Madam Sola Ibidapo-Obe is a successful lawyer and wife of the late former Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe. She is the current and fifth president of Agape Christian Sisters Society of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, GRA, Ikeja, Lagos, which was formed 25 years ago. She speaks, in this exclusive interview with TUNBOSUN OGUNDARE, about why the group was formed, its impacts, conditions for membership and future plans.
YOU are rounding off the activities to mark the 25th anniversary of Agape Christian Sisters Society of Agape Christian Sisters Society of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral (AVMCC) ofwhich you are the president. What led to the formation of the group?
It is an interesting story. The society was founded in 2000 while it was actually conceived and the foundation for that was laid in 1999. That makes the association to be 25 years old.
How did it happen? The then dean of the cathedral and now a retired archbishop of Anglican Province of Kwara, His Grace, Rt. Rev. Segun Adeyemi, actually laid the foundation and three members started the journey.
That time, it was not everyone in the church that belonged to one association or the other within the church. Some didn’t belong to any and whenever there was thanksgiving services, they called people by their groups to dance to the altar for thanksgiving. But for those who didn’t belong to any group, they referred to them as the dean society. Thanksgiving is indeed our lifestyle in AVMCC.
So, the dean society was given to that group of people to give them the opportunity to do thanksgiving like every other group. They would dance to the altar for thanksgiving. So, there were three of them like that who didn’t belong to any society and they always stood up for dean society.
So, along the line, the Retired Archbishop Segun Adeyemi, who was not yet a bishop then but the dean of the cathedral, as I had said, called the three of them one day and tasked them to form a society. The instruction came like a mandate to them.
Who were those three?
They were Dr (Mrs) Oyinlola Ilo, who is the Executive Director of D-Ivy Sixth Form College, Allen; Dr (Mrs) Olufemi Ogunsanya, who is the founder of Oxbridge Tutorial College, GRA Ikeja, and Mrs. Adenike Adamolekun, the founder of Supreme Education Foundation School. They are all educationists. They looked around and invited six other women to join them to form the group. After all, one may belong to multiple groups.
So, the six women they invited are the late Mrs Foluke Mudashiru, wife of the then military administrator of Lagos State; Mrs Olubunmi Onabolu; Dr (Mrs) Tokunbo Awolowo Dosumu, who is the chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc, publishers of Tribune titles; Mŕs Funmilayo Ogunbadejo; Mrs Angela Obakpolo and Mrs Adebisi Oyinlola.
So, with the original three, they became nine founding members. And we thank God that eight of them are alive and active members, 25 years after. And God will continue to keep them alive and well.
You talk like somebody who was part of the church when the group was formed…
Yes I was.
Why then were you not part of the founding members?
As I had said, those who didn’t belong to any group were the ones that formed it. And I belonged to two different groups already. One is Band of Light and the other is Lady Christian League. But I joined them as the first person to be inducted into the group and others began to join at different times thereafter.
What prompted you to join?
I knew those founding members and we were relating somehow. So, I liked the way they composed themselves in the cathedral. I liked what they were doing. I then studied the aims and objectives of the group. I found them to be good. That was how I joined and all these were within one year of formation of the group. So, interpretatively, I am number 10 on the list.
How has it been since you joined?
Honestly, it has been so sweet. You know as I had said, Agape is the sharing of unconditional love. We must love God and our neighbours. And that is the bedrock of Christianity. Part of our objectives are to promote Christendom, love, unity and peace both in and outside the church, to provide care to the underprivileged, the sick and the needy, to participate in activities that will lead to the development of the church and to nurture the youth, among others.
So, we have been spreading love among ourselves and other members of the church and the larger society. We don’t just profess love without backing it up with something to give to people and institutions. We give to the underprivileged and the needy; we give to the sick and the elderly. And we don’t limit beneficiaries to the church and we don’t also limit the gestures to women. We reach out to people outside the church, including men.
But for church, we donate useful items, including films and CDs, on a regular basis to the Sunday School department. We participate actively in evangelical activities. We refurbished the church toilets; we organise seminars on pressing social issues that could benefit specific target audience. We make donations time-to-time to charity homes and we give to children and youths. We’re the ones that built and donated St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Amje Alakuko, which had been dedicated for use. We do landscaping and beautification of the church to date. We also provided cubicles for nursing mothers to breastfeed their babies during church service. I won’t forget to mention that we also sponsored one of our priests to Ezekieĺ College of Theology, Ekpoma.
We do a lot more. Outside the group and on an individual basis, we still belong to one other department or the other within the church where we function. Some function on the board of the church’s investment arm, some serve as chairpersons of another group, such as the Youth Wing. Yet, some others serve in one committee or the other.
For example, we have one of us, Mrs Oyinlola, a lawyer, who is currently the Chancellor of Osun North Diocese of our church. So, we don’t restrict ourselves to the Agape group. Many of us belong to multiple groups and do well in all of them.
How then did you become president and who were your predecessors?
By the grace of God, I’m the fifth president of the group and I assumed the position in February. I will serve for two years and the constitution gives room for two terms for an interested person. So, four people had served in this capacity before me. They are Mrs Nike Adamolekun; Mrs Olubunmi Onabolu; Dr (Mrs) Olufemi Ogunsanya and Mrs Sylvia Adebajo.
You have members who are not in Lagos. Does it mean membership is not necessarily restricted to the cathedral?
To be a member of our group, you must be a member of AVMCC. But truly, we have some members, who are no longer worshipping in the cathedral because they don’t live around and we can’t expect such people to come and worship in the cathedral every now and then. But wherever they are, they still play active roles. They attend meetings which are mostly hybrid (physical and online) nowadays. They also pay their dues and contribute to whatever things the group is doing.
So, except a member expressly withdraws her membership, she remains a member for life. We have a constitution that guides our operations and no one can push it aside.
We even have an online platform where we schedule members on roster for devotional prayer meetings on a weekly basis. With this, each member on the roster has a period to coordinate prayer meetings which we do on a rotational basis.
So you also pray to that length? What do you pray for since members of the group are well-to-do in the society?
We all need prayers, whether somebody is well-to-do or not and, as Christians, we can’t do without prayer. We don’t pray for ourselves alone. We pray for the sick, the underprivileged, we pray for our children, grandchildren, and other extended family members, friends, and neighbours. We pray for the church and we pray for the government of the day and the country at large. We pray for peace, good harvest and so forth. In fact, we don’t joke with prayers.
Looking at the calibre of personalities in the group, what qualifies somebody, including the underprivileged who is interested to join?
Truly, virtually all members of the Agape Christian Society are professionals in various fields and we are also businesswomen. Even at that, we do not exclude anyone from joining irrespective of social status. We are all equal before God. The major condition for whoever that is interested is to be a member of the cathedral and a woman of course. She must also be a true Christian she professes to be. She must be ready to abide by the constitution which guides our operations and spells out members’ responsibilities. The only condition under which one may not be admitted is if that person is over 50 years of age. And that is just to ensure we admit people who can participate actively for long years. And more so, there are many other groups one can join in the church. We are all working towards the same purpose: to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and impact humanity.
But some believe it is difficult to find the rich, especially women who are genuinely born-again. What would you say to that?
We don’t believe in that in our group. We may not go from street to street for evangelism to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, but we don’t condemn those who do that. We evengelise in our own way to win souls for Christ. We share our resources with the needy. I had talked about many of these earlier. We impact the church and the people in several ways. We try as much as possible to put our faith to work. We’re guided by what is in James 2: 14-17 where Christians are told to put their faith to work by feeding and clothing those who don’t have while preaching gospel to them. That is an easy way to win souls for Christ.
Who are your team members and what are your plans for the association?
The executives are 11 in number and each of us is saddled with a specific role. We call ourselves sisters. I (as Sister Sola Ibidapo-Obe) am the president; Sister Yejide Osunkeye (Vice-President); Sister Tokunbo Adegbonmire (General Secretary); Sister Olufunke Ogunmoyero (Treasurer); Sister Omobola Faleye (Financial Secretary); Sister Bukonla Ayodele (Social Secretary). Others are Sister Funmi Wale-Adegbite (Evangelical Officer); Sister Kikelomo Adegbite (Welfare Officer); Sister Olabisi Okeowo-Bolade (Projects Coordinator); Sister Adetutu Ayeni (Legal Adviser), as well as Sister Sylvia Adebajo, who is the immediate past president and now ex-officio member.
On what we bring to the table. For one, I am just a coordinator while we work as a team. We will consolidate on the achievements of past administrations. They had really done a great job, but personally, I would want the cathedral to provide a space for us to use as an outlet to store items for distribution to the needy and underprivileged in society. The items I’m talking about are foodstuffs, clothes, shoes, bags and some other basic needs. We can operate the outlet maybe on a weekly, or bi-montly or monthly basis or at any other interval the group may agree on. That gesture would go a long way in some people’s lives. Lots of people really need this type of support at this very difficult time. And so with the cooperation and support of others and the help of God, we will take the group further step higher.
Now, you are rounding off your 25th anniversary celebrations today, what does this portend for you as a group?
The anniversary means a lot to us. Silver jubilee is a milestone in the life of an association. So, we are using the occasion to appreciate God’s benevolence over our lives, families, the church and our dear country Nigeria.
It is a week-long event and we have already reached out to some people in special ways. We have donated 10 wheelchairs and some food items to Modupe Cole, a home for the special children. We also reached out to some elderly and carried out food drive outreach to no fewer than 500 indigent people in the society. We put smiles on their faces and it gives us joy that we have been able to do that. We shall certainly do more another time.
What is your advice to the family, as separation between couples has become rampant nowadays in the country.
Tolerance is the antidote. Couples should be able to tolerate each other. It is unfortunate that many couples, including in the christendom and particularly among young ones, find it difficult nowadays to exhibit true love. That is why there are many broken marriages in the society as you pointed out, whereas, God wants us to dwell together in love. Love brings peace and genuine progress. Though a lot of factors are known to cause broken homes, true love can help to overcome them. So, I will emphasise that couples should always respect opinions and feelings of each other and also live together in love. That is how to make society a better place for all.
Lastly, what is your view on agitation for gender parity between men and women?
For me, I don’t really believe in that thinking and maybe because of my background. This is because men are naturally made different from women. Women are meant to be soft, to take care and to nurture homes and so forth. And if they are able to combine those roles with that of men, fine. But I doubt they won’t be able to and therefore, gender parity is unnecessary.
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