Popular Nollywood actress and founder of New Wine Prophetic Tabernacle (NWPT), Evangelist Tonto Dikeh, has advised Nigerian youths to stay away from drugs, drawing from her personal experience with substance abuse.
According to the actress, who has since given her life to Jesus Christ, she has walked that path before and can attest that substance abuse does not make pain disappear.
Taking to her Instagram page, Dikeh urged Nigerian youths to “say no to drugs,” using her own experience as an example.
She wrote: “SAY NO TO DRUGS. I’ve been down this dark road, and I can tell you firsthand: substances don’t make the pain go away. The hurt stays, and addiction slowly steals your life, one day at a time.
“The chaos around you doesn’t define who you are; it’s just a heart in pain. If I could break free and get help, so can you.
“I was once the chaos people judged. The noise. The mess. The broken decisions. But what many didn’t see was the truth behind it all. Behind the anger, the addiction, the self-destruction, was a soul screaming for help, not attention.
“I wasn’t lost because I loved the darkness. I was lost because I was hurting. I was desperate for relief, for peace, for someone to see past my actions and hear my cry.
“Drugs weren’t the problem; they were the symptom. Addiction wasn’t my identity; it was my escape from pain I didn’t know how to name. And yet, God heard the cries I couldn’t articulate. When people saw chaos, Heaven saw a wounded soul worth rescuing.
“When I was written off, God was writing a comeback. So hate the drugs. Hate the addiction. But never stop praying for the person trapped inside it. Because that person is not weak, not worthless, and not beyond redemption.
“I am living proof that behind the chaos can be a destiny waiting for healing. And if God could pull me out, restore me, and give me a voice, then no soul is too far gone.
“Never stop praying. Somebody’s life depends on it.”
