Bishop Dayo Olutayo: Symptom of a greater disease

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By Gbenga Osinaike

​Since Bishop Dayo Olutayo became a scandal in the digital space following his announcement of a new wife and the abrupt end to his 33-year union with his first wife, I have been numb. I am still at a loss as to why a Bishop who has supposedly led many to Christ would dismiss his over three-decade marriage so casually.

​He already gave us a hint regarding the “theology” behind his misstep (pardon my judgmental posture) by invoking God’s name to justify his actions and also saying he never got married. He didn’t give details of what transpired in his first marriage but only said his life was threatened. Some have argued that since nobody knows what he faced during those 33 years, we should not judge him.

​Really? But what manner of shepherd would hide the reality of a marriage he wants us to believe was “hell” if he truly loved his flock? Is it not in his best interest to reveal the bitter contents of the pot before adding a new batch of seasoning?

​Without probing further, and based on information from those who know him, his appeal to God seems like an escapist route. People who want to insulate themselves from public opprobrium will always bring God into their defense. It is often difficult to measure the volume of lies told to the face of the Almighty.

​And yet, the unseen Listener to every conversation remains silent. He does not act simply because His name is being conscripted into an immoral plot; rather, He keeps us waiting for the final denouement of this drama.

Disbelief

​Thus, Olutayo leaves us in a state of stunned disbelief. His “celebrity” appearance that fateful Sunday, December 14, 2025, spoke volumes; there he stood on the altar, announcing his new wife with gusto while tenaciously clutching an Irukere—the fly-whisk of Yoruba royalty.

​First, the fly-whisk he was wielding tenaciously symbolizes authority, royalty, and prestige. But he was not being royal. Rather, he was releasing a fart in the face of his church members and asking them not to squirm.

​The audience in the video was sparse compared to how he started the church from its Glad Tidings days before its transition to Unity Worship Centre. It was clear something had gone wrong.

A respondent Esther Foster-Egele.wrote angrily on the thread of the video shared on Facebook. Referring to Olutayo,.she wrote, “He’s the cheat. From Maiduguri he was sleeping with married women. Aunty Bolu is too clean. Why lie against her. Dayo is on drugs. He has many children outside and God will judge him speedily’

Nothing new

​Indeed from many witnesses things have been wrong ever since. A Yoruba adage says, “Amukun eru e wo, oke l’e nwo, e o wo isale.” Meaning: a man with a crooked physical gait is being told that the load on his head is slanting. A bystander replies, “You are looking at the top, you are not looking at the bottom.” No matter how you try to straighten the load, it will remain slanted.

​There is a foundational problem here. It is not a matter that can glide through a treadmill. Certainly not.

​Bishop Olutayo will not be the first and won’t be the last with such weird moral escapades. Those who have followed the story of the Church in Nigeria cannot be taken aback. The history of Pentecostalism in particular has been fraught with pastors who succumbed to the allure of the flesh.

​Let me go back to our sordid past. Not many will know this story. But those who were around in the ’70s will have an idea. I won’t mention names; I will only give a hint.

​It is the story of a preacher who lived around the Mushin area of Lagos. He was a great evangelist. Apart from being a great evangelist, he was wealthy and he sponsored crusades around Nigeria. He raised many disciples and equipped them with instruments to preach the gospel. But the flesh soon took him by the jugular.

​In no time, he began acquiring women. His end was not too pleasant. He probably reconciled with God before his passing, but the damage to his ministry was eternal. The ministry simply went into oblivion.

​There is also another well-known preacher who was the founder of one of the foremost Bible colleges in Nigeria. That Bible college is in Ota, Ogun State. The man was also trapped by women. His situation became so bad that whenever foreign missionaries who were backing the seminary with resources came, he would hide the women from their prying eyes. But God could not be mocked.

​Many tried to talk him out of his immoral lifestyle, but he remained adamant. Today, the Bible college is operating on the fringe.

Prophecy fulfilled?

​I don’t want to talk about the scandals of the last 20 years. They are too many, and it does not make sense talking about them. Our prayers and concern should be how to reduce the trend.

We should perish the illusion that there will come a time when we won’t have sexual predators in the church. Again, when it comes to immorality, it will always be there. The Corinthian church is a classic case. Man will always behave to type. Until Christ comes back, the church will be grappling with people who cannot control their sexual appetite.

​The cases I mentioned were just to tell us that the church is not immune to the moral crisis. But we can mitigate it and begin to call ourselves to order. What is happening only confirms to us what the Bible already talked about. In the Last Days, men will be lovers of themselves. What has played out in the life of Olutayo is lust, an extreme consequence of selfishness.

​Unfortunately, his first wife has remained silent. Her silence is understandable given her pedigree. According to sources, she taught Olutayo in Bible school. She had been in the Lord long before the man, and she comes from a strong Christian home. Her father, who is in his 90s, is an academic and a well-known preacher of the gospel in Kwara State.

​Perhaps she will summon the courage to talk one day. But her silence for now is loud and pregnant. It remains for all to begin imagining her travels in the last 33 years. Many have wondered why she kept the secret life of her estranged husband to herself. I think the answer to that question is neither here nor there. Would it have made sense for her to go on the rooftop to shout about her former husband’s sexual escapades? It would not.

​But the question a number of people have asked in my hearing is: Who ordained Olutayo? Is that also a valid question? The answer to that is neither here nor there. But to answer that question, the man who ordained him is right in our face: Bishop David Oyedepo. It is argued that the question about who ordained him is inconsequential.

​Some people are quick to point out that Judas was one of the twelve that Jesus ordained. Do we then blame Jesus? And besides, Judas had to be a reality for a specific prophecy to be fulfilled. So the question is: which specific prophecy is Olutayo fulfilling by his immoral lifestyle? While the issue about his ordination should be brought to the fore and examined, there is more to the matter than meets the eye.

Foundational issue

​The question is: what manner of foundation did he build his faith on? Or perhaps he is just an example of what Jesus said about wolves in sheep’s clothing.

​Why then should we worry if he is fulfilling the Bible? We should be worried because of the unsuspecting flock. We should be worried because of the large-scale effect of his actions on the people he is leading. We should be worried because his actions are a tragic signpost for the Church. And then, we should be worried because of his audacity.

​He was literally spewing in the faces of his church members. “If you are happy , clap. If you are not happy, clap.” That was too audacious. And he was eager to invoke God into the matter.

​But those who claimed to have known him for years were not moved by his appeal to God. The testimonies about him in the digital space are too grim. The issue is not even about his latest action. It is about his past escapades that people have had to cope with, and now they are coming out. Should the new wife be pitied? It seems she is used to the game.

The point is those who claimed to have worked closely with Olutayo have a damning verdict about him. ​Should those people be trusted? His lattest action has just validated his alleged previous escapades. There are insinuations that he knows too much even from when he was in his previous church, Winners Chapel.

​Described as an orator, Olutayo’s case defies discernment. He was too “good” to be labeled as a man with a devious character. A man who worked with him in the Raji Oba office of Winners Chapel in Lagos said he was always minding his business and enjoyed the love of people. He was also said to be generous. But even at that time, strange stories were flying around about him.

​He has continued to cover his tracks over the years and nobody paid attention to him. Today, he has by himself let the cat out of the bag, and the attention of the world is now on him.

How not to ordain pastors

​This is a cancer that should not be tolerated. It is a lesson on how not to ordain people. And this is not to place blame on the man who ordained him. Rather, it is a reminder that the Nigerian church has become far too lax in conferring spiritual titles.

Nowhere does the Bible state that one must be a “pastor” to enter heaven. Why, then, would anyone insist on mounting the pulpit while surrounded by such personal filth? Why would they not take a back seat and work on themselves with the help of the Holy Spirit?

​Paul was explicit in his instructions for those who aspire to be Bishops. Why do churches in Nigeria behave as if those scriptures are irrelevant? With due diligence, the frequency of individuals with questionable character occupying the pulpit would drastically reduce. We would see fewer embarrassing cases of people who cannot control their libidos lording it over a congregation. It is time for the Church to wake up.

​This obsession with an “expansionist drive” will only lead the Church into a cul-de-sac. We cannot afford to be smarter than God, the owner of the work. Even Jesus, during His earthly ministry, was discreet in His pursuit of crowds. We were instructed to go into the world to make disciples, not to build monuments where all kinds of queer people gather.

​The primary challenge of the contemporary church is the desperate desire for numerical growth. This is the reason people are ordained in a hurry—to meet the demands of that drive. Olutayo is merely a symptom of a greater disease plaguing the church. It is never too late for the leaders of the ecclesiastical order to do the right thing and purge the church of the “leaven of the Pharisees.”