CELESTIAL CHURCH OF CHRIST BLOG

A mild drama ensued yesterday at the palace of Onimeko of Imeko, in Ogun State, Oba Benjamin Akanbi Onike, when children of the late founder of the Celestial Church of Christ Worldwide, late Samuel Bilehou Oshoffa, exchanged hot words over the leadership of the church.



The late Samuel Biléhou Oshoffa founded the church on 29 September 1947 and died in 1985.

Indeed, the leadership of the church is currently under the eldest son of the late founder, Pastor Mobiyina Emmanuel Oshoffa, who is now visually impaired.

However, some members of the Board of Trustees of the church led by Superior Evangelist Sunday Soroyeun and Superior Evangelist Sunday Adebowale Adebanjo of CCC Adanitan and Progress Cathedral parishes in Lagos have appointed the younger Oshofa, Rev Matthew Olatosho Oshoffa, to take over the leadership of the church worldwide.

But trouble started when the new leader, Olatosho Oshofa, led by parishioners from Lagos, Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Oyo and Edo states, and guarded by heavily armed policemen, went to the palace of Onimeko, Oba Benjamin Akanbi Onike, on arrival.

The younger Oshofa, who also was accompanied by his elder sister, Ms Yemi Oshoffa, allegedly started raining abuses and curses in the palace, describing some of the church’s leaders as traitors, hypocrites, ingrates and rebels.

However, Oba Benjamin did not spare the church leaders who accompanied the younger Oshofa.

The monarch accused the church elders of planning to tear the Oshoffa family apart and cause row among the children of the late founder by appointing Olatosho to overthrow his eldest brother, Mobiyina.

“I am ashamed of you for doing this to your own flesh and blood, who is even your senior. The whole family knows that you have a calling, but why can’t you wait for your time?

“Our brother is still very much alive and still in charge of the church. But you allowed these old men to push you to your downfall; the family is not in support of this,” the monarch told the younger Oshofa.

The monarch, consequently, told the gathering the children had behaved irresponsibly and shamefully in the management of the church, citing the case of the abandoned cathedral which should have been a museum in the town where worshippers and investors would have been drawn to the town.

He said the children had hindered the prophecy that Imeko would be “a Jerusalem of Africa.”

At this point, Olatosho’s sister, Yemi, was in tears, telling her brother not to allow members and leaders of the church use him to tear the family apart.

However, the ensuing crisis did not deter the leaders and parishioners who came with Olatosho to pronounce him leader by raising his hands before they returned in a convoy to their various destinations.

An elated Olatosho, the newly appointed leader, said his leadership of church was foretold right from when he was in the womb.

He explained that the church council members had then said he was too young in 2002 and, consequently, appointed his elder brother who is the first son of their father.

“What is happening today has been foretold but I was denied the position about 13 years ago because the council members felt I was too young.

“I am now 45 years old and the word of God has to prevail. I am not competing with my brother over leadership, it is the province shepherds that asked me to come and take over the mantle from him because they felt he has not been carrying out the vision of our late father,” he said.

Olatosho, who insisted that his elder brother has failed to carry out the vision of their father, explained that, “That is why all the parishioners summoned me from France to come and take over the leadership from him. He has not been following the tenets of our father.”

He said the church and Imeko town “have been underdeveloped and our shepherds are impoverished. So, in order to save the situation from getting messier, I have been called upon to be the new leader of CCC Worldwide.”

Also, Superior Evangelist Adebanjo said what they are doing for the Oshoffa family is to restore the glory of CCC and not to tear the family apart, adding that some opposition members have already started the process of nominating another leader who is not a member of the Oshoffa family.