Nollywood actress Tonto Dikeh has shared an emotional testimony about personal transformation, deliverance, and renewed faith, revealing intimate details of her life during a public session of the NSPPD prayer gathering, a Christian revival programme that has gained wide followership across Nigeria and beyond.
Speaking before worshippers, Dikeh described her appearance at the altar as more than a testimony, framing it as an act of thanksgiving.
“This is not just a testimony, but a thanksgiving to God,” she said, attributing her current state to what she described as divine intervention and salvation.
The actress recounted long-standing struggles she said began in childhood, including addiction, anger, and spiritual battles. According to her, smoking started at a very young age and persisted for decades.
“I smoked since I was 13… and now it’s 27 years. Yeah. It’s 27 years since I’ve been smoking,” she told the congregation, while cautioning parents about the influence their habits can have on their children.
She also spoke openly about alcohol dependency, saying, “I’m not saying a few cups of alcohol, I’m telling you two bottles of alcohol a day… big vodka bottles.” Dikeh added that the habit isolated her socially and emotionally, as she often drank alone at home until she passed out.
Okay News reports that the actress said the turning point came when she acknowledged she could not overcome these challenges on her own and surrendered them to God.
She described what followed as a complete break from addiction.
“I’m not talking about make I try, make I no smoke. I’m telling you about urges broken. I’m telling you about every yoke broken. My body does not need it. My body is repelling it,” she said.
Beyond substance use, Dikeh spoke about what she described as deep-seated anger that once controlled her life.
“An anger that swelled me, that destroyed my life… I will burn everything. Everybody had to feel it,” she said, contrasting it with the peace she now experiences.
“I got a lot of peace. There’s peace surrounding me everywhere I go… I’ve never known peace. I’m 40 years old, and I can tell you I do not know what peace is. I’m just feeling it. I’m just living in it.”
She also addressed spiritual afflictions she said affected her from childhood, including recurring sexual experiences in dreams.
“God healed me from masturbation too,” she said, adding that after a recent Christian conference, “the weak man who held me captive all my years in my dream… ran away.”
Dikeh described her experience as a return to faith, likening herself to the biblical prodigal child. “I am the example of that prodigal child, that child that has come back to God… it does not matter who is looking, I will serve and I will follow my God,” she said.
In her closing remarks, the actress credited her transformation to what she called salvation and revival, declaring, “God has been faithful to my life. God took me out of the miry clay and set my feet upon the rocks… I’m flourishing. I’m growing.”
