Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and former President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday gave an insight into the roles played by Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye in their political lives.
The pastor of the influential Redemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) gave them the advice that infleuced their decisions to accept public office, they revealed.
The two leaders spoke at the Youth Centre of the RCCG on Kilometre 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway yesterday during the presentation of a book Pastor E. A Adeboye; His Life and Calling.
Prof. Osinbajo, who lauded Pastor Adeboye for his role in “my spiritual growth”, said he sought the General Overseer’s consent before accepting to run with President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential race.
He said the RCCG was able to attract the largest gathering of worshippers to its convention due to Adeboye’s sincerity and humility.
“Apart from Coca-cola, the Church is next in mileage across the world. And it all has to do with the sincerity, dedication and humility of Daddy G.O.” Osinbajo said.
Recounting how Pastor Adeboye influenced his decision to run for president in 1999, Obasanjo said after visiting former South African President Nelson Mandela and respected South Africa cleric Desmond Tutu, the pastor’s opinion finally convinced him to run.
“I visited Pastor Adeboye who told me to come back as he would have to pray and know the mind of God concerning the matter.
”I was concerned about his response because I got immediate responses from my two friends (Mandela and Tutu). Weeks after, I was sent for and he told me to go ahead and serve as President. I still had a thread of doubt but 48 hours after we met, I opened the scripture and it was the Book of Esther that I opened and I began to read about her,” Obsanjo said.
He added: ”I want to thank Pastor Adeboye for helping me at that crucial time in my life when I was to make the right decision.
“There is no one in modern Africa that has touched lives as much as Pastor Adeboye. I came to the conclusion that anyone who does not respect him does not respect God. After all, God uses men to carry out his work on earth. This man is a tremendous instrument in God’s hands.”
Obasanjo hinted of his plan to lead many other writers to author a book about Pastor Adeboye.
Although Obasanjo did not name the would-be authors, he noted that whatever had been written about the man of God by others was not adequate to capture the life of the exemplary man of God.
The wife of the General Overseer of RCCG, Pastor Folu Adeboye, who conceived the idea of the book, said that it was to celebrate Pastor Adeboye’s 75th birthday.
I know he loves to read the Bible and other books of great men and women to learn from their lives, principles and values. I believe that it is time to put his life and calling in print for others to read and be inspired and blessed. This is just the beginning”, he said.
Prof. Omolewa, said that the book helped to provide an authoritative account and information about Pastor Adeboye.
He said: “We can proclaim that this book is an encyclopedia, telling the story of the little town of Ifewara in which Pastor Adeboye was born and the circumstances of his young days and early childhood. Seeing him rise through challenges and odds to become a dedicated teacher, sport master, theatre director, song composer and becoming a guest of royalty and president, leaving in the trail of signs and wonder everywhere he had visited.”
The book, he said would help to correct many of the myth and misleading information on Pastor Adeboye, including the one attributed to his first degree from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the one which stated that he was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time Magazine.
The book, written by 40 scholars, diplomatic corps, close associates, leadership experts from within and outside Nigeria and members of the Governing Council of the church, is coordinated by Omolewa.
Guest at the event included: Bishop David Oyedepo, wife of the Lagos State Governor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Mrs. Orelope Adefulire, Access Bank Group Managing Director Herbert Wigwe, Standard Charted Bank Managing Director Bola Adesola, former Deputy Governor of Lagos State Sarah Sosan, wife of the General Overseer of the Christian Pentecostal Mission, Rev Mercy Ezekiel, former of Nigeria Breweries Chairman Pastor Felix Ohiwere and many others.