Unending succession crisis in Celestial Church

CELESTIAL Church of Christ (CCC) is one of the largest Christian groups in the world today with branches close to 1000 throughout the world. The church which was founded by the late Pastor S.B.J Oshoffa in Republic of Benin in 1947, presently has millions of members. When the church got to Nigeria in 1958, it was well received among the elites who formed the backbone of the Board of Trustees of the church with the founder. The trustees were S.O Banjo, a banker, O.G.A. Adefeso, a chartered accountant, J.K Owodunni, a chartered accountant, O.O Ogunlesi, a chemical engineer, the late A.A Bada, and the late S.O Ajanlekoko, a senior manager in the Nigerian Breweries.

Contrary to the general opinion that the Cele crisis started after the death of its founder, Oshoffa, the seed of discord was sown in 1974 when Owodunni and Banjo left the headquarters to form their own parish at what is now known as Ijeshatedo1. They wanted a welfare package for the clergy which the founder was not favourably disposed to, the reason being that the founder was not sure of their sincerity because he had once been betrayed in Cotonou where the church actually started. Following this development, the Ijesha-tedo parish had one of the best church administrations. The administrators rented houses for the clergy and were paying almost five times of what Bada and co were earning. Owodunni was the president while Banjo was vice president. This, however, did not stop them from attending the trustees meetings with the founder. In fact, the founder was said to be spending one week at Ijesha-tedo parish whenever it was doing its annual harvest.

Seed of discord

The seed of discord did not manifest until Oshoffa died in 1985. He died after a road accident. The board of trustees appointed Bada as Oshoffa’s successor which angered Owodunni who claimed he had been chosen by the founder before his death to head the church. Owodunni produced the minutes of a meeting to back his claim. The minutes read: "At a board of the trustees in 1984 which usually held on Tuesday evening, as all the members (except Banjo who was at that time under ‘state detention’) were seated, the pastor/founder declared, 'you will commune with me by eating and drinking with me. The pastor ordered food to be brought into the meeting. It was fried plantain (Dodo). The pastor asked that the tray be put on the floor. He then asked all the trustees to dip their hands into the plate and we ate from the dish. Thereafter, the pastor asked for water to be brought into the meeting. He offered the water in the basin first to Ajanlekoko to drink but he refused, saying that the pastor/founder was the father of all and therefore, papa should drink first, but Papa Oshoffa replied: Let it be as papa wished it. So, Ajanlekoko drank the water and after him, pastor/founder drank the water and moved on to Bada and Bada drank the water. Thereafter, he gave it to Adefeso, and he too drank. Similarly, he gave the water to Ogunlesi, he too drank. Finally, Pa Oshoffa crossed to Owodunni on the left side, offered the water to him and specifically ordered him to drink all the remaining water in the basin and he drank it all and the pastor/founder stated: Ah! It ends with you, you are the Joseph". But Senior Evangelist Segun Aina, who is Owoduni’s cousin and a member of pastor -in - council of the church, one of the two organs empowered to appoint the pastor disagreed with Owodunni. "Yes Papa may have said that he was the Joseph but that does not translate that he should be pastor. He probably has forgotten, Joseph was never a king. It is true that he operated the Ijesha-tedo parish with some measure of success because he brought some academic sense into its operation which made its administration second to none. It is true also that the late founder liked him but that does not mean Oshoffa named him the pastor. I disagree with that. Owodunni himself agreed at one time that Bada should be pastor. The day Oshoffa died, the trustees held a meeting and he agreed with the members that Bada should be made the pastor. Why did he not express his reservation on Bada being the pastor then.", he asked.

Having appointed Bada in December, 1987 as the pastor, Owodunni headed to the court. He wanted the court to void the appointment but the case dragged on from the High Court to the Appeal up to the Supreme Court in Abuja where it was concluded three years ago. The judgement voided the appointed of the late Bada but concluded that the appointment could only be legal if the church’s constitution was amended. "This is exactly what we did when the supreme court judgement was delivered", said Aina. He continued: " We amended the constitution. But before we did that , we sent letter of invitation to all members of the trustees including Owoduni. Thrice it was sent to him by DHL and thrice he did not show up. The rest formed a quorum and went ahead to amend it".

However, one of the signatures on the amended constitution submitted to the Corporate Affairs Commission for approval, Owodunni claimed, was forged just as he said that the constitution that backed he proclamation of Oshoffa’s son as pastor is null and void. Said he: The signature forged was that of Papa Leyon, an important topshot of the church. He is the only surviving member of the seven individuals who went to persuade the pastor\founder to bring the church to Nigeria".

Bada died in the 2000 before P.H. Ajose, also late, was brought in from the overseas diocese to pastor the church. He died six days after he was installed. After the death of Ajose, a new claimant to the pastorship, Gilbert Jesse, emerged. Jesse, last December, claimed that he was appointed as pastor by the church, a claim which the newly ordained successor, Reverend Pastor Emmanuel Oshoffa refuted. Emmanuel is the eldest son of the late Oshoffa.He said appointment to the throne of pastorship is not a decision of people only but also by the holy spirit. "Who are the people who ordained him. He is not the pastor because he is not divinely called. He is a rebel. Everybody knows that", he said.

Jesse had said that Bada, before his death, appointed him next in rank to the late Ajose. " So, when Ajose died, I was to be the next person but the trustees, because they are from Ijebu, they said Jesse, you cannot make it. They now appointed somebody else as pastor who is not up to me spiritually and morally and who is not a member of the church. It was after Pa Oshoffa died that he wore sultana for the first time. The late Ajose gave him the post of superior evangelist. He has been in France all his life without people knowing what he was doing. What would I be looking at when the person appointed is not up to my messenger. So, when the whole world heard about it, the church worldwide came together and appointed me as their pastor. I did not appoint myself as the pastor. They should show the world if there is any illegality there".

Presently, three people are laying claim to the pastorship. The question one may want to ask therefore is, what is so special about the post of the pastor. "Money", replied Aina." The pastor ,as the head of the church, is so powerful that nobody questions him on how the church money is spent. The pastor-in -council and the trustees can only advise which if he likes can accept or reject outrightly. It is there in the constitution. Everybody wants to be pastor principally because of the enormous power the office carries. If he likes, he can give the money to his co-church worker, nobody will query him."

The only way out of this logjam, Aina said, is to enlarge the number of the trustees to accommodate other tribes" because the general feeling now is that it is the Ijebus that are destroying the church even though it is a misconception. Let us have the Ondos, Edos, Oyos and all other tribes so that there will be some sense of belonging. Also, let us amend the constitution so that the office of the pastor will be less important financially. Let the clergy face their spiritual job. Let us appoint seasoned auditors, accountants, let them structure the church. The pastor will be there to take care of spiritual matters while the administrators will handle the financial matters. Of course they will be there to advise the pastor as well on financial matters. I don’t think Adeboye(of the Redeemed Christian Church) gets involved of how much the church makes and that is why the church is flourishing .Let them decentralize it so that it will be a collective job. Presently, until you get to the pastor you cannot get certain things done. Without amending this history book properly, we would still be having problem".

Emmanuel believes that until these rebels purged themselves of their rebellious act " we cannot start talking of reconciliation".

From the on-goings, it appears there is no solution in sight as Jesse said " I have been appointed and I have been appointed, there is no going back. I am the one the world knows, I have the majority, I was appointed as pastor by celestial church world wide" while Owoduni believes that "having complied with section 111 of the constitution( as have been named by the Pastor\Founder of the church), I have been duly appointed as the pastor of the church and I have succeeded into the post of pastor since October, 1997 which was the 50th anniversary of the church".