A Sacked Pastor’s New Beginning   

In the language of Esan, Edo State, from where Pastor Ituah Ighodalo’s father migrated to Ibadan, Oyo State, to marry a Yoruba woman from Ifewara in Osun State, names have meanings. In his ancestral land, Ituah means, “I am not in a hurry,” while Ighodalo connotes, “I am looking forward.” The two perfectly describe the drama surrounding the life of the dashing accountant and former pastor of Christ’s Church, a parish under the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, in the past 12 years or so.

Pastor Itua Ighodalo

Talking about patience, Ighodalo got married a second time, 10 solid years after he separated from his wife, Lucy-Ann Summer, now married to another man. In fact, he asked the woman to follow him down to Nigeria after they were joined together in the United States. But she refused. Since the man of God found it better to “marry than to burn” (with lust), he decided to to “look forward” by marrying former Miss Lux, Ibidunni Ajayi, in February 2007.

Three years after, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of RCCG wrote a letter to Ighodalo, directing him to immediately hand over to another pastor who was to carry on the administration of his parish. The church sticks strictly to what the Bible says in 1 Timothy 3:2, that a bishop must be a man of one wife. When Ighodalo broke the news to members of his congregation, during a Sunday service, not a few broke down in tears.

Ighodalo’s exit, thereafter, generated mixed reactions from many pastors. A national daily quoted Pastor Tolorunlogo Ayodele of RCCG, Lagos Province 25: “Ighodalo is not the only one who disgracefully left the RCCG to establish his own church. Many people have done that before now. Not only in Redeemed Christian Church of God, but in many other churches. For me, if he has repented and decided to establish his own church, he should go ahead. Everything is in the hands of God.” Ayodele said that Christians are running a heavenly race and Ighodalo has a right to do whatever he wishes as far as it is in accordance with God’s word, he added that personally, “I believe we have handed him over to God to judge.”

But Pastor Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, in a sermon titled ‘Mammon and Their Counterfeit Astonishing Power’, recently condemned Ighodalo’s sack. His words: “As a young Christian, a man married a total stranger and when it was time for him to come home, his wife refused to follow him. The man came down, gathered people to intercede for him for 10 years while gathering the flock for his God and after 10 years, he decided to re-marry and all of a sudden, the church said they found it somewhere in the Bible that he cannot re-marry, whereas those with three wives are given front seats in the church.”

All these notwithstanding, Ighodalo was not in a hurry to leave. Rather, he remained within the RCCG fold after his removal as pastor. Although he did not answer to the title of pastor, he was always part of the activities of the church in the last one year. In fact, he still operated his foundation for widows,  Timeless magazine radio ministration.

These went on till 18 July 2010, when he “looked forward” by inaugurating his own church, Trinity House, at the luxurious Civic Centre on Victoria Island, Lagos. That day, prominent men of God were there: Pastors Wale Adefarasin, Femi Paul, Femi Osibajo, Tony Rapu, Rev. Toyin Ajayi and the newly re-married Pastor Taiwo Odukoya. Pastor Gbenga Fagbemi dedicated Ighodalo and his wife, Ibidun, along with the seven pastors of the church to God.

Ighodalo, at the occasion, disclosed that former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and wife, Remi, stood by him during his moment of crisis. However, he said he had the support of Adeboye. “I thank my G.O, Pastor Adeboye, who said to me, ‘Ituah, in spite of everything, I still believe in you,’” he said. The church held its thanksgiving service on Sunday 1 August 2010, at the same venue.

In his sermon, Ighodalo told the congregation that he had a dream that one day the RCCG “will hold hands with the Methodist Church, with Oyedepo’s Church, with Oyhakilome’s Church, with the Baptist Church and with Trinity House and will be ready to evangelise, instead of building walls of denomination and building empires”.

Ighodalo then danced before his wife who was shedding tears, hugged her and cleaned her face. As if he was telling his own story, Ighodalo read the Book of Genesis, chapters 39 and 40, where the bible narrates the story of Joseph who was betrayed and sent into slavery by his brothers only to emerge Prime Minister in Egypt some years after.

“Joseph had dreams to be in the palace but he found himself in the prison and everything seemed to have shut down. Joseph was in the prison of life and quite a number of us are in the same prison. But I am here to tell you that you will get out of prison and end up in the palace and bring back those who betrayed you,” Ighodalo said.

Pastor  Ighodalo opened up to Assistant Editor, Kemi Akinyemi on his new church and claims that he harbours no animosity against the elders of RCCG who are believed to have nudged Pastor Adeboye to sack him.

—Kemi Akinyemi/Simon Ateba

Tags:  Edo State, Esan, General Overseer of RCCG, Ibidunni Ajayi, Miss Lux, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, RCCG, Redeemed Christian Church of God