No Convention leader has done so much for Pastors than Baba Akande, in my view- Israel Akanji
The widow of the late General Secretary, Mama Akande sits between the CAN President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle and the Chaplain of the Villa Chapel who represented Vice President Yemi Osinbajo @ the burial service of Late Pastor Akande
Former General Secretary and Chief Executive of Nigerian Baptist Convention Rev. Dr. Ola Akande who passed on recently at 94 has been described as God’s field marshal who influenced many lives.
The commendation came from Dr. Israel Akanji during his sermon at the burial service of the late cleric on Saturday, November 21.
The burial service which attracted the who is who in the Baptist Church and some notable dignitaries in Nigeria including the President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Dr. Samson Ayokunle and Pastor Seyi Malomo who represented Vice President Yemi Osibajo held at Orita Mefa Baptist Church, Ibadan
Akanji who is also the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Area 11, Garki Abuja said at the onset of his message titled, celebrating God’s extraordinary grace, that it was a great honour to be called to preach at the grand occasion of the person he considered “God’s Field Marshal of the Church militant of our generation.”
While commending the team spirit of members of the Baptist Convention he said it was through the late cleric that he got to know that former American President Jimmy Carter worshiped at the First Baptist Church, Lagos when he came to Nigeria.
He added also that God gave him (Akanji) the privilege to preach at the service when former President Bill Clinton worshiped at the First Baptist Church, Garki, Abuja, on August 27, 2000.
Akanji described the late Akande as “our Charles Spurgeon of the British Baptists, our John Wesley of the Methodist English Revivals; our John Knox of the Scottish Revivals and our Billy Graham of the American Baptists. He retired in 1991 and almost thirty years after retirement, he was still preaching.”
He said there is perhaps no Baptist preacher who preached more times than he did. “In his Sermons of Hope and Solace, there are 54 messages preached at various occasions of bereavement, hardship, and loneliness. Dr. Akande has preached all over the world and among various cultures. He has also written down more sermons than anyone else I know in the history of the Nigerian Baptist Convention.” Akanji noted.
He recalled the unique way Dr Akande read the Bible evoking an email he got from him 6 years ago, on the issue of “Envy and Attacks.
The email according to him reads, “When I faced a similar situation as you now face in those days, I did three things. 1. I thanked God always that He made me an object of envy. 2. I behaved as a man who had conquered. 3. I asked God to give me more things that would make people to envy me more. Then people began to associate power and traditional juju and medicine with me. By God’s grace, I became victorious. Today, S.T. Ola Akande is 88years and six months plus. By God’s grace, you too and your wife will reach my age and beyond. Daddy S.T. Ola Akande.”
Akanji recalled when he was the President of the student body of the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso, and how the late General Secretary told him that anybody who goes into ministry work should expect opposition.
He continued, stating how Dr. Akande had joined politics between 1990 and 1991 and how there were moves to make him leave the office of the General Secretary in ignominy.
“Respectable people in the Convention were carrying Placards with inscriptions of protests. At the end, we had a glorious celebration of his exit in 1991. It has been over 30 years since he left the office of General Secretary. His continuous peaceful and joyful survival after such harrowing experiences can only be attributed to God’s Extraordinary Grace. In fact towards the end of his life, Baba Akande was always crying for joy, saying that he did not deserve the grace of God that was upon his life.”
Akanji enumerated the impact of grace in the life of the believer and how God’s grace has helped to uplift many from obscurity to relevance. He notes that “Many of us who have risen from rural communities and now we find ourselves in high places cannot but speak of God’s grace. There are times when our story is that of moving from Grace to Grace – we have received multiplied graces either on us or through us to others.”
Referring to Paul in the Bible he stated that “the power of God’s grace: Softens the stony heart, sweetens the bitter temper, makes the lion become a lamb and makes the vulture become a dove.”
While noting that God’s grace in the life of Paul helped him to serve God better and also produced humility in him, he said the grace of God in the life of the late Pastor Akande produced the courage of Caleb, the leadership skill of Moses as well as the faith of Abraham which enabled him to build the residence of the General Secretary of the convention during his tenure as the GS
He likened the late cleric to many Bible characters recalling with glee how he “reformed Pastors’ salaries and allowances like no one else; introduced the Appreciation Service for Pastors and Convention workers, improved on Pastors’ pension and made ordination easier for Pastors. No Convention leader has done so much for Pastors than Baba Akande, in my view. My father used to talk about him as the one that came to liberate Pastors from the shackles of pauperization. Unfortunately, no one has taken a comprehensive look at the condition of service of the Pastors of the denomination again, like he did in my view”
Concluding his sermon, Akanji said the late Dr. Akande “was a product of God’s extraordinary grace – and the grace he received was not without effect. He stood a head taller than others. He trusted God as if all depended on God. He worked hard as if all depended on him. This is an example for us on how to live. Above all, he was a very humble and jovial man – always grateful to God.”
