About 100 women drawn from the corporate world, business community and various leadership spaces converged in Lagos on Friday, January 23, 2026, for a five-hour prayer challenge convened by Lifecard Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Grace Ofure Ibhakhomu, under the Kingdom Giants Global Tribe.

The prayer session, which held at the Oriental Hotel, Lagos, brought together women united by faith and a shared desire to intercede for personal needs, leadership responsibilities and the nation at large.

The prayer challenge ran non-stop from 10:00am to 3:20pm, with participants engaging in sustained prayer and speaking in tongues throughout the five-hour period. The gathering was designed as a physical prayer meeting to encourage focus, discipline and spiritual intensity at a time when distractions, especially from digital platforms, have become widespread.

Speaking at the event, the convener, Grace Ofure, a popular business woman, explained the inspiration behind the initiative.

“You know, as a Christian and as women, the Lord has committed us to always learn to pray. So, as I was praying for this year, the Spirit of God asked me to bring women together and we should come and pray for our nation, pray for our needs, pray for what we want to see in this world,” she said, adding that the instruction was clear that the prayer session would be physical and involve speaking in tongues for five hours.

Grace Ofure noted that obedience to the instruction was key, despite the scale of the task.

“Everything that the Lord does, he empowers. He empowers everything in the world. So, even when I was staying in a high building, I just obeyed and I’m so excited today. As you can see, we prayed for five hours non-stop, speaking in tongues,” she said.

She also stressed that praying online often comes with distractions, while physical gatherings allow for deeper focus and commitment.

The Lifecard CEO further emphasised the responsibility of women as intercessors, particularly in praying for the nation and those in authority.

“The Bible always has admonished us to pray for citizens, pray for government, pray for the country and it’s our responsibility. There are a few people that are like gatekeepers. And women, we are told to do that. So, let the women come. Let them pray. Let them bring their petition. And the Lord will get your answer,” Grace Ofure stated.

Offering words of advice to women at the end of the prayer challenge, Grace Ofure encouraged them to make prayer central to their ambitions and plans.

“Everything that you want to do, the Lord is also interested. All he needs is that you bring it to the place of prayer and ask him how you’re going about it. And the Lord is willing and ready to answer you,” she said, describing the five-hour intercession as a call for answers and guidance, while hinting that more gatherings under the Kingdom Giants platform will follow in the future.

Pastor Cathy Udensi, one of the attendees and Head, Retail Treasury Market, for Standard Chartered Bank Plc, described the prayer marathon as “transformative”, while thanking Grace Ofure for creating a platform that brought visible change among participants.

“Today, we’ve had a glorious time in praying. It’s been a remarkable day, a transformative day,” she said.

“The Lord indeed has done miraculous things, so many impactful testimonies and prophetic prophecies that came forth as a result of the five hours prayer. We have not only prayed, we have made tremendous changes. People have not only spiritually moved, they have physically moved.

“People are uplifted, excited, fulfilled, so much faith… testimonies already began here, and there will be more testimonies. Having a meeting where people are only praying in tongues for five hours, I’ve not seen anything like that before.”

Also speaking at the event, Efe Usin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Women in Export Trade and Investments (WETI) and a member of the Kingdom Giants, stressed the essence of economic empowerment and nation building.

“Basically, the need to pray cannot be overemphasized. Today, we prayed for nations of the world, we prayed for Nigeria as a country, we prayed for rulership in the world so that things can go nice and calmly, so that the word of God can prosper,” she explained.

“We prayed for this organization because we have a purpose, and the purpose is to raise kingdom giants, kingdom financier, people that will empower economic activities so that members of the kingdom of God can actually grow business, expand them without any limitation of capacity,” she said, describing the experience as “beautiful” and “life-changing.”

One of the highlights of the prayer challenge was that Grace Ofure immediately answered one request made by one of the attendees, who prayed for N500,000 business funding, with the Lifecard CEO turning the prayer into testimony by providing the much needed financial lifeline at the five hour prayer challenge.