A woman of virtue, she is known for her diligence, integrity and leadership qualities. She has been described as an enigma, a message to her generation and the beauty of holiness.

The first born of Reverend and Mrs Akinwumi of Awe, she has been dedicated to the service of God from youth. Her escapades in the Lord’s vineyard stand her out. She was, at different times the WMS Director, President and Executive Director, Women’s Missionary Union of Nigeria (WMU). From 1990 to 1995, she was the Secretary – Treasurer of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). Her job in the Women’s Department of this organisation took her round the world, teaching, counselling and winning souls for Christ. The woman, whose leadership style within the Baptist Convention impacted greatly on many lives, Mrs Aduke Akinola gives an insight into her formative years:

Early years
Because my father was a teacher and pastor, he always took me to school so, I was already used to school before I started. I believe that helped me to be good in my studies. Right from an early age, we were taught to do housework; obedience, hardwork and trust in God were virtues imbibed in us by our parents. My mother was a strict disciplinarian and no child could be lazy with her; we were always working and there was no time for frivolities, while we girls were forbidden to follow boys. Father was very gentle and he cared so much about our education and welfare. Father always made sure he took care of our educational needs, while mother supported him. Both of them were very neat, while mother loved to sing and she taught us many choruses. In the family, we had our morning prayer by 6a.m. while the evening prayer was around 8p.m. I loved to sleep and was always beaten for dozing off while the evening prayer was going on. There was no television then, so children slept early; you did your homework before supper, or after, depending on when the food got ready; the prayer was some time after supper, and you slept.

Pranks
Mother made chinchin for sale and we helped her. She was a no nonsense woman and anytime she was not around, we quickly ate some of the chinchin. If we were caught, we were beaten, but that did not stop us from eating chichin. We were all involved in making the chinchin which was mostly bought by people doing wedding. I remember when my parents were in the seminary and my younger brother took meat from the pot. When mother discovered, she asked me who did it and I said I did not know. In her no nonsense nature, she made sure she beat me into confessing that my brother did.

Girls’ School
I started my education at the primary section of Baptist Girls’ School, Idi-Aba, Abeokuta, in 1942 and I remember there were some kind teachers and those who flogged us when we did not know the answers to questions, or when we made noise. The environment was very beautiful and I was an artist, I could draw very well so, the teachers always called on me to draw illustrations for them so that the pupils would understand what they were being taught. Indigenes and American missionaries taught us in the school and the teachers were very good.

After Standard Six, I did the mandatory one year preparation class (Prep Class), in 1948, before moving to the Teacher Training section of the school. There, we were taught that the preparation of notes of lesson was very important; the core subjects we were taught were Arithmetic, English, Geography and History and you specialised in one of them. It was either you did the two-year course for the Grade III Teacher’s Certificate, or the Advanced Teacher Training for the Grade II Certificate. They taught us to be proper ladies in the school – how to sit, talk, walk, be a good wife and woman, and so on; we were told that as ladies, it was not proper to sit and open your legs wide open.

You had to be polite
When we were at the teachers’ college, a man came to visit one of the ladies and he passed by the missionaries’ residence without greeting them; they called him and gave him a lesson in courtesy before dismissing him, telling him that he had to be polite at all times, more so, the girls were in their care.

Mission work
Later, the missionaries in the Baptist Camp, Ede, wanted me to help in mission work as the Young People’s Leader and that was how I joined them in 1954. That gave me the opportunity to travel all over the country. I went with elderly women who had been in the mission for long and I enjoyed it. Teaching people was very interesting, may be because my father was a teacher. We went about teaching them to read and write, to make the illiterate literate. Our goal was for them to be able to read the Bible and sing from the hymn book. I was the third young person to do that kind of work and the others before me were even older. The two young people before me served for one year, but I spent two years and went to all the regions of the country – East, West and North. Whenever people went to any part of the country and came back, they took ill, but by the grace of God, I made sure I did not fall sick like others, after returning to base, by cooking my own food and boiling the water I drank. The people we went to were very hospitable and they really encouraged us by making use of what we taught them. During my mission journeys as a single lady, there was a place I went to in the East and they put me in a dormitory with nurses. Men used to come there to visit the ladies and the men thought they could also extend their amorous advances to me; I did not accede to their requests but lectured them on the importance of having salvation through Christ and when the missionary in charge of the area heard, she took me to her house. Everywhere we went, I enjoyed their care. I resigned in 1956 to get married.

My husband
I met my husband, Olatunji Akinola, in Lagos when I went on holidays. At that time, I always told men off because Iwas taught at home and in school, at Idi-Aba, that I should not mess up with boys. However, he expressed his feelings through a trusted colleague where I was teaching at Idi-Aba, my alma mater. Because I could draw very well, other teachers in the school always asked me to draw the map for them.  I suppose I would have told my husband off if he had come to me directly but, you know how God works. We got married and have children and everything has been to the glory of God. After a while in marriage, I went to the London Institute of Education where I was loved by the lecturers and they thought I was a graduate because I did better than others. I later went for my B.A. Honours in English at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU).

The missing boat
On one of the journeys for the mission, we were coming from Buguma and the boat was supposed to be in Lagos by 7a.m. I already informed my husband and others and they were waiting to receive me at the Apapa Port. Along the line, however, the boat followed a light in the middle of the night when the captain thought it was Lagos. That was how the boat got missing, but we eventually found our way to Lagos. All the while, I was not afraid because I knew God was in control.

Challenges as a leader
During my mission work, I discovered that women have problem all over the world and where women were not appreciated, they were always happy to see us. The challenge there for me was the fact that I must live an exemplary life, I must be a good example unto the women we ministered to; I must read the Bible regularly and try to live what I preached. You cannot tell someone something is bad and you are found doing that thing. The teachings at home and the strict discipline in school, at Idi-Aba, greatly helped me in this regard.

Philosophy
Always be a positive model; do what you preach.