INTERVIEW: Criticising all gospel artistes unfair, we should appreciate the good ones — Atele the City Taker

From the streets of Akure to the altars of worship, Oriyomi Abiodun—widely known as Atele D City Taker—has become a resonant voice in Nigeria’s gospel music scene. With roots firmly planted in Ondo State and a heart ablaze for God, Atele is not just singing songs—he’s leading a generation into deeper worship. His name carries weight in Akure and across the southwest, where his ministry continues to stir revival and inspire transformation.

Driven by a divine mandate to be a generational vessel, Atele’s passion transcends melodies—it’s a calling. In this exclusive interview with CrispNG, the anointed worship leader opens up about his spiritual journey, the rhythm of his rise, and what lies ahead in his mission to take cities for Christ through music.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself, your background and how your journey in the Gospel music ministry began?

I am from Ondo State, Ikere to be precise, my full name is Oriyomi Abiodun, but my stage name is Atele the City Taker, and the name is more of an assignment, because I believe strongly that the name of a person has a long way to go in what that person can become, sharpen the way they should go and their lives also respond to their name. The scripture says; He was given a name that is above every other name, meaning that a name is very important and as powerful as power and so the name of my music ministry is Atele the City Takers. The journey started for me more than 15 years now, while I was in secondary school, I was into music, doing recordings and I have always had that passion for music. My kind of person is that when I am passionate for something, everyone around me will know that I am passionate about it, I give my everything for it. The little I was when in secondary school, I was still called to go into the studio to do music and it started right from my secondary school and now I sing at peoples’ events and in churches. It has been a long time coming and looking at all these years, it will be almost two decades in my music career and its been a beautiful one, I give thanks to God for the growth and his guidance in each step on the way to where I am now and where he is taking me to.

What role has your faith played in shaping your music and identity as a gospel artiste?

Uhmm… first, what you believe, controls what you see, essentially your believe system should influence your speaking system. No wonder the scripture says that we should be mindful of what we say because our faith comes by hearing and hearing and what comes into you from your ears becomes what you speak out and becomes what your heart is consistent with. You know, the Bible says; from the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak, so my faith comes out of my mouth. So, your faith, is what governs your life, if you don’t believe in what is ok, you will believe in what is not ok, there is no two side about it or sitting on the fence, so that alone played a major role and what I stand for, what my faith is doing in me is going to characterize what my mouth will profess out because music is when we profess words that are converted into melodic rhythm. The words that can be found in your heart will become the song that can be found in your mouth and that is why you see certain people they discover that what they sing is as a result of the quality of their life on the inside; that is how it should be, if you are going to sing truth, it must be consistent with your heart. So, my faith has so many things to do with my music industry, my life and my dealings with people, because your faith is actually what your life is grounded upon, so my faith gives a clear path to what and how my life should go and how my life is going becomes the truth of what I seek, if I have found God in a particular way, that it means that when my mouth talks about it, it becomes a song. So, it is straight from the revelation of your walk with God, then it becomes a song, it is like the psalmist, we are called to be in the service of the Lord, we are called to sing and from the abundance of our fellowship with the Lord, it becomes a rhythm in our spirit, it becomes a song on our lips, the lips are like the ending part. Worship to me as minister does not start from the mouth, the faith positions me.

Was there a defining moment when you knew you were called to serve fully in the Gospel Music Ministry?

I remembered vividly, you know I started music as a passion, but not all passion can become an assignment, and there are passion that have placement on some assignment and you have to be very sure, especially for someone like me, I am a very multi-talented person, so I can do a lot of things but it doesn’t mean I have been assigned, some is an assignment and some is a gift that can become an entry to some level of favour, but it still isn’t an assignment. There was a time when music was as a passion and a hobby. The word “ministry” is you been summoned, so it is a higher calling, you become an instrument of counsel for a generation. What is in ministry, is not about what you feel like but what is at stake. So, it was at this point and before I left secondary school, I think in my SS3 or SS2 and it is the level of sincerity and pureness of it that begins to dawn on me and each time I sing, I see the way things happen, I see a lot of things begin to happen and I begin to sought the face of the Lord for this, even when I was growing, I knew that this no longer what you have passion for, so when I left secondary school, I was praying and God gave me a vision where I saw myself singing to thousands of people and it wasn’t long after that, that I had my first concert, then concert wasn’t a popular thing, I’m talking of something that happened in 2011-12, and we had over 700 people then, so it was a big thing and when I begin to sing and people felt Gods’ presence, it was now different, people were moving from just ah!!! We love you, you have talent, you are good to you really bless us and when you were singing, this…this…really happened and there is a knowing, the Bible says one of the things that the spirt of God is going to teach you all things and there is a knower on our inside. So, it comes by the knowing and when I hold the mic, I just know that as I sing, this and this is going to happen, so there is a knower that is sponsoring all of those and at that point in my life I knew it. Now, to make your question very clear, at that point, there has to be that time that God has convicted you of this assignment and when God convicts you of the assignment, he gives you a proof, you can demand for a proof. The prophet of the old, they say God if you have called me, let this and this happen and by the virtue of your call, He is responsible for you, He doesn’t call a man without a backing. God is responsible for the validation of the call, so there were certain demands that I made then and God was proving it to me that he called me for this purpose and so from there it became very progressive. So, the concluding grace on it is that it was progressive.

Who are the Gospel artiste that have mentored or inspired you the most?

Uhmm… basically everybody is at that level of continually growing from people, hearing from God, and all of that, the best of me is still coming, so if you saw me, yesterday, you haven’t seen me today, I am still coming. So, the path of the righteous is like a continuous thing, so the best of me is like the least of me, the story is still unfolding, it is in layers, it is like chapters and it is in pages. Basically, while I was growing up and doing what I can, I listen to a lot of people, I wasn’t stereotype, and I think that was sharpened the fact that I can actually do so many things, different genre of music, I can do different music expression, I can do Fuji, Contemporary, Rap, Akpala, whatever happened to do with Gospel Music, I listened to it. I listened to Sammie Okosun, the Mid-Night Crew, Kenny Kore, Dolly Parton, those were the people I loved listening to and there weren’t like my mentors because they are more duties for a mentor, they are just people I can call as inspirations, they are like monument of inspiration for me. I have mentors till date, my mentors most of the times, the way I pick them is based on the quality of Christian life that I want to live, or that I am living or that I aspire to live but my inspiration depends on what appeals to me, but I have mentors that have words over my life, that speak over me, that can say do this…do this… not all of them are necessarily singers at all. I have people that I intentionally submit to even here in Akure. For music here in Akure, Mee Alpha Medo is my mentor, I can remember when I wanted to feature him in my songs and he is like an inspiration to me in this city, he played a very vital role and people like Pastor Odebiyi Emmanuel, they played a very vital role in my music career and I can call at any time. So, first I acknowledge that I am a believer before a music person and that is why the mentor roles differs.

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What challenge have you faced in your music career and how has it shaped your growth as a Music Minister?

So, basically one of the many…many challenge is having to go from what God wants me to do and what He doesn’t want me to do, so yieldedness and I think it was as a result of growth, so it was a strong challenge, there are some things that you grow into so they no longer become a problem, so at the early stage, having to move between what I feel like doing because I was passionate and overzealous to what God will have me do was a challenge then, based on growth and afterwards and as we begin I grow, I don’t think I call it a challenge, it is a process; learning how to trust God in terms of finance, the intentions of your heart, the projections of what you intend for, your desires, and dreams; by such a time, I want to wrap up this concert…oh!!! By so…so year, you want this done like this…and this.

More is the people that are looking up to you, people that can believe in you, the finance, like I can remember when I wanted to record my first album, like it took me over a year to be saving the money, but I won’t call it a challenge, I feel it more as a growth. So how did all of these challenges shaped my belief system, my music ministry, you know I don’t see it as something of a challenge but a process, things that used to be bother me then, but I am now stronger, making me depend on God, that’s why I say all these things have now sharpened me to dare things, because if you have seen God stir up water in the well before and you heard that he is stirring up water in the ocean, then you shouldn’t be moved, so the size in different, if you have seen Him move in the room, then you can trust when He says He is moving in the market. So.it has helped my level of growth, it has sharpened me a lot so there weren’t challenges, they were just a procedure, a source of inspiration that others can hold unto, because when God raises you, he raises you as a moment of faith for others, he also raises you as belief system for others.

 

How do you balance creativity with spirituality and responsibility especially in your song writing?

This is it for me, when I say my spirit and my creativity is like tye and dye, you can’t separate the tye from the dye, its been mixed together. The creativity is the dunamis power of God that is at work there, so my creativity is sponsored by the spirit of God, so there is nothing as your own creativity, it is such as inspired, especially as you exposed yourself to God, such as inspired and is permitted by God. So, for me music also has its own approach. It is like how do you feel when you want to communicate through a particular song so number 1 is my expression, so maybe I want to communicate that atmosphere, that will make you forget everything and be excited, to shout, to scream, to give God some quality praise and be ready to offer yourself to God, that comes with a very big expression. There is a level of expression that comes and God knows that with your expression it can have some effect on things that people hear and see. So, the spirit that makes for the writing also makes for the inspiration to convert them into melodic tempo, so it is still seen as a music thing at the end of the day.

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Tell us about a song project that is especially meaningful to you and why?

Let me confess to you, all my songs are written from the place of truth, so I won’t lie. It is actually hard to pick, each of them just have their seasons, today I am with one and the next day is a different one so I can’t really pick one, except I want to be biased and pick the one that has my wife on it.What has the reception been like among your audience and the church? I think it is a matter of growth, as you begin to grow, there is a level of expectation because your growth means that there is an expectation on you. So, your personality and growth puts a responsibility and expectation on you, so as grow, the reception, the growth also means that there is a responsibility that is on us and the reception so far has been very amazing even outside of Akure, and I think that has to do with God because He owns everyone even the heart of kings. They are people that respond to us, to what we do and is as result of what God is doing through what he has enabled us to do and it has been a beautiful ride and we can’t wait for God has in instalment because eyes have not seen, a proof is when we look at our yesterday and our today, it is far from our yesterday, meaning that our tomorrow will also be far from where we are right now and we are very expectant of what God is going to do, because me physically, it won’t just be Akure city alone, it will be every nation that has cities and every city will be our branch because every where the sole of our feet, that is our office, our branch and we are the headquarter.

What is your own stance on the debate that Gospel music ministers should not demand money in churches and in Christian gatherings?

Oh…my goodness!!! I have always tried to avoid these questions. Ok this is my opinion and I am not making a doctrine out of it, it’s just my opinion. It is reasonable that if you want to build a house, you should count the cost, so if you want to bring someone and you know that he is coming with this…this…this, what do you think is obtainable. So, I think it is something of growth, it’s not even right that you are bringing somebody and you don’t have adequate measures to receive such person, it doesn’t make any sense but I am saying that the gospel shouldn’t be merchandize and at the same time honour is very essential. If you honour me, its not me that you are honouring but that this person is God’s anointed and the honour is also on me too. So, at times you can inquire, make arrangement on this is the number I am bringing with me, what do you have about it. Its just a thing of two reasonable parties communicating and making an agreement.

Looking at the Nigerian Gospel Music ministry, are you encouraged by the quality of songs been produced, what do you think is missing and what can be done about it?

In every generation, there is a doing of God, so right now we can see the hand of God. The things that are coming out is just because of the way this generation has been wired and they are wired in such a way that we lose focus on the correctness that is happening and shift our attention to the few runs and misplacement here and there and then we magnify it and it is the deceit of the devil, making it look as though God approves it of been good for this generation. God is doing amazing things in this generation that has not happened before, in fact it is consistent with the scripture that what is happening now, is greater than what has ever happened before. We are in an era where people can project anything all because of clouts and attention. There are so many correctness, so many lives that are blessing lives all over the place, but what is happening is that the devil is playing a trick by magnifying the few that is not right and all that. It has always been like that, even when Jesus was here, there was black Jesus, there is never a time when we are going to have it hundred, but the truth is that those that know their God, they will always do well. Am I been satisfied? I will say it is okay, is there anything more that can be done? Even if the whole of Nigeria becomes Christians, there is still s much to be done. I will be done with my own part, my children will take it up and the same for my children’s children. At least there is something about acknowledging the good things that makes it more magnified but alas there is a generation that has magnified the wrong, but the more we keep talking about the good, the more we are silencing what is not right. I am not saying that there are not bad but the good ones are many that deserve attention. Why are we paying attention to all these and ignoring what makes sense, then something is wrong.

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What can we expect from you next, is there any new project, any new collaboration or are you planning a tour?

By God’s grace we have been on tour since January, we have been to two campuses, we have been to FUTA. The Lord gave us another assignment and we are going to be back to more campuses. I have a recording album coming up very…very soon, we have an ovation in different cities coming up very…very soon. So, there is a lot that God has for us this year with the team and for the city takers nation as a whole, we have so much ground to cover, so watch out for anywhere now, because our words on the street is like the wind, you don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going, so I can tell you that we are going here and God can eventually tell us to go to a particular city, but one thing we can be sure of is that in our hands you can expect the work of God in this area he has called us into on a consistent basis, because He has taught our hands to work and we can bank on Him always because He is always ready and if God is ready, what are we waiting for and as you can think it, you can expect it What is your message to the upcoming generation?I will tell them the way I have spoken to my younger self, never get to the point that you think you have arrived and quit God. You see this is a continuous thing with God and that is how God trusts you, never get to the point you feel that you have reached the hallmark of your walk with God, keep staying, there is no outside walk with God. As you stay, you draw strength, as you stay you are given instruction, you are committed and commissioned. So everything has to do with your staying and your calling power.