As at 1996, Professor Dapo Asaju, first Bishop Theologian of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion was General Overseer of a thriving evangelical church. But he abandoned this prestigious position to start a new line of calling as a priest in the Anglican Communion.
Prof Dapo Asaju
He gave a rundown of his trajectory in an interview with Advent Cable News network monitored by Church Times.
In the interview, Asaju gave an account of his romance with different churches and pastors from his days at the University of Ilorin.
He said Pastor Enoch Adeboye was then a pastor of a branch of Redeemed Christian Church of God and was the one who led the fellowship group he was attending while in the university. Then, he took Adeboye as a mentor.
He was also around in Ilorin when Bishop David Oyedepo began the Winners Chapel. He recalled how Oyedepo moved to Kaduna from Ilorin and how he came to Lagos.
Asaju said he was one of the first 40 people that began Winners Chapel in Lagos. He also shared how he gravitated towards Pastor Williams Kumuyi, founder of the Deeper Life Bible Church before he finally became General Overseer of an evangelical church in a rather dramatic circumstance.
Church Times can confirm that the church Asaju was referring to which he did not mention in the interview is the Evangelical Church of Yahweh founded by Prophet Theophilus Olabayo. In the 80s till the very late 90s, Olabayo was noted for his prophetic gifting.
But Asaju, then a lecturer at the Lagos State University said he was invited by the church to minister at one of its programmes. Primate Olabayo was so enthralled by the ministration and subsequently gave a word of prophecy that God said he should hand over the church to Asaju while he (Olabayo) would go round the world for evangelical outreaches. That same day, to Asaju’s chagrin he was anointed and made the overseerof the church.
Asaju was, however, reluctant about the sudden elevation. But to confirm God wanted him to work in the church, Prophet Olabayo became sick three months after. He was flown abroad for treatment thereby creating a vacuum in the leadership of the church.
Some members of the church who saw how Asaju was ordained by Olabayo then came to him and pleaded with him to come and lead the church since the founder had a health challenge.
Around that time Prof Asaju was undergoing his priesthood training at the Lagos Anglican Seminary. But because of the need at the evangelical Church of Yahweh, he suspended his training to join the church as its general overseer.
While in the church, he established 16 more branches and had a large workforce working with him, including four bishops. By 1996 he disclosed that he already had a television programme running.
But then, when Primate Olabayo became well,l he handed over the church back to him and decided to go back to the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.
The primate of the Anglican church, Archbishop Joseph Adetiloye now late was not carried away by his impressive CV as former general overseer of an evangelical church, rather, he asked him to start from the scratches.
Prof. Asaju was not deterred. He took the challenge, humbled himself and began from the scratches. He said that was the beginning of his priesthood journey in the Church of Nigeria.
He started as an ordinand, became a deacon, then an archdeacon and then was ordained the first Bishop Theologian by the then Primate, Peter Akinola.
Asaju who is the outgoing Vice-Chancellor of Ajayi Crowther University said his voyage in all the churches was to prepare him for the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion declaring that only God knows how the days ahead of him would turn out.
