Under the spiritual tutelage of his father, Nigerian artist Charly Boy has reminisced on his brief journey toward priesthood as a young child.
During an interview with The Honest Bunch Podcast, Charly Boy discussed how his early life was influenced by his father and his strong religious upbringing, which ultimately led him down a road he later realized was not right for him.
“When I was younger, my father damaged me with religion and religiosity because I remember when I was 13 or 14 years old, I started serving mass at the church, and every time was Bible Study on the weekends,” Charly Boy said, reflecting on his early years. After six years, it was trendy to become a reverend father, and I wanted to follow suit since we were all hungry to serve the masses at the time.”
“And that’s how I entered the seminary for my first class before the war started,” he went on. Yes, I was planning to become a priest, but I realized that wasn’t the right path for me.”
Charly Boy related how hard it was for him to grow up in a religious home and live up to his father’s expectations. When he realized that becoming a reverend father did not fit with who he really was, he admitted that his brief time at the seminary had come to an end.
Charly Boy has already discussed the influence of his late father’s strong religious beliefs on his life. He expressed a similar thought in 2018 at the Justice Oputa Annual Conference, saying that his attempt to live up to his father’s expectations as a devout altar boy was the reason he was thinking about becoming a priest.