Serving Humanity: The Journey of Akanimoh Peter

Born in 1976 in the rocky highlands of Jos, Nigeria, Akanimoh Peter was the son of a soldier serving in the Nigerian Army. His childhood was framed by the discipline of the barracks, but his true enlistment came in 1996. Like a modern-day Moses called back to Egypt, Akanimoh was summoned to return to Jos to begin a spiritual warfare against poverty and despair.

The Piggery Pulpit: “Training to Die”

Akanimoh’s journey into the heart of missions began at the Agape School of Discipleship & Missions in Gana Ropp. This was no ordinary seminary; it was a 12-month “Rugged Training” program colloquially known as “Training to Die,” named after the sobering book by Uncle Bayo.

The philosophy was absolute: to reach the lost, a missionary must first die to their own ego, comforts, and ambitions. To enforce this “death to self,” Akanimoh was assigned to the piggery.

• While cleaning pens and feeding livestock, his peers dubbed him the “Bishop of the Pigs”.
• This experience established a foundational truth: one cannot be too proud to serve when their first “pulpit” is a piggery.
• He learned the “Jesus Method”—to serve and not be served—honing a spirit that could not be shaken by the harshest environments.

The Breaking of a Heart: From Basakomo to the Montols

After his training, Akanimoh was sent to the Basakomo people in the interiors of the Gurara River. He was stunned to find a community living in extreme “backwardness” and total isolation, despite being less than a three-hour drive from the power and wealth of the Presidential Villa at Aso Rock.

It was here that the tension between “Proclamation” and “Demonstration” began to tear at his soul:

• The Limited Mandate: His original mandate was strictly church planting and discipleship. He successfully gathered converts under a tree in the village square.
• The Invisible Crisis: He quickly realized that while he had given the people a church, they lacked even the most basic human needs—wells for clean water and toilets for sanitation.
• The Faces of Despair: He met Mama Chongore, whose six-month-old baby was so severely dehydrated and malnourished she looked “tiny” and as if she were “born yesterday”.