"...Your faith in God does not stop you from hurting, but it helps you heal, and it helps you deal."
On Sunday, Singer Bankole Wellington, popularly known as banky W, broke his silence after Labour Party's Thaddeus Attah defeated him at last Saturday's polls.
INEC declared Mr Attah the Eti-Osa Federal Constituency seat winner in the House of Representatives.
At the polls, Mr Attah also defeated Babajide, son of Musiliu Obanikoro, a former minister of state for defence.
Funmilayo Odukoya, the INEC Returning Officer, declared Mr Attah the winner at the Collation Centre, Lagos State Model Nursery and Primary School, Marwa, Lekki 1.
Mr Attah won with 24,075 votes, beating his counterparts, Banky W of the PDP, who had 18,666 votes, and Mr Obanikoro of the APC, who had 16,901 votes.
From a video he posted of himself on Instagram, he spoke at a Sunday service in the WaterBrook church; Banky W expressed his deep disappointment at losing the election.
In the video, he captioned, "For anyone who's ever suffered a loss, a disappointment or a situation where things just didn't work out how you hoped... "Faith after a Fall" is for you. For me. For all of us."
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Banky Wellington (@bankywellington)
Moving forward
Banky W, also an actor, revealed that he had made extensive preparations for his victory, including plans for a Sunday thanksgiving programme, apartment and office space search in Abuja, and lots more.
"This was to be our thanksgiving service; after the election, we would come celebrating God, and I was just going to give a short charge to say see what the Lord has done, and we use that to build up your faith, and then we finish the service, and I go to Abuja to start looking for apartment and office space."
He acknowledged his disappointment but asserted that his trust in God had strengthened him, even if feeling wounded in such circumstances is normal.
"And God said, is it only faith when you win, because the truth is your faith in God does not stop you from hurting, but it helps you heal, and it helps you deal. It's not just about everything is rosy, and it's a walk in the park."
"Your faith doesn't help you avoid troubles, but it will help you transform it, it helps you process it, it helps you understand it, it helps you overcome it."
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Despite his loss, the singer declared that he would still hold the previously scheduled thanksgiving service and that his electoral defeat would not stop him from expressing gratitude to God.
Banky's loss
The party agents and INEC officials had earlier disagreed over the authenticity of the results even before the presiding officer declared.
APC and PDP representatives only accepted the results announcement if INEC addressed their complaints.
The PDP agent, Aderemi Adeshina, alleged that INEC disenfranchised some voters in some polling units in the LGA.
The ten-over-ten singer and husband to famous actress Adesua Etomi was contesting for the third time in the House of Representatives.
Banky W's fans were shocked at the election outcome and attributed his loss to not joining the Labour Party.
