the day when they start telling us their
stories we find out it’s their first time. Like Mercy Royalty she spoke at the
second one we had for last year at Voice Of Faith and she spoke so well, there
was this grace with the way she delivered, people were like who is this girl?
Who is that sister? And I was just smiling and when I spoke to her she was like
‘thank you for the platform; this is my first time…’ (and I said) this is your
first time? (Laughter) is not like we just go ask ‘is this your first time? Oya
come!’…  Is not as if we go and audition
people, it’s just that divine arrangement most of them it’s their first
time… it’s just God.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– The first one I attended
was titled SPEAK, is it that every Ground Zero event has a theme?

BAMIKOLE– SPEAK
is an event on its own, the one you attended at Voice Of Faith was ‘freemen’
that was the theme. SPEAK is an acronym for ‘Solving Problems Existing Anywhere
through Knowledge’, and one wonderful thing again is that it’s not like I sat
down and thought of the name just like the name Ground Zero, I didn’t seat down
to crack my brain to look for a sweet name like most people will do and I
didn’t go to God in prayer and said give us a name. I was just listening to
someone’s testimony on TV and I can’t even remember… talking about his
encounter and the name just came and immediately I wrote it down and base on
the work God has given us to do this is our starting point, so Ground Zero it
is… We said it, it wasn’t official, that was how the name stuck. It was
immediately after we came up with the name that revelations started coming to
confirm the name. So it was with SPEAK, the way SPEAK just came I was thinking
and the name just came up… solving problems existing anywhere through
knowledge. So I believe it was the Holy Spirit that inspired it. So that was
how we came up with the name. So SPEAK is an event on its own, I think we have
had about seven SPEAK since the inception of Ground Zero.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– Is it that SPEAK is
subsidiary under Ground Zero?

BAMIKOLE– It
is an event organised Ground Zero. Just like Living Faith – Shiloh,
organised Living Faith every year, so also is SPEAK.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– Are there other events?

BAMIKOLE– We
started one this year, it’s a vigil program and it’s called Rainbow. The theme
of the one we did … it was done yesterday, 27th of January 2017. The
theme was I DARE, I dare u! it’s called Rainbow because of the covenant God has
with humanity, when the first world was destroyed, God said I am putting a sign
in the sky whenever you see it, it will remind you and remind you of the
covenant with me and what I did to the old world. So it’s a sign of covenant
and when we see rainbow it’s a sign of relief, sign of hope that okay God will not
do this kind of wicked thing again, to us as to destroy the earth with flood
and also there is also a saying that at the end of every rainbow there is a pot
of gold. And everyone is seeking the pot of gold but the way most people go
about seeking and trailing their rainbow for the pot of gold is in the wrong
way.Rainbow is sign of hope and relief. We want to tell people that you can be
successful, you can be great, you can be all that God has called you to be, in
fact exceeding your own expectation but God wants your greatness to be on His
own terms. I believe greatness is a command; we have no choice than to be
great. It’s not like we are just desiring it. It is commanded in the
scriptures; ‘…arise and shine’ it’s not an appeal, it’s a command. It’s
commanded God.

I AM BEST NETWORKS– Despite your challenges,
what is the word from God that keeps you moving?

BAMIKOLE– I
caught a word from my discipler one day when I walked up to him feeling
discouraged to confront my challenges then. When I spoke with him about it he
told me ‘’ If you can forget yourself to an idea to the extent of dying for it
then nothing will be called impossible for you” I did not write it down but the
statement has  not left me for a second,
anytime I feel challenged, I reflect on that statement, the only time I back
off anything is when I sense that God is saying NO on what I want to do. Apart
from this, I don’t pull out, odds and money has never stopped me from doing
anything. My anchor and encouragement mainly is the scriptures such that, at
every point God will send a scripture to serve as an encouragement and comfort
at every turn but the words my discipler said to me is stocked in my heart like
a signpost that whenever I remember it, I feel more encouraged  and never give up and he really proved it to
me with his life, I saw him put action to his word, before my very eyes he
built his business from nothing to an empire and I also saw him give away this
empire and I witnessed what came out of it at the end of the day. It worked for
him and from the books I have read it works and it’s also working for me.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – Talking about books,
what is your reading culture like?  

BAMIKOLE– Most
people have a time they allocate to reading but I don’t. When I first came into
this town (Suleja) I could not speak or communicate with other language except
Yoruba. My quest to learn and adjust to my new habitation improved my
communication skills a lot and that inspired me to want to read so as to learn
more and I was virtually reading every write up around including picking up papers
on the ground to read. My mind was hungry for knowledge and coupled with the
fact that I hated being laughed at, because of my inability to speak good
English that of course inspired me to read books, newspapers and novels so as
to improve. When I got born again I began to narrow my mind to specific books
to help me grow I started with the Bible, then, self-help and motivational
books. I also fell in love with books written as Biographies. I also read from
the internet to be impacted and inspire others from what I read. Basically, I can’t
say this is when I read but all I can say is that I’m always reading and it’s
my lifestyle.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – Which writer(s) can you
 say have influenced you the most?

BAMIKOLE – The first author that really influenced
me was Napoleon Hill because I read the book over and over again. Another
author that has inspired me is George S. Clason“Richest man in Babylon” and
several others but Napoleon Hills stand out. James Allen the author of “As A
Man Thinketh” also has inspired me.

I AM BEST NETWORKS –Which book in particular
can you say was a turning point for you?

BAMIKOLE – Umm “Ablaze for God” Wesley Dowels served as a turning point for me.
I read it simultaneously with “God’s Generals” and it served as my turning
point to work with God and I started desiring more of God’s work. Wesley Dowels
book was entirely what inspired my turning point to work for God.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – You mentioned earlier
that you write on social media, what is your write-ups about?

BAMIKOLE– My writings cut across all works of
life ranging from Philosophy, Medicine, Botany and other things in general.
Sometime last year, in the field of Medicine, I wrote something on the internet
and some medical facilitators in Europe and America have been using some of
materials on their websites as their opening captions like this one quote I
made “see a man as good luck and that is what he becomes and see him as bad
luck and he becomes your headache”. As simple as this quote is, immediately I
posted it on net, it went viral and it attracted most organizations to even
include it in documents they send as PDF. I also write about dance, in 2014 the
official page for World of Dance used one of my stuffs as their opening line. I
also touch on Military and Justice, like the Indonesia Court of Law used one my
materials two years ago, I can tell you that many things like love, friendship,
marriage and several others.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – Do they acknowledge
your writings?

BAMIKOLE – Yes, they do because my name is always there.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – How is the feedback?

BAMIKOLE – The feedback has been awesome because I receive calls around the globe
to appreciate my work and most times to just associate with me. My audience are
huge in Europe and Asia with a few in Africa as funny as it may sound because
I’m an African. This concentration is evident on my social media accounts like
most of my followers on Twitter and Instagram are whites of different and
prestigious institutions, like I have a group Abraham Lincoln’s friends (from
Cambridge University) following me on Twitter and also faculty of Engineering
students from an European institution came up with a website to inspire
Engineers in Europe and most what they compiled included my works. So most of
the response I get from people is amazing and at times some wonder if I’m the
character behind the acts (works). Someone like El-Samson who is a huge fan of
mine on facebook met me in Abuja and knowing that he didn’t know me in person,
I asked if he know Paul Bamikole and he was like yes, the guy is great and
rained praises on me, so I told him this is me and I could see him astounded
from his looks doubting if I truly was Paul Bamikole on Facebook and afterwards
he embraced me. Talking about how my write ups have influenced people, I think
it has positively worldwide and I count it a favour and privilege from God to
have influence a wide range of people like Politicians, Entrepreneurs, Students
and even the United Nation. So it’s indeed a great blessing from God to have
influenced different classes of people through my writings.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – how do you get
inspiration to write?

BAMIKOLE – First of all I get my inspiration from the Holy Spirit, because he gave
me the sound mind to always think which is a spirit (Sound Mind) as mentioned
in the scriptures. The sound mind I received enables me to think, read and
understand things differently. Most of the things I do I get my inspiration
from the Holy Spirit like when I first wrote a poem I didn’t and couldn’t explain
how it happened but I was told it was a poem when a friend went through it so,
full credit for inspiration goes to the Holy Spirit. 

I AM BEST NETWORKS– Talking about your
followership back here in Africa I mean home, what does it tell you about people
interest in seeking knowledge?

BAMIKOLE– Africa is still growing and so is our reading culture,
infact this generation is gradually waking up, I was talking to some people
that when I started writing on facebook, it wasn’t because I wanted to be
famous or show the world that am a genius NO, I had this culture of always
scribbling on my books and I had journals that I was compiling  and I just thought of dishing my write-ups out
on facebook as a platform, as I was doing that I got an invitation to be a co-author
of a website that publish and subsequently more invites were coming. Unknown to
me, my works had been viral on different websites that published my works and
even on goggle I saw a lot of my works published on different sites I really
was amazed about all these developments. How those write-ups got to these sites
I can’t fathom up till date but all I deduce from it is that it is God’s own
way of announcing me. Personally, I adapt a style of writing that is foreign,
so I thought of using a name that is of foreign decent but the Holy Spirit
countered that thought and I decided to use my own name Paul Bamikole

I AM BEST NETWORKS– what is wealth to you?

BAMIKOLE– For
me, wealth is influence. I think this is the notion where young people get it
wrong. Wealth is influence such that if you have influence, you don’t stop what
you are doing and you keep looking for creative ways to improve and reach out
to people, to equally be a blessing to the society, eventually wealth will come
seeking you that is, the monetary asset that most see as wealth will come
seeking you. Talking about influence, it is fame, the Bible says that ‘’Jesus
Christ was so wise and that He spoke with so much wisdom and authority that it
was only natural for His fame to be noised and brought abroad”. I love King
Solomon in the Bible because of his wisdom and when his people saw how wise
their king was, they carried the news abroad and it served as the internet of
those days. Another intriguing thing about King Solomon was his writings. I was
at a point very ambitious to out-write King Solomon because of the wisdom he
devoted to writing. Solomon wrote about a lot of things that is, he covered a
lot of subjects like Medicine, Botany, Zoology and so many things you can think
of. He was the first Philosopher in the scripture. One notable thing about his
life is that as far as his influence went people came from both far and near to
seek him. His influence equally attracted so many and important personalities
like Queen of Sheba and king of Tyre. So to me, influence is wealth you might
make money in your business but to me that does not mean you are rich. So when
you talk about rich people, it doesn’t mean they have money but the people they
have is what makes them rich and those they have been able to bless. In short,
if a man lacks influence then he is poor and again it depends on the influence
you have too. There is positive and negative influence you and I think having
positive influence on people is true wealth.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – what is the vision you
have for your ministry?

BAMIKOLE – I really envisage being a blessing to people all over the world
especially in Africa. I look forward to as my vision to see Christians wake up
to do what they have been called to do because what we have is lots of religion
with NO POWER and we are stereotyped to power where one can lay hands on the
dead and they wake up that’s power for some. Africa is so stripped with
mysticism and superstitious believes and all that thus, seeing power from the
supernatural realm like if you can perform magic or miracle (like part the red
sea) that is power but in the 21st century that is not what power is
about, power today is about, influence and it’s about making decision to affect
lives. I look forward to a time in Africa when Christians will rise to a
position that every decision they make will impact the world generally starting
from their nations then Africa continent and the world at large. There is no
way this can be achieved except the system is interrupted, because right now
the system we have is the system of religion, which does not take empowerment
serious and also the quest for knowledge is not taken to be a serious thing,
Christians also don’t take skill acquisition serious except few that are
trying, on this the majority outnumber the minority. So I look forward to a
time when we will be able to reach people on a large scale because I believe
that we will win souls more easily if we have the influence. We will definitely
get there when we understand the process and completely submit to Christ. It is
only when we understand what we have (the Holy Spirit, Christ and the Bible)
that we will be able to create influence on others. My vision is to see this
generation make a difference among other generations that have been here. If we
are relaxed this generation won’t be better than others that have existed
because we have been handed the old baton and doctrine of doing things.
Therefore to become a better  generation,
there must be an interruption in the system and that is my vision to be the
interrupting line and also rise people to create a divide between the old and
new. I’m not talking about discarding the landmark (ancient path of
Christianity) but to fall back to that ancient path so as to get it right by
doing that which Christ has called us to do one of which is to influence
nations for him. So my vision is to come to a point where we can really affect
people both individually and collectively to attract other nations in Africa. I
want to redeem the prestige of Africa, you know she witnessed education first I
mean education began in Africa but we have been made to look like fools for
centuries because we abandon our quest for knowledge and I want to see this
come back to Africa . There is no way any nation will not suffer if Christians
keep neglecting what they are called to do.  God did not author slavery, God does not
permit oppression of any kind but we saw that the church profited from slavery
for so long a time and no one questioned it until some people came up like
William Wilberforce and they challenged the norm to the point of laying down
their lives for the practice to stop and even when they were gone others rose
up to continue their fight which in the end they won. The price they paid is
what we are enjoying today as free beings. The likes of Martin Luther of
Germany, John Knox and the rest stood up to challenge what the world saw as a
normal thing, God used them to break us free from the tyranny of Catholism. It’s
in line with this that my vision springs to see this generation rise up to
challenge so many things that are done wrongly, I believe that this is the age
of controversy and this will be the most controversial generation because we
are going to rise up and challenge everything we have been told is true but is
against our conscience which has no scriptural foundation. So, this is the
vision.

I AM BEST NETWORKS – what would you want to
be remembered for?

BAMIKOLE – I want to be remembered as a
lover, someone who loved people enough to rise up and give them a voice and
made impact in their lives. I want to leave a mark where people will say if not
for Paul Bamikole, I wouldn’t have been able to do this. Mainly a lover. 

You may connect with Paul Bamikole via Facebook: Paul Bamikole
Twitter: @ordinarypaul
Cover design OG9 – Olagraphics9ja.

 This remains the work and property of I am Best Magazine and no part of this interview maybe reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or  any means to be used publicly without prior permission or acknowledgement  of I Am Best Networks. Copy Right-2017