Pastor Adeboye at 83: A man raised by God

…an ambitious ‘Tiger’ with a fierce drive to rule his world

 

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, often referred to as ‘Daddy GO’, general overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God is a man who did not have the privilege of wearing shoes for the first 18 years of his life.

It was not because he did not like wearing shoes nor because he had no legs, but because his parents could not afford to get him footwear.

But this did not deter him from desiring to succeed in life; for according to Vince Lombardi, “The difference between successful people and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

He was willing to make it great in life and did not allow his background to hold him on the ground.

Today, Daddy GO is one of the most influential church leaders in Africa, and the 30th Africa’s most talked about personality in 2024.

Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria’s former president described Pastor Adeboye as the most influential man in modern Africa.

”I want to thank Pastor Adeboye for helping me at that crucial time in my life when I was to make the right decision.

“No one in modern Africa has touched lives as much as Pastor Adeboye. I concluded that anyone who does not respect him does not respect God. After all, God uses men to carry out his work on earth. This man is a tremendous instrument in God’s hands.”

Speaking about how God changed his life, Pastor Adeboye shared his early life experience when his father had issues with his relations and they threatened to use him for breakfast.

“For 13 years of my life when there was a misunderstanding between my father and his relations; and they told him the following morning they would use me for breakfast, I ran.

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But after an encounter with God and fire fell on me, the firewood became fire, now I became a terror to them and not the other way round,” he explained.

He was born on Sunday, March 2, 1942, in the village of Ifewara, Osun State, Nigeria’s southwest region. His childhood nickname is ‘’The Tiger’’

His birth was significant because it was on a day when rain was falling and the sun was shining; there was no midwife around to assist the mother.

It was at a time when a certain king mounted the throne in Ilesha, Osun State.

Pastor Adeboye attended St. Stephen’s Anglican Primary School, Ifewara, and Ilesha Grammar School, Osun State for his primary and secondary education respectively.

After his secondary education, he attended two tertiary institutions for his first degree, first, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), but was forced to leave before graduating due to the Nigerian Civil War.

Consequently, he went to the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) where he earned his first degree in 1969.

He bagged first-class in his bachelor’s degree, and distinction in master’s degree.

He spent 27 years of his life studying Mathematics, and obtained a PhD in Additional Mathematics, specialising in Hydrodynamics. His PhD dissertation focused on Navier-Stoke Equation at the University of Lagos.

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When he was young, Adeboye wanted to become a professor and rise to vice-chancellorship at a young age.

Pastor Adeboye joined the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1973 and served as an interpreter before he was ordained a pastor in the church by Pa. Josiah Akindayomi in 1975.

He became the general overseer of the church in 1981, and for three years, he filled the role part-time at the University of Ilorin before giving up his university position to preach full-time.

He built the largest pentecostal denomination in the world, with global coverage. The church has over 500 parishes in the USA alone.

Daddy GO was launched into international prominence on December 18, 1998, when he hosted the very first Holy Ghost Congress (open-air meeting) in Lekki, Lagos, with an attendance of over seven million people as reported by CNN and the BBC.

Nigerians and the world at large will once again celebrate its icon of clergyman and scholar as he turns 83; even as the 83 days of praises and prayer hubs of the church are already buzzing with activities in honour of Daddy GO.