Pastor Ayodele Joseph Dakobiri is perhaps one of the few leaders of the Christ Apostolic Church who is well-versed in the church’s history. Though he was quite young when many of the church founders passed on, he had the privilege of relating with them at a close level.
Dakobiri clocks 75 on July 20. He told journalists during a Zoom session recently that he had the grace of being prayed for by all the founding fathers of the CAC. He however disclosed that sharing initials with Babalola is not deliberate. “I was named Ayodele at birth. But when I was being baptised, I took on the name Joseph because I learnt about Joseph in the Sunday School” he said.
But his intimacy with CAC started when he joined the church’s choir in Lagos at age 5. He later rose to become Assistant Secretary of the Choir of CAC as a whole and then was ordained as pastor against his wish.
Elder @ 40
He said he was first ordained elder in the church when he turned 40. “I did everything not to be made elder. I was asked if I would abide by what the church tells me to do when made an elder. I said I wouldn’t if the order was not in line with the Word of God. I thought that would dissuade them. But they still went ahead and made me elder.
“My becoming a pastor was something I did not ask for either. I was a little bit rascally so that it wouldn’t occur to the church to make me a pastor. But that did not stop the church’s authority. I was invited to Ibadan with 12 others and we were ordained pastors. We were not told we would be ordained when we got the invitation.”
Dakobiri is however non-stipendiary pastor. Even at that, he has not stopped contributing his quota to the church. He is on the board of the CAC seminary at Idimu, Lagos. He has also been instrumental to the construction of some infrastructure in the Church.
Career
Dakobiri had studied Cooperative Business Management at an institution in India and had worked at the Lagos State Civil Service before he retired in 2005. His knowledge of Cooperative Society came in handy in the CAC
As Chairman of the church’s Ministers Welfare Scheme, Pastor Dakobiri initiated the home ownership scheme for pastors at Ikeji Arakeji, Osun State campsite of the church. The idea of the scheme for pastors was birthed when a pastor died shortly after his retirement.
He recounts, “The retired pastor had invited me to his house and showed me the letter of his retirement from the church. I congratulated him. But he was confused. He didn’t know where to go and what to do next. By then, he had no place to go. He had no personal house to retire to. Unfortunately, he died the following day after our conversation. That incident inspired the idea of the welfare scheme for pastors. Right now, we were able to acquire some plots of land for pastors and also help some.”
Evolution of MFM
Pastor Dakobiri’s early association with the church also placed him in a vantage position to know the story of the CAC and that of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministry which he said came out of the CAC.
He said for instance that the MFM was not originally the idea of Dr Daniel Olukoya. The ministry according to him started as a fallout of a move of God in the Choir of CAC Ebute Elefun which was the first assembly of the CAC.
Dakobiri recalled that God used Apostle Alfred Williams who is the founder of Christ Faith Tabernacle to ignite a revival in the church.
“Apostle Williams had approached me and said God asked him to come and hold revival meetings in the church. I asked him to see the pastor. He was given the opportunity and began a gathering where people came together to pray.
“Not long after, the programme which choir members mostly attended gathered momentum and ignited a fresh fire in the church. There were several manifestations of the power of God whenever we met. People came up to confess their sins and how the devil had used them. Some said they were witches and confessed the havoc they had committed.”
That development did not go down well with the church leadership. The group was banned from the church. Apostle Williams was excommunicated and was accused of calling some people witches.
CAC got it wrong
Dakobiri denied the allegation. He said, “it was people who came for the revival meetings who had divine encounters and confessed their witchcraft practices. Apostle Williams never called anybody a witch. But he was excommunicated from the church. The church also put a stop to the meeting of the group on its premises. I remember how Apostle Williams wept when he was asked to leave the church.”
Before then, Dakobiri said there had been a prophecy during one of the meetings of the group that God was going to scatter them. And that was what happened. They moved out of the church premises.
“It was after they moved out of the church that Pastor Olukoya came into the picture. He was working at the Medical Research Institute, Yaba, and was a member of the choir of another branch of the CAC. He had a big sitting room. So, the group decided to use his sitting room for our meetings. I did not go with them when the decision was made. But I had led the group for a while before it moved to the sitting room of Pastor Olukoya.”
By then, Apostle Williams who started the group had returned to the UK.
The name MFM
Dakobiri said the name Mountain of Fire was a consequence of the manifestation of the holy spirit in their midst. There was a brother among us who used to sing, “Let the fire of God come down”. Each time he sang the song, people were slain by the power of the holy spirit and all sorts of manifestations occurred. People started calling the gathering Mountain of Fire.
When Pastor Olukoya came into the picture, he registered the name and continued to lead the group in the absence of Apostle Williams. By the time Williams came back, the group had been in the control of Pastor Olukoya.”
Pastor Dakobiri said the group eventually became an independent ministry adding however that God did not allow him to be part of it.
Apostle Ayodele Babalola
Beyond the exodus of the group from CAC, Dakobiri confirmed that Apostle Ayodele Babalola too did not start the CAC. He said the group which was first named Faith Tabernacle had been in existence before Babalola came into the picture.
Dakobiri said he got to know a lot about the church through his father who was one of the foundation members of the church.
According to him, it was a misunderstanding among the leaders of the Faith Tabernacle which later became The Apostolic Church that led to the creation of the CAC.
He said, “What happened was that Pastor David Odubanjo was the first to get in touch with some missionaries abroad who were sending tracts to him. He was interested in the tracts and found them quite inspiring. The people sending tracts and journals were of the Faith Tabernacle in the US. He later joined Our Saviours (Anglican) Church Ijebu Ode where the Precious Stone group was already in place. It was a prayer and evangelical group. He introduced the journals of Faith Tabernacle to the group
“They were praying and reading tracts sent by the Faith Tabernacle from the US. The Anglican Church excommunicated them because of that.”
At a point in the life of the group, they decided to invite some missionaries from The Apostolic Church from the UK to come to their aid. Pastor Sam Adegboyega who was one of the founding fathers objected to the idea. But many of the founding leaders then wanted the missionaries to come. There was a twist. They discovered that the white people were using medicine. This did not tally with their belief in divine healing. Because of that, they asked the white missionaries who came from The Apostolic Church to go.
CAC was born
“It was Pastor Sam Adegboyega who insisted the white people should stay since they had already been invited. Those who disagreed with him left to start CAC while he remained with The Apostolic Church. Many of the property that belonged to the founders were retained by the Apostolic Church since it was the dissenting members who offered to leave the church.”
Dakobiri said there was a court case on the church that came first and the court made a declaration that it was the CAC because the members of the CAC were the ones who pulled out of The Apostolic Church when they disagreed with the white people.
“But in reality, the name CAC was not in place at that time. It was when they pulled out of The Apostolic Church that the CAC came into being. That is why the first known gathering of the CAC is the Lagos Assembly at Ebute Elefun. They lost their property to the Apostolic Church in other parts of the South West.
Dakobiri said there was no CAC when the famous revival at Ilesha broke out. They were still gathering under the name: the Apostolic Church. Babalola was led to the meeting by Pastor Odubanjo. Apostle Babalola was outside when the fathers were holding a meeting and the miracle that birthed the revival took place.”
Babalola and Idolisation
Dakobiri kicked against the idolisation of Babalola by some members of the church especially the idea of using his pictures everywhere.
“The Bible talked about the God of Abraham, Isaac Jacob. Because of that people say, God of Babalola. I even hear members of MFM also say God of Olukoya. And we hear God of this, God of that. I think it is the mentality of the people. They are looking for the easy way.
“We don’t use the picture of Babalola and even that of Odubanjo in our church at the CAC Ebute Elefun. I also see people go to pray at the river at Arakeji and also at the graveyard of Babalola. We had to cry out to stop people from doing this.”
He reasoned that “there is so much pollution in the CAC because the church does not have much control over the churches under it. People just go to start churches and name them CAC. That is why it is difficult for the church to control what goes on in those assemblies. We do not idolise any person in CAC.”
Family
Dakobiri stated that at 75 God has blessed him with a good home. “I must confess that my children and wife, Olufunmilayo have been a blessing to me. I think church leaders should make their families a priority so they can live long. The family is key. Unfortunately, many pastors are too consumed in the work of evangelism that they neglect their homes. This should by all means be discouraged. Some fathers of faith made that mistake. They were too obsessed with the work of the ministry to the detriment of their homes. By God’s grace, we are trying to change that narrative.
By Gbenga Osinaike
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