A member of the governing council of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Johnson Odesola has recounted how the wife of the General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Folu Adeboye embarked on some mission trips in northern Nigeria despite the challenging circumstances in that part of the country.
Odesola made the recall while speaking at the 75th birthday celebration of Mrs Adeboye on July 13.
He said when he was serving the mission in the North, Mummy G.O. as she is fondly called came on a mission visit to the region.
According to him, the RCCG in the north at that time was under one umbrella.
Odesola said, “ The event that made the most outstanding impact in my life was when I was in the north and the entire northern region was under one umbrella from across Jebba to Maiduguri.
“And mummy was visiting and I thought she was going to stay in Kaduna. At that time we had a vehicle that we used rope to tie the door and I was the driver.”
He recalled that Adeboye’s wife came with the wife of another pastor called Mummy Odeyemi.
He added “When Mummy G.O. came I told her we had arranged a programme for her. She said no, that she was going to touch all the parishes in the North.”
Odesola said he told her there were quite a number of places to cover perhaps to deter her.
But she insisted she was going to go with them.
Apart from the bad door of the pickup van, the tyres of the vehicle according to him were also ‘under management’.
Mummy G.O on Okada
That however did not stop the journey. “So we went through all the route and mummy did not take anything. She did not take water. When we got to Otukpor, we needed to cross to where the church was. And there was no vehicle except Okada that could go to the place. She said she must get there.
“At that point in time, it was taboo for us to carry a woman at the back of Okada. But she insisted she would go. We had to carry her with Okada {motorbike). Where she slept that night was like a kitchen.”
Odesola said the courage and dedication of Mrs Adeboye on that trip made so much impression on him and made him dedicate his own life to mission
He described the General Overseer’s wife as a book of many chapters noting that, “people only open to the chapter they want to read.”