Since she sprang into national consciousness three and a half decades ago, Bishop Bola Odeleke’s path has been laced with fame, controversy, miracles of healing and great bravado. Before becoming a preacher of the word of God, youthful Bola Odeleke had some measure of popularity as a businesswoman who operated a boutique and happily married to a general in the Nigerian Army.
However, growing up, brought with it, a particular consciousness that her life would be a tool in God’s hands, to bring peace and salvation to mankind. In those days, it was unheard of to find a woman climbing the pulpit in Jesus name to preach. But with God’s assurance, Bola Odeleke fought the conventional and eventually emerged the First African Lady Bishop.
Tragedy struck early in her marriage when she lost her husband, Brigadier General Lasun Odeleke to a motor accident. He was a member of the then Provincial Ruling Council, during the regime of President Ibrahim Babangida. It slowed her down but she now admits, she weathered the storm and emerged stronger. The proponent of Agbara Olorun Kiibati (the power of God never fails), celebrated recently and spoke to Paul Ukpabio.
You just celebrated your church’s 30th anniversary how has the journey been so far?
The 30th anniversary celebration was about the year I entered Okota, an outskirt of Lagos, with my ministry: Though I had been in Christian ministry since 1974. That means I will be celebrating my 4o years in the ministry next year. In
February 1983, God sent me here. This is the first church I established in my ministry but before then, I had established many church branches for Christ Apostolic church. So we felt we needed to celebrate God’s grace for our existence. When I got here, we were the only thing you saw around here. No other structure was in sight except one went further inside to Ago junction where the land-sellers location was.
In the entire Okota, we met only one church here and that was Foursquare Church. Now there are over 3000 churches all around Okota by the grace of God. This spot that we are located was a groove for masquerades. I still recall all the fetish things that we found and dug out of the ground, when we got here.
I used to go on all the road paths of Okota and pray over them. As you can see today, those road paths are now major roads to a big town, which Okota has now become. We also did massive radio publicity to open up the town. Whenever I was on radio or television, I used to clarify to listeners, the difference between, Ojota and Okota. So we indeed attracted a lot of people down here. I bought 3 acres of land for N48,000, but today, one plot is going for N30m on the major road, while inside the town it goes for N20m. So things have changed.
Can you compare what the ministry looks like now to the period when you set out?
It is better now. I started at Christ Apostolic Church where I received Christ. God called me in 1974 as Lady Evangelist because the church was not ordaining women. I was there for almost 18 years. God used me to do a lot of remarkable things there especially in the area of establishing new church branches and revival crusades.
But a time came, when the church started a revolution. The church came up with ten laws, with one of the laws being that a woman cannot lead a church. Meanwhile, I had been leading churches since 18 years. So there was a problem, how was I going to drop all that? Was I going to turn to a floor member, more so, when I knew my calling? I decided, that the laws were man-made, that I had to follow God instead of man.
I left. However, I was the only one that was given a peace letter when I decided to leave and I guess that is why I can still preach in CAC today. They told me “let the peace of God go with you.” That was when I started the Power Pentecostal Church Ministry. During the period I was in CAC, I was famous because of what God was doing through me. People were seeing God in me and not the church that I belonged to. If it had been my power, when I changed church, it would have affected me. But the power was of God.
But you were into business before you started preaching God’s word
Yes, but when I was selling clothes, I was not much known. The fame I got was because of God that I carried in me. I could not heal headache on my own. It was the spirit of God that was performing miracles through me; that also built the new church that I founded. I was in Umuahia last week for a crusade, the lame worked, the blind see, and many marveled. This is the power of God. It has nothing to do with me as a person. I preach the gospel of peace, healing and deliverance. And people are receiving these.
What have been the challenges that you have been facing?
I have been my own challenge. Most of the time, I doubt God! I sometimes do not believe as much as I should. When God does a marvelous thing, I just stop and wonder about such power. But as I keep growing, I get to know more and more about God’s ways and His acts. The way God started with me was strong. I was just 23 when God called me into the ministry. I had not even found my feet when God began using me beyond my imaginations.
Sometimes then, God used to tell me, don’t do that! The next thing would be that I question God on why I should not do it. I sometimes went ahead and did such things and fingers got burnt. But the good thing was that, when I returned to Him, He was always there, waiting for me.
As a matter of fact, He would even be the one that pulled me back to Him as if nothing had happened. That is why I can say that, God has been very good to me, despite everything. When my husband died, my first child was merely 16, but thanks God today; she has her own home and children. All my children are all okay and having their own families. God comforted me when I had the challenge of losing my husband early in life, He took care of everything. I thank God for men and women who God used to help me get to where I am today. Right now, I have no challenge that is bigger than God.
How did you receive your calling?
My calling was a great miracle in itself. My husband and I received Christ in 1974, but before then, God had been talking to me about my ministry. During those days, any prophet that came round to our home, used to say to me that they see me holding a bible and bell. I used to question them which bible? Don’t you see my boutique? However, I was in the habit of reserving gifts for ministers of God who stopped by.
So to me, that was enough God’s work that I was already doing! But in 1973, the spiritual pressure on me to go into the ministry became very obvious. That year the Lord asked me to observe a fast for three days. I was perturbed that, why does God want me to die food denial. I did not do it until the October of that year. I felt God touched me, like somebody pushed me to do it.
After the fast, God started showing me different things. As a matter of fact, most of the things that are manifesting in my ministry even till date, are things that God showed me in those three days. When I took a nap, I went into vision or trance. When I sat or knelt to pray, prophecy poured out. On the night of the second day of my marathon prayer, I was sitting outside our compound, in Akure, reading the scripture. My husband was in Kaduna where he had just been posted.
All of a sudden, I felt something drop on my forehead, I thought it was an insect, so I rushed to brush it away, but alas, it was oil! I was shocked. Where could that had come from, I asked myself. I was not sitting under a tree, I reasoned. So where could it have dropped from?
I touched my head and I noticed that oil had soaked my head. I became frightened and started to tremble. I ran quickly to see Pastor Obadare, but was told that he had gone to Lagos for a crusade. I went to meet the president of CAC then, being an elderly man, he understood immediately. I was trying to describe to him the experience, and even told him to touch my head. He simply said that they already knew, that God told Pastor Babalola and them, that He will bring up a woman, and anoint the woman Himself. He assured me that I should not panic that nothing is wrong with me, that it is an anointing from heaven. He suddenly began to pray for me and before I knew it, he busted into prophecies and ecstatic prayers. When he was through, he told me to continue with my fasting, that I should listen to God, that whatever He tells me to do, I should do it.
So what happened after?
I went back home and in the night about 5am, I saw the door of my room open. Immediately what came to my mind was that armed robbers had come into the house. I quickly put my children’s legs under me for protection. But as the door opened further, there was this strange light that beamed into the room. My cloth became transparent I could see the person coming in. I could not see the down part or the upper part of the person. But I knew it was somebody that is tall. He came in and said peace to me. He told me that he had come to confirm to me the prophecies that I had been receiving. He prayed for me and gave me a bible. As he was giving it to me, the bible entered into me and I saw a sign of nail in my palm representing Jesus. He gave me a bottle of water, and that is why I bless water for people. He also gave me a ringing bell. He told me that any where I ring bell or stand to shout Jesus, people will gather and I will win souls unto Christ. He told
me that these are the signs; that I should go out there and preach salvation message: That I should tell people what He did and that He is coming back. He told me that when I’m doing all these things, that miracles will happen. When he finished the prayers, and left, my clothes became normal.
But before he left, he told me that for me to know that all what he had told me is true, that I should to Oke Igbala Itura, Pastor Obadare’s church, that a mad woman is tied down there, that I should go and meet her, and loose her. As soon as I remembered, I stood up and headed there in outright curiosity. I did not even wait for my driver; I jumped into the car and drove away. Behold, as I packed the car, I saw the woman tied down. I walked towards her, but Pastor Owoeye who was the pastor in charge of the parish, saw me and shouted, trying to warn me against going there, that the woman is dangerous. They ran towards me, but before they could get to me, I was already with the mad woman. I laid my hands on the woman and said be healed in Jesus name, and right there, she became healed.
It was a big story. The woman upon realizing herself asked where she was. The pastor and the other people had reached me then and they all marveled at the difference in the mad woman’s sudden change. That was when I told them how God asked me to come to loosen the woman. They all started looking at me like I was an angel. They told me that in truth, God has called me because nobody could go near that woman. She used to break the chains that were used to tie her down. That same woman is today a pastor. That was the day that I started to believe that God had given me a ministry. It was also during that 3 day fast that I saw it that I would one day, become a Bishop, and that I will be praying even for foreigners in foreign lands as it is happening today.
But how did your husband receive all these?
I went to Kaduna to tell my husband. He believed because we were friends, we were childhood friends in Ibadan. We believed so much in each other. However, we didn’t know what to do, we had to consult with spiritual superiors. We therefore went to The General Evangelist of CAC. We met him and I began to relate my experience. He was busy and appearing not to be listening. At a point, God told me to stop talking. He turned to my husband and asked him to mention any woman who was doing such things. But truly, there was no woman doing such things at that time. He instructed him to take me home, to hold and keep his wife of five years, that he should not let me do these things; else pastors will take his wife away. The man rubbished the whole thing and we left. But as we were going, God told me not to listen to him, that He has already shown me a sign to show that He is the one that has called me.
The next day however, at 6am, we heard a knock on the door and it was the man. He was shouting “please woman of God, you are called!” His mouth had bent to one side. So I told him, “but you said I am not called?” He replied, “No, you are called, I was beaten terribly all through the night. I was even asked, who told me that you were not called,” he said. He told us further, that he was told that his own calling is not even as high as my own. That made me even more afraid because the next thing was that the man asked me to pray for him and I did. His bent mouth straightened back to normal. It was amazing. This led to a crusade in Kaduna and there were many miracles and healing. Miracles started coming even through my blessing of water for people. I don’t keep water, people bring their water. Yesterday someone with stroke was brought with water, I prayed on it and the person is now walking. The person is even a pastor.
Challenge of being the first woman in the ministry
At that time nobody believed in a woman coming out to do ministry work. But it was only miracle that made people to start believing. It was God that started proving to them one after the other, that yes she is a woman but He has called me to the ministry. There was a time I decided to go to the bible college because I wanted to know more about the word of God and His ways: Though at night God was revealing lots of things to me. During the day too, I used to drift into trance.
So in 1975, I went to Baptist Seminary in Ogbomosho to get enrolled for studies. The principal told me outright that I am a woman. That my place is in the kitchen I told him that God called me but he replied that I should go and meet the God. Tears rushed that my cheeks. I implored him that he should allow me to buy my own table and chair and sit at the verandah just t be listening. That was when he told me to leave. But before I left, I stood at the middle of the compound, lifted up my eyes and asked God to teach me His word by himself. I told God my desire to know His word and also my desire to have a bible college like that, to teach people especially the women. With anger, I left the place. In 1978 and for three years from that day, God taught me the bible Himself. Those who wrote the books of the bible like Moses, Luke, all came to teach me.
When I went back to Ogbomosho to do a crusade, the man came there. He asked me if I still remember him. “Of course I do, I can’t forget you, I replied.” He said he was sorry that at that time he did not understand but he now understood.
God makes way for me even till now. When I want to break into new grounds, God sends somebody to me and it will be done. When it was time for me to go to South Africa for evangelism, somebody came from there to meet me here. Same thing when I was to break into America, a woman came all the way from there here, to meet me. That was in 1988. Someone introduced her to me, she saw what was going on here, and then invited me over. I went there and I was treated like a queen because they saw what I was doing here. I don’t beg for doors to open, when I get near the door, it opens. I have travelled to several countries. London, America, Italy, Amsterdam, I have preached in Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, Kenya, Cotonou, even in Egypt. When my children opened the Face book page for me, more connections poured in. it is God.
As a Lady Bishop, what is your life style like?
I am a social person, but I do not go out. When I do, it means I’m going there to preach. People come to see me and I give God the glory for that.
How did you hit the limelight?
The media shot me into fame through a miracle that came through me. When we were in Yaba, Lagos Mainland, I was still at CAC then. One evening, a woman that had been pregnant for over 38 years, gave birth on the crusade ground to something that looked like a monkey. As it happened, a ‘Daily Times’ reporter who was covering something else in the area, heard the pandemonium from the crusade ground and checked it out. He took the picture of the monkey-like creature and it was on front page of the paper the next day, and that was how I got to limelight. Even how I got to preaching on television, was like that. I was invited to an interview but ended up being given space on television to be preaching regularly. So it is usually God at work for me. The goodwill of God is always at work for me.
What material things has success in ministry given you?
I have enjoyed a lot in my private life. God has given me people. Everything I have is gifts from people: Happy people who love me from all around the world. The day you meet me, you fall in love with me and the next thing is that you are asking me, what can I do for you? That is not limited to us ‘blacks’ alone; the ‘Whites’ love me too.
What keeps you going?
I enjoy my peace of mind. I do not worry over anything. People tell me they can’t sleep. But I am not like that; I sleep and sleep when it is time for me to sleep. I pray and go to sleep. I enjoy myself on my IPAD, my free time I use it counseling people on the internet.
What is your view on women, gold, trinkets and trouser wearing to church?
I thank God that I am a woman, the first African Lady Bishop. I am an authority in my field; I have written books on aspects of Christianity, so I can say that, they should leave my women alone! Please just take us as we are. Let people concentrate on their own lives and stop petty worries about what women wear. That is because, whatever you wear, has nothing to do with your soul. Jesus came to save souls and not trouser or earrings. He came to save souls and if your soul is saved and you love God, that love makes you want to wear anything.
I must tell you that there is joy that belongs to a redeemer in Christ and with that joy; you want to adorn the image of God in you. That is what female dressing is all about. Female dressing is not about attracting opposite sex. A mad woman is attractive to the opposite sex. So it is not until you are adorned that you become attractive to the opposite sex: So female adornment is about rejoicing in you. A woman looks at the mirror and she is happy. We look in the mirror and see our beauty and we say ha father, I thank you for this beautiful image that you have given me. It has nothing to do with salvation.
People who criticize female dressing give me the impression that they don’t know the bible. Eve was to make Adam happy for eve to be eve. Adam didn’t know that eve was inside of him until God brought her out. And Adam was surprised that this kind of beauty was inside of him and called her a ‘woman.’ And woman means ‘mother of all living’ that is what it means in Hebrew. Without a woman there is no production. When a man has trouble, where does he go, but to his woman! There is a special place for a woman so let no one rubbish them. When a man sees a woman that is well dressed, he is happy except he is deceiving himself. If your woman is not dressing well, it’s likely there is no happiness in that house. That can even make the man to look outside and probably commit. When a woman is a prostitute, she doesn’t even need to dress well. It is modest women who dress well, because a modest woman has rest of mind. Where it is said that the adornment should not
be
too much, is an advice, it doesn’t mean not to use at all. Using it doesn’t mean a woman doesn’t love God. Some people say a woman should not preach, but can you stop the police woman when she catches you, or a female judge who sends a man to jail? So why not listen to a woman of God who brings you peace? So what I can say is that it boils down to ignorance and then jealousy because God answers women faster than men because we can cry more.
What accessories do you not do without?
I don’t miss anything; the beauty God has given me is there already. Sometimes though, I use make up and sometimes I don’t because I always think that it may stain people’s clothes when I hug them. You know as a preacher, I hug a lot. But that does not mean that I hate powder. I use it when I do photo-shoot. I can do with anything and do without anything. I advice women that when they have money, they should use it to buy properties, build houses for their children, and use the excess for trinkets and gold. Women should think of the future in case they die before their husbands, who may marry another wife.
Tell us your regrets?
It is, not believing God as much as I ought to. Sometimes I doubt Him until he performs yet another miracle. When it comes to my personal issues with God, I drag things with Him. I ask Him why He tells me not to do some things. That has been my regret. I wish to be a better woman, a better preacher, I am still growing, things are different now, I want to speak to the youth and speak their language, speak to the rich and get across to them and reach out to everybody. And I will love that President Goodluck Jonathan who we know is a good man should also be more strong and bold. He should make decisions and stand by it. The bloodshed in the country is much. Let him come up with a resolution to stop it. I am not saying that he should be like Obasanjo but please let him act now and fast.