I fasted, prayed for one year to have tertiary education —Gbade Ojo

He is an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics (Political Science) at the University of Ilorin, the founder of Sanctuary of Christ Evangelical Church and the Chief of Staff to Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State. Pastor Dr Emmanuel Olugbade Ojo, shares his story with TAIWO OLANREWAJU Excerpts:

 

How do you combine the roles of a pastor, lecturer and chief of staff?

That’s the question people have been asking me. I’m a very organized person. At the headquarters (of my church), where I worship, I have more than 12 pastors working with me, so if I’m not in the church it disturbs nothing because of the decentralised system (I operate).  At times, I travel out to minister. My absence does not hamper church worship, church service or growth of the church. As a political scientist, I know more about delegated authority and about allowing people to use their gifts. At times I sit down and allow some other pastors preach to us. I am on leave of absence from the university, so I do not engage in academic activities most especially teaching but I still publish research work. And being in government, my governor knows that I’m a pastor before he engaged me, so he doesn’t bother me about coming to work on Sundays. I come to work every day but not on Saturdays and Sundays except when we have very important official assignments.

 

By your experience as a lecturer now working in the midst of politicians, do you think a born-again Christian should participate in politics?

It is even good for me that I came out of the university to see what is done on the field, marrying classroom theorising with field experience in politics. In terms of engaging in politics, there is nothing dirty in it, only if the practitioner does not have integrity. Working in the midst of politicians does not in any way affect my faith. I am a professional invited into government. I don’t see anything wrong in a pastor going into politics. The Vice President (Osinbajo) is a pastor in a reputable church. There was a time Pastor Tunde Bakare contested along with Muhammadu Buhari (our President). There are state governors who are pastors. (It is) only if that person is not a matured Christian before coming into political environment (that there can be problem) because it is an environment of deadly power struggle; an environment of dealing with selfish and covetous spirits. An environment of using anything to get what they (politicians) desire; running down colleagues to get what they want. An environment of survival instinct. But then a child of God should tower. If you are a spiritually tantalising personality, you don’t allow that environment to suppress your faith.

 

How and when were you called into the ministry?

The Call came a long time ago when I was a Sunday school teacher in the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC). In 1985, I became tired of working as a typist. I prayed and fasted every day throughout that year, telling God that I needed tertiary education. I promised to dedicate my life to God if He granted my request and that nothing would disturb me from worshipping Him. As I fasted, prayed and avoided sin, the Spirit of God told me I must do God’s work and He would elevate me. I laughed. I was taken into a vision and I saw our family house at Oja-Igbo in Ibadan. I saw the corpse of a black man with about four prominent tele-evangelists praying to raise him. An Angel told me to raise the dead man, I was hesitant, but in less than a minute of prayer, the corpse came alive. I congratulated the risen corpse and he disappeared. The Angel told me there were lots of dead souls, not necessarily in the mortuary and that God needed my tongue; I should start His work. I gave God three conditions if I would do His work. First, He should give me higher education so that I won’t be a lazy pastor. He should give me a good job so that I won’t feed on the Church. Also, I don’t want to collect salary from the Church or the rich in the Church to support me so that I will be able to tell whoever the truth of the Gospel. I did not answer the call until 1999 when I was about to end my PhD.

 

Have you raised the dead in your ministry?

Oh yes, a number of times. First when we were using CAC Grammar School, Orita-Aperin premises. A woman rushed into the church with a dead baby of about two or three years. We prayed and the baby came back to life. Also, at our end of the month vigil, a chorister’s child died on her back. I dedicated three pastors to take the baby into the pastor’s office and pray for the child and within 30 minutes, the baby was raised to life. We don’t add anything to prayer in our church – no water, no anointing oil, no handkerchief. The third incident was that of a pastor’s wife at Adesola area of Ibadan. I was coming from an outing when I heard people praying in the pastor’s house. I assumed a revival was going on and when I asked if the afternoon revival would not disturb the community, I was told that the pastor’s wife, who I saw on my way out in the morning died about five hours before then. I was told she borrowed some clothe she wanted to wear to an inter-house sports and collapsed while dressing up. I went to remove my agbada (flowing gown). I met more than eight pastors from different denominations there praying. I prayed for about 15 minutes saying so that people would believe that God answers prayer, the woman should rise up and could die the following week. The woman rose up, was taken to a hospital but died after a week. I regretted my prayer. I could have prayed that the woman should live longer. And the fourth was that of Baba Alengongo, who came to our church from Alegongo area for the men’s vigil. The vigil was to start at 1a.m. and men came earlier to rest. When the vigil was to start, it was discovered that he had died. What an embarrassment I thought. It wasn’t the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) era, so how do we get his people, where do we take his corpse? I pondered. We took the man to another classroom, prayed till he rose up. He was with us for more than three years after before leaving the church.

 

How did you receive the name of your church?

Nobody receives it (name of church) anywhere. According to the scriptures, there is no denomination in Heaven. The founder should explain how he got the name. When Sanctuary was about to take off, a lot of things were wrong with so many churches, especially in terms of holiness and righteousness. The scriptures say that we should worship God in the beauty of His holiness. Many people are religious but not godly. I said our own church should bear Sanctuary which means holy place. The church does not allow polygamy and will punish any member accused of stealing government’s money.

 

Your church’s convention, starting from Wednesday to Sunday 28th this month, has as theme, Divine Enlargement. What informed the choice of theme?

We believe an 18-year-old church is matured enough to have more branches. And we have over the years trained a lot of matured Christians who are capable of leading branches. As a matter of fact, the Thanksgiving Service on Sunday includes an ordination of deacons, pastors and evangelists who are ready to work for the Lord and expand the frontier of the gospel. Hence the theme, Divine Enlargement.