Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde at 65

Ebenezer Babatope

Dr. Sunday Ola Makinde, leader,
Methodist Church of NigeriaOn Wednesday 10, September, 2008 the Leader of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde will celebrate his 65th sojourn on earth. He really needs to be celebrated. Why do we refer to him as the Leader and Chief Servant of the Methodist Church of Nigeria? Recently, at a public function in the just concluded Conference of the Methodist Church of Nigeria at Ilesa, His Eminence, Prelate Makinde, told a large audience that Christ is the head of the Church. He said it was therefore a misnomer for anyone to refer to him as the Head of the Methodist Church of Nigeria.

It was his desire that he be referred to as the Leader and Chief Servant of God in the Methodist vineyard in Nigeria. Many of my readers may also wonder why I have chosen to write on a man of God inside a space that is dedicated to the discussion of men, matters and events of Nigerian politics particularly as they relate to the life and times of the leader of leaders, the late Papa Obafemi Awolowo. Yes, Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde is not a politician like me perambulating and gallivanting round the streets of Nigeria seeking votes of people. He (Makinde) is however a bold and courageous man of God in Nigeria who uses the bible and religion to speak the truth to Nigerians. He bares his mind to Nigerians on all issues in a manner that can not make anyone brand him partisan and parochial.

The Roman Catholic priests used to be the principal actors in the realm of persons using the pulpit and religion to warn political actors of their ways that simply bother on dictatorship and tyranny. The South or Latin American States are political safe havens today because of the laudable activities of the Roman Catholic priests who never spared Latin American dictators who had decimated the lives of their people by the ruthless and Godless regimes they had established in their societies. Political literature on the Latin American dictators in Nicaragua, Bolivia, the Dominican Republic etc shows clearly how Roman Catholic priests had boldly assisted the people to liberate themselves from the tyranny of their political leaders. As I write this, anytime I read the books “SOMOZA”, “PRISONER WITHOUT A NAME, CELL WITHOUT A NUMBER”! TRUJILLO ­THE DEATH OF THE GOAT written long ago by a famous journalist, Bernard Diederick, I simply praise to the high heavens the positive roles the Roman Catholic priests had played in liberating those Latin American societies of Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Nicaragua from the tyrannies of their rulers.

If you also read the book on Latin American political dictators written by Ronald Sider and Richard Taylor titled “NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST AND CHRISTIAN HOPE”, you cannot but shower praises on these men of God who draw their religious inspiration from Rome. These two actors had chronicled in the book how Roman Catholic priests had used their Christian teachings to terminate the tyrannies of the following Latin American dictators:- Carlos Ibanez Del Campo of Chile (fell in 1931), Gerardo Machado of Cuba (overthrown in 1933), Jorge Ubico of Guatemala (fled his country in 1944), Elie Lescot of Haiti (removed in 1946), Arnulfo Arias of Panama (removed in 1951), Paul Magbore of Haiti (1956) and Gustar Rojas Pinilla of Colombia (sacked in 1957). Today, most of the Latin American countries have embraced DEMOCRACY.

Coming home to Nigeria, we cannot forget how the great Muslim scholar, the late Sheik Abubakar Gumi based in Kaduna, and Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie had helped Nigerians in terminating the crude military tyranny of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the mid 80s. Neither can we forget the very unique role played by people like Bishop Gbonigi of the Anglican Communion of Nigeria in the fight to terminate military rule headed by the late General Sani Abacha between 1994 and 1998. Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde belongs to that group of religious men who have always guided their fellow men in towing the paths of God that lead to JUSTICE and TRUTH. My fellow Ijesa, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of the Redeemed Church of God equally falls into this category. I salute them all.

His Eminence, Dr. Makinde, assumed the leadership of the Methodist Church of Nigeria after the very glorious tenure of Dr. Sunday Mbang. Prelate Sunday Mbang, before he retired, not only had the opportunity to lead the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) for many years, but he was also made, in his time, the Chairman of the World Methodist Conference. I still remember the sermon Sunday Mbang preached at Uyo, Akwa Ibom State two years ago at his very last conference as leader of the Methodist Church of Nigeria. It was such a moving and religiously deep sermon that I still have in my library the notes of the sermon that I took that day. It is a matter for joy that Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde has continued with the laudable achievements of his predecessor in office. When Makinde assumed the leadership of the people called Methodists in Nigeria, the first thing he said was that his administration would be anchored on “EVANGELISM”. He has not departed an inch from the pledge.

There are certain reasons that dictate my romantic attachment to the career of this great religious leader. The first is the fact that he (Makinde) belongs to my generation. We were both born the same year (1943) and I am exceedingly happy that someone of my generation has succeeded in effecting a radical change in the religious leadership of one of the established orthodox churches in Nigeria. Secondly, Prelate Sunday Makinde comes from a well known Christian family in Ibadan, Oyo State of Nigeria. His brother, the Very Reverend Makinde retired about five years ago as the Presbyter of the Wesley Circuit, Ikoyi, Lagos (where I worship) and his sister is today the wife of Bishop Ayobami Olawuyi, the Bishop of Lagos West Diocese of the Methodist Church of Nigeria. Prelate Makinde’s senior brother, the Very Reverend Makinde is very close to my family.

Thirdly, my father, the Very Reverend Daniel Babatope had served for near seven years as the Presbyter of the Elekuro Methodist Circuit, Ibadan where Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde comes from. Infact, Elekuro Methodist Circuit, Ibadan was my late father’s last posting before he retired in 1976 to his hometown, Ilesa, Osun State where he eventually died on April 11, 1984. I cannot forget the Elekuro Ibadan Methodists for what they did in rallying round my father for the seven years he had stayed there and had tolerated a man who was constantly under the pains of having lost his 53-year-old darling wife at Osogbo, Osun State on 9, February 1969. Prelate Makinde once told me the story of my father’s last sermon at Elekuro Methodist Church on a Sunday in December 1976 where my father, while thanking the Elekuro Methodists for their love and friendship to him during his stay, had pleaded with them to ensure that they were present at his funeral whenever the news of his death was reported to them.

Indeed, the Elekuro Methodists were there in large numbers when the body of my late father was lowered to the grave at IIesa on 25, May 1984. I was then in Buhari’s prison in Jos, unable to give my father a loving farewell. Lastly, Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde and I had benefited from the free education programme of the late Papa Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group government in old Western Region of Nigeria in the 50s. Prelate Makinde openly admitted this while preaching a sermon a little over a year ago at a remembrance service for Papa Obafemi Awolowo at Ikenne, Ogun State. His Eminence, Prelate Sunday Makinde remains, today, an authority on the life and times of the Avatar, Papa Obafemi Awolowo. Papa Obafemi Awolowo, though an Anglican member by birth, had attended Wesley College, Ibadan in the formative stages of his life. He remained a member of the Methodist Church Agbeni, Ibadan during his Premiership years and equally retained his membership of the Anglican Communion in his home town, Ikenne until he breathed his last.

Papa Obafemi Awolowo never discriminated against any religion. His immediate junior sister, the late Alhaja Hanatu Awofeso converted to the Muslim faith after marrying a Muslim and the old woman died a fervent Muslim without any protest whatsoever from his Christian brother, Awo. Papa Obafemi Awolowo was the first political leader in Nigeria to establish the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board to cater for the interests of Muslims in their observance of the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde has more on Papa Obafemi Awolowo in his archival collections. Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde is 65. On Wednesday 10, September, 2008, a large assembly of the people called Methodists will gather in Lagos to give praise to God on the birthday of a man who has established a great name for himself in the religious life of the country. I can see my friend, Remi Omotoso, the Lay President of the Methodist Church of Nigeria leading other Methodists in the ceremony saying it loud ‘WORTHY IS THE NAME - HALLELUYAH”. Happy birthday His Eminence, Prelate Sunday Ola Makinde! May God continue to bless you in your endeavours to ensure the continued relevance of the Church in Nigeria to the moral, and spiritual rearmament that this our great country Nigeria requires now.
Hallelluyah.!

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