Is Hanks Anuku a Pastor? Nollywood Star Says Adeboye Ordained Him

"Go and ask him. He will tell you." That was veteran Nollywood actor Hanks Anuku's challenge to anyone who doubts his latest revelation: that Pastor Enoch Adeboye — General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the most influential church leaders on earth — personally ordained him as a pastor when he was young.

Anuku made the disclosure during an appearance on the Honest Bunch Podcast, published October 9, 2026. In the interview, the actor said he studied theology at Redemption Camp in Lagos and entered ministry out of love for God and a sense of spiritual direction — not for fame, and long before most of his fans knew his name.

"Pastor Adeboye conferred me as a pastor when I was young then," Anuku said. "I am a pastor but people don't know I am a pastor. I love God. Go and ask him he will tell you, then my wife was alive. I just loved God, when you love God his power is more than yours. He directed me to go there. Without God or prayers where are you going to be standing?"

The Man Behind the Revelation

Hanks Anuku is no stranger to headlines. The actor built a career playing tough, intense characters in Nollywood's golden era — the kind of roles that made him a household name across Nigeria and the diaspora. In recent years he has also made news for a very public personal journey, including struggles he has spoken about openly.

What makes this revelation striking is the ordination's timing. Anuku said it happened while his wife was still alive — placing it years, perhaps decades, in the past. It was not, by his account, a recent reinvention. It was a chapter of his life that simply stayed private while his acting career stayed public.

That framing will resonate with anyone who has watched a public figure's quieter convictions surface late in life. The testimonies shared at healing services often carry the same shape: a long private walk with God that only becomes public when the person is ready. Anuku's story, as he tells it, fits that pattern.

Who Is Pastor Adeboye?

For readers outside Nigeria, the name carries enormous weight. Pastor Enoch Adeboye leads the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a denomination with a presence in scores of countries and one of the largest church networks in the world. His annual Holy Ghost Congress in Nigeria draws crowds in the hundreds of thousands.

An ordination by Adeboye is not a casual detail — it is the kind of claim that is easy to check, which is precisely Anuku's point. "Go and ask him he will tell you," he said. He did not hedge. He did not say "allegedly." He put the verification in the hands of the one man who could confirm or deny it.

That directness matters. The christain world has seen its share of unverifiable celebrity faith claims, and believers have learned to ask for evidence. Anuku's invitation to verify — pointed at Adeboye himself — is either remarkable confidence or remarkable risk. Readers will draw their own conclusions, but the test he proposed is refreshingly simple.

Theology at Redemption Camp

Anuku said he studied theology at Redemption Camp, the RCCG's sprawling headquarters in Lagos. The camp is famous for its intensive ministerial training, and studying there places a person firmly inside the denomination's pastoral pipeline — not on its fringes.

It also suggests the ordination was part of a structured process rather than a casual blessing. RCCG ordinations typically follow training, examination, and recommendation. If Anuku's account is accurate, he did not simply receive a title — he completed a formation.

That detail adds a layer of plausibility to a story that might otherwise sound improbable. An actor better known for on-screen intensity quietly completing theology studies and receiving ordination from one of Africa's most respected church leaders is the kind of plot twist that belongs in one of his own films. Life, as the young people filling Britain's churches keep discovering, often writes better stories than scripts.

Why This Story Matters

Celebrity faith stories cut two ways. At their worst, they are publicity. At their best, they are testimonies — evidence that God's call reaches into every corner of life, including the film sets of Nollywood. Anuku's account, if confirmed, belongs to the second category: a man formed in ministry before fame, carrying a calling alongside a career.

There is also a quieter lesson here about how believers judge one another. Anuku's screen persona was tough and worldly; his private reality, he says, included theology lectures and ordination. It is a reminder that the persecuted and the prominent alike carry depths strangers cannot see — which is exactly what Mensa Otabil preached about when he warned that not everyone in church is planted by God, and not everyone outside it is lost.

Whether Adeboye confirms the ordination remains to be seen — official confirmation was still awaited at the time of writing. But Anuku has done something unusual in the age of vague celebrity spirituality: he named a name, a place, and a living witness. The ball, as they say, is in the General Overseer's court.

And somewhere in that exchange — between a veteran actor's bold claim and a church leader's possible confirmation — sits a question worth sitting with: what private chapters of your own life with God are still waiting to be told?

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But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.