Former Managing Director of Bank of Industry Pastor Kayode Pitan has been appointed by the Redeemed Christian Church of God to serve as the Pastor of the City of David parish of the church.
He is to replace Pastor Charles Kpandei who has been holding brief in the church since the suspension of Pastor Idowu Iluyomade by the RCCG
Iluyomade was suspended following some allegations against him. Some news media had reported that Pastor Pitan was the one who replaced Iluyomade. But events at the City of David proved otherwise as Kpandei was the one seen conducting the affairs of the parish since June when the suspension took effect.
A top source in RCCG however informed Church Times that Pastor Pitan has now been formerly designated as incumbent Pastor of the City of David. The decision was taken by the governing council of the church during the just-concluded convention of the church.
Pitan before now
Before now, Pitan was the pastor in charge of the Tabernacle of David of Region 51 and was also the regional pastor. He is believed to be the right person for the City of David because of his pedigree in the corporate world. It is expected that he would be able to manage the Trinity Tower project very well as well as the church.
With his appointment, he is now the Pastor in charge of Region 20 with the City of David as its headquarters. Pastor Ben Akabueze will now serve as the Assistant Pastor in Charge of Region 20.
Pastor Charles Kpandei who was temporarily transferred to RCCG City of David has returned to his former duty post as Pastor in Charge of Region 11 in Lekki.
The source told Church Times that the “promotion and appointment of Pastor Kayode Pitan, put a closure to the reign of Pastor Idowu Iluyomade at RCCG City of David Parish.
Pastor Kayode Pitan
He had his graduate studies in the US, came back to Nigeria about 37 years ago, and was at the height of Banking and Finance in Nigeria. He worked in Citi Bank from where he resigned to set up a Finance House.
Pitan who had spent 27 years in RCCG gave his life to Christ at the Christ Chapel International Churches in Lagos. He told Turning Point in an interview in 2017 that he had lost over 3 million dollars after the finance house he set up collapsed in 1993. It was that experience that led him to be more committed to Christ.
He recounted how he approached his pastor and told him he wanted to go to the seminary. The pastor counseled him to attend the Baptist seminary in Ogbomosho. But because of the distance, he opted to attend the Redeemed Christian Bible College. After the Bible College, he joined a parish of the RCCG pastored by one of his lecturers at the Bible College.
Recalling how he finally became a pastor in RCCG, he said, “I felt it was a setup by God. I came out of the Bible and joined this RCCG parish. The pastor of the parish wanted me to be a pastor. I resisted the offer. But he came one day and announced my name as pastor and that after two Sundays I would take over formerly from him because he had been promoted.
“But the thing that shook me is that he died before I took over. He went to Portharcourt on a business trip and never came back. So my first job as a pastor was to arrange his funeral. That changed my life. I had a church given to me by a pastor who was dead. I was new to the church. They did not know what to do with me. So they had to let the G.O. know that there was a man who had just been made a pastor and that the man who made him a pastor was dead”
Pitan was however well known for the strategic role he played as the Managing Director of the Bank of Industry. He had served the first five years in the bank and was appointed to begin another term in 2022. But he resigned from the position in 2023 while President Tinubu was rejigging his cabinet and government appointees.
