By THIS DAY
At 94, she is the pillar behind a movement, a man of many firsts who took the gospel across Nigeria to Europe and America — born in Iporo-Ake in Abeokuta, Reverend Mother Olive Sulola Adejobi, wife of the late Primate Emmanuel Owoade Adeleke Adejobi, of the Church of the Lord (Aladura). Even in death, 30 years after, she is ardent of her husband’s calling, purposeful life, clarity of his prophetic declarations. With imprints of nostalgia,
She tells Emileo Castrol about her life’s episodes
Rverend Mother Olive Sulola Adejobi, a nonagenarian, was married to the second Primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura), Adeleke Adejobi. On September 26, 1927, she was born in Iporo-Ake, Abeokuta, to a father who dealt in cocoa and palm kernel and a mother in the tie and dye business. She was fondly called Iya Alaaro. Young Sulola started primary school at Iporo-Ake Anglican Church School, then Ake Primary School, where Prof. Wole Soyinka’s father was the headmaster.
Reminiscing on her journey through life, she says, “I came to Lagos to stay with my late brother, Mr Ibikunle John, who lived in Oko -Awo. I attended the prestigious Queens College in Yaba, Lagos. It is very instructive to note that I joined my late elder brother in attending the Church of the Lord (Aladura) whilst I stayed with his family. It was on one of such visits to the church at 3, Adams, street, Lagos that my sister introduced me to my late husband.”
Taking the reporter down memory lane, Reverend Mother Sulola Adejobi said,” Then, when your family sees anyone they’d like you to marry, they just introduce you to them, and that’s it. So, that was my case too. I was working in one of the Post office Savings Banks. Remember, I used to go with them to church. That was when I met this very young and handsome man. And then, we were introduced to each other. After that, I simply stayed because that was what my brother and sister wanted me to do then.’”
She added, “To the glory of God, we got married on April 29 1948, at Roger with Baba Oshitelu officiating. We travelled to SierraLeone on the ship MV Oriel. From 1948 to 1960, we lived at 37 Williams Street, Freetown. Back in SierraLeone, there were many ruckuses due to the lack of knowledge and tolerance of the locals for the white garment church. This pushed us to extreme patience, love and understanding. By the time we were leaving for the UK, the people have come to accept the church and even dubbed it the ‘Adejobi Church.’”
Speaking on raising her children in the cause of the missionary work, she said, “From there, we travelled to other parts of the world. Our children lived with us and attended schools in Freetown until we relocated to the UK, where other branches of the Church of the Lord ( Aladura) churches were pioneered. In this journey, my husband attended Bible Training Institute in Glasgow, where he was awarded a diploma in Theology. I attended Institute for Bible Training for a year.”
Raising eight children with a church planter for a husband wasn’t a walk in the park, but young Sulola had her mother and sister to fall back on. With the husband out of Lagos pioneering churches in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and other countries across the continent, she had to carve out the path for her children to tow with the help of her husband, who comes in from time to time.
With time, the children grew, and her schedule loosened up a little when the girls went to the boarding house, leaving her with the boys. She could go back to Sierra Leone to be with her husband again, and together they made other children. Like nomads, they left Sierra Leone off to London to continue pioneering Aladura Church. Some of their pioneering members were Reverend Yaw Baokye, Deaconess Margaret Edet, Reverend Samuel Olusanya and Late Reverend Enang. Love and grace were the wheels on which their ministry ran. While in London, she had another son.
Planting churches across countries on different continents thus takes its toll, even for the wife of a prophet of over 50 years. Being a primate of the church for 24 years meant a lot of work and hard sacrifice. Together with her husband, they founded Aladura Comprehensive High School, Aladura Theological Seminary in Anthony Village.
“When Primate Oshitelu pronounced my husband his successor and primate on the mount of Ogere in August 1945,” recalled the nonagenarian, “he told the church on August 22 after the diving revelation on the 18th that Adejobi’s light is the sun, Oshitelu’s light is the star. We saw the magnificence of a new dawn with my husband firmly planting the Church of the Lord (Aladura) on the map of the world. Shortly after Oshitelu’s death, my husband was anointed primate in 1967 by Primate (Dr.) S. A. A. Somoye of the Church of Lord Israel.”
She added, “Taking the likes of Desmond Tutu to WCC, dining with kings and presidents like President Tolbert of Liberia, Siaka Steven and John Momoh of Sierra Leone, the Ashante Ehene of Ghana, the Alaafin of Oyo, and Ooni Sijuwade, not leaving former attorney general Adetokunbo Ademola, HO Davies, Mobolaji Johnson, amongst others were some of the many firsts of my husband,” she enthused.
Leaving Africa for Europe was an experience she can’t forget. As the saying of the baobab seed growing into a shade that will cover many people from far and wide, the UK branch of the church started in a Ghanian convert’s flat in the person of Mr Odonkor who lived in 8 Shipka road, Ballam in South West London. The foreign church moved to rented spaces across London before establishing its headquarters at 25 Surrey square in SE London. It was made possible by the donation of the late Reverend Emmanuel Oyedele Ashamu. With her husband, they established other branches in Tooting and Battersea in South West London; Caledonian Road in North London; West Borneo Park in West London, Erith in Kent and Liverpool. Until then, no African or foreigner had done that in the UK before.
She further stated, “He was a prophet of God from 1940 till his death in 1991, more than 50 years and the primate of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) for 24 years.”
In 1935, 1939 and 1940, there had been apostolic missions of the church to Lagos, but no church was established until 1943 when Primate Olunowo Ositelu sent Adejobi to Lagos. In June that same year, Adejobi opened the first branch of the church in Pa Ogun’s house at 49 Lagos Street, Ebute Meta. After that, the Carter church. The church at Offin Road (Elegbata) and Agege followed in 1944, Yaba and Lafiaji in 1945 and then Sogunle (1946) and Ikeja (1967).
There was also Mushin in 1968 and Anthony Village in 1970. He founded churches outside Lagos too – from Sapele (Delta) in 1945, Zaria in 1965, Ilorin in 1968, Ifo (Osun) also in 1968, Asaba in 1971, Okok (Oyo) in 1974, Igbetti and Iseyin in 1977, Ipapo (Oyo) in 1978, Lokoja in May 1978, Ijero-Ekiti in 1986 and Umunede (Edo) in 1987. He was an evangelist, a preacher. He always called himself ‘God’s donkey,’ for Christ to ride wherever he wished.
“Before we got married, my husband, after receiving a divine message at the end of 1946, had taken leave from Baba Ositelu to go to Sierra Leone. He arrived in Freetown on March 21, 1947, and had spent about a year pioneering the church in Sierra Leone,” explained the nonagenarian. “In fact, the church Adejobi pioneered at 8 Queen Street, Freetown on April 6, 1947, was the first branch of the Church of the Lord (Aladura) to be pioneered outside Nigeria. The next day April 7, he inaugurated the second branch at a bigger location, at Dove Cot on Guard Street. It was from Dove Cot that we moved to the permanent site of the church at O’Neil Street on June 28, where the church still stands now. After that, he moved to the interior for evangelical missions to Bonthe, Kwellu, Banya, Karibundu, Segbwema, Koindu, Pendembu and the church building at Njama. The temple at Oke Murray, Freetown, was dedicated by his mentor, Ositelu himself, on October 26, 1952,” she recollected.
At the same time that Adejobi was planting churches in Sierra Leone, Apostle Oduwole was also planting churches in Liberia, so the church expanded beyond the borders of Nigeria to first to Sierra Leone, then to Liberia, and from there to Ghana, Togo and the rest of the world.
In 1952, Adejobi left for Ghana. He pioneered the first branch of the church in Ghana at 14, North Suntresu, Kumasi, on April 6, 1953. He expanded to Sekondi – Takoradi and other parts. Oduwole also established the church in Accra, and so the church prospered all over Ghana.
After the Sierra Leone and Ghana missions, “my husband decided that he needed a more intellectual grounding in the Word, due to his interactions with a higher number and more diverse quality of membership now in the church.”
She broached her husband’s prediction of having a female president before Nigeria’s leadership crisis can end. “That was far back as 1984,” she disclosed.
“I am not in a place to say yes or no because God moves wonderfully to fulfil his promise. What we need to do is to continue to pray because prayer doesn’t go up in vain. We are also to teach our children that the will of God is the best for our lives. We should also pray for the peace of Nigeria for the will of God be done,” she explained.
Her belief in the efficacy of prayer is second to none. Everything in life demands divine intervention, even the polity and economics of the world are not left out. Apart from prayer, the nonagenarian enjoys a sound sleep which has been the secret of her good health for an active woman who will be 94 on September 24. Rev. Mother Sulola’s children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and the many churches planted across the world keep her busy even after May 17, 1991, when her husband died.
“I remember him a lot,” she admitted. “But God has given me other things to take care of. The beautiful thing about our union was our refusal to let any misunderstanding or grudge linger unto the next day.”
She recounted how the family remembers the great prophet with an annual lecture series held in his honour through Adeleke Adejobi Foundation. The global pandemic has stopped the lecture, but it will return in full swing as soon as COVID-19 is out of the picture. For this year, which is the 30th anniversary, there will be a befitting thanksgiving service in the church at Anthony Village, in his honour. Attendance will be restricted to close family members in Lagos. The event will be streamed live on Zoom.
Rev. Mother Sulola is an ardent believer of her husband’s calling. She’s still a part of the sub-international headquarters at Anthony Village, Lagos, as the spiritual head. She prays, counsels and ministers to members of the church. If given another opportunity to start again, she would have loved to be a nurse. Her dream workplace is Massey Children’s Hospital.
She also told a story about the Nigerian Postal Office Savings Bank at Igbosere, where she tended to ledgers and dockets.
To the youths, she said, “Pray and keep still. God is here.” Reflecting on her marriage, she noted, “Our time was way different. Why I say so is that there was a lot of discipline and training by parents. I am from Abeokuta, and my late husband was from Osogbo, but through God’s grace, we met each other. They trained us to listen to and watch our parents. Parents were very particular about their children’s upbringing. Our parents played with and were firm with us.”