Current Leaders

Pastor Emmanuel O. Odejobi (General Superintendent, Christ Apostolic Church)

Profiles of current leaders continue with that of the General Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide,

The Shakespearean dictum which says” “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them” is a statement true to the life of the General Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church (Worldwide), Pastor Emmanuel Olatoro Odejobi;  a man with a humble background but with determination to succeed in life through the dint of hard work.

Three things which seem to have shaped the life of this God’s general who was appointed as the 12^th General Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church (Worldwide) are grace of God, hard work, and determination. These three elements featured prominently in the story of his ascendancy to the top ladder of his chosen career.

Born on the 31^st day of July 1952 to Pa Abraham Odejobi by Madam Maria Omitunde Odejobi in Sooko Compound, Ipetumodu, Ife North Local Government, Osun State of Nigeria. Olatoro is indeed moulded in the workshop of God’s grace.  The first manifestation of the grace of God in his life happened with his birth by parents who already knew Christ before he was born. Pa Abraham Odejobi was a farmer and a hunter, just as the name Odejobi reflects (the name means ‘Born into a community of hunters’).  It was due to the special grace of God in his life that his father did not toe the line of hunters of those days who were known to be worshippers of Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and warfare.  Pa Abraham Odejobi was a Christian of Christ Apostolic Church stock. His mother, Madam Maria Omitunde Odejobi, even though she had a background of the worship of Osun river goddess, had also been converted to Christianity.  In fact, she was also a Christian of the Apostolic Church stock. She was a deaconess.

Pastor Emmanuel Olatoro Odejobi began his Primary education in January 1960 at Christ Church (Anglican) School I, Ipetumodu. In 1964, he accompanied his brother, (then a teacher, later Reverend, now late) Francis Adunola Odejobi, a.k.a. Baba Scout, to continue his education at St. John’s Primary School, Omidi Onipetesi near Ile-Ife.  Upon a successful completion of his primary education, he sat for the entrance examination, passed and got admitted to CAC Commercial Modern School in 1965. However, paucity of funds temporarily truncated his ambition for further education.  He had to skip the next academic year by following his father to the farm and occasional hunting.  In 1967, he joined Binuyo Electrical Works as an electrical technician apprentice and successfully completed his training in 1970.   He thereafter joined social musical ensembles. He was a founding member of a local orchestra group known as Oredegbe Social Band in Ipetumodu, captained by Mr. Morohunkeji Olowolawi.  He later joined Guinea Ade at Ile-Ife, who later became Yemi Kuti in Lagos.

The hard work element came to the fore in everything he showed his interest. He doesn’t believe in half measure. He would immerse himself in a cause and reach perfection in it. This element has effect in his moulding and contributed to his ability to continue his education after several years of being in limbo academically. As a football enthusiast, he loves goalkeeping and has honed his goalkeeping skills to a very good level. This gift was to earn him a scholarship to secondary education which impecuniosities of his parents hindered.  One day he accompanied Demola Ojo, one of his friends, to his school. It so happened that the school had football training session but the training Team B had no goalkeeper. In fulfilment of the biblical principle that, ”The gift of a man makes way for him” (Prov. 18:16), the young Toro Odejobi then came to their rescue, he offered to keep the goal post for the team B and made some daring saves.  His goalkeeping dexterity and his mastery of the nuances of the sport drew the attention of the school’s Games Master and the Head teacher to Toro Odejobi and eventually earned him a scholarship into the Secondary Modern School where he was admitted into Class two even though half of the year’s school session was gone. He later transferred to Anglican Commercial Modern School, Yekere, Ile-Ife, where he completed his Modern School education in 1973.  He continued his education afterwards and got admission to Government Technical College, Owo in Ondo State in1974 to study Electrical Installation. He completed his course of study and graduated with City and Guild of London Certificate Course C in Electrical Engineering. Toro Odejobi began his working life when he joined his Cousin, Pastor Taye Odesola in Lagos, Odejobi, with his knowledge of electrical installation, got a job at Western Textile Mill Limited (Westex) as an Operator of a newly installed weaving machine. Upon completion of his Technical course, he worked with Five Stars Textile Mill, Isolo, Lagos as an Electrical Technician.

He resigned from Five Stars after a divine conviction in a trance, to go into full time ministry work in 1979.  His encounter with the power of Jesus came in a dramatic way.  He was among the 10 most brilliant students in his secondary school days and their teacher, willing to help them in their final examination told them to go and raise money with which he would help them pass the examination. Toro took this request to his cousin, Pastor Taye Odesola in Lagos. But his cousin advised him to seek the help of Jesus Christ by fasting and praying and by reading his books very well.  When he returned home, he told some of his friends but only three of them took his advice.  Those who took the advice passed the examination very well, those who relied on their teacher didn’t do well. At another occasion, he was travelling and the commercial vehicle he boarded developed fault on the road. As he entered the bush to ease himself he saw a dirty tract with the title: “No Adjustment Later”. He took the dirty tract, dusted it and read it avidly.  He was never the same again since then as the message broke him down leaving with no option of other time to give his life to Jesus Christ. He has read so many life-changing books and tracts written by great men of God like Pastor W. F. Kumuyi’s “Others may, I cannot”.  While still in school, he was leading Christian fellowship. He was a leader of Christ Apostolic Church Students Association CACSA and the Light of the World Society. Pastor Odejobi was ordained a Pastor in Christ Apostolic Church (Worldwide) in 1988.  He has been mentored by some of the greatest men of God in CAC including Pastor Taye Odesola, Pastor John Oyebanji (rtd); Pastor M. A. Adeoye (Rtd); Pastor D.O.A. Oloye (Rtd CAC General Superintendent); Late Pastor E. A. Faniyan; Late Pastor E.H.L. Olusheye (Former CAC General Superintendent and President); Prophet S. K. Abiara (Rtd CAC General Evangelist); Pastor A.O. Akinosun (rtd. CAC General Superintendent and President) and Pastor S. O. Oladele (The President CAC Worldwide).   Pastor Odejobi still develops and he is using his musical hobby. It was even said by one of his admirers that were he not to be a minister of the Gospel, he probably would have ended up as an actor. He was a prolific Yoruba Gospel poet, he is still a composer and a great preacher and an evangelist with prophetic unction.

His determination to remain in CAC come rain come shine has contributed to his present elevation to the second highest ranked office in the Church. In the early 70’s when there was crisis at CAC Shiaba, Agege, Lagos, Odejobi was caught on the side of the “progressives”. When the Church was shut for a while, he led some like minds to establish CAC Oke Irapada at Oja Oba Abule-Egba in Lagos (The Church has become a DCC headquarters now).  After some time the evangelistic spirit in him would push him to move further to Ajuwon, in Ogun State where he established the CAC Transfiguration Church. The Church is also a DCC headquarters today.

In 2004, Odejobi was one of those the CAC authorities were considering for the position of General Evangelist before the Holy Spirit limited the choice to Prophet S. K. Abiara. He gladly served under Prophet Abiara and he succeeded the first Chairman of the church’s Evangelical Committee, Late Pastor Ayo Olabisi. as the Chairman of the Christ Apostolic Church Evangelical Committee.  Some of His Appointments In CAC Leadership are:

1)         Member, CAC Evangelical Committee;

2)         Member, CAC Ministers’ Wives Fellowship Advisory Committee;

3)         Vice Chairman, CAC Foreign Missions Board under the present indefatigable President, Pastor S.O. Oladele;

4)         Chairman, CAC Evangelical Committee under revered former General Evangelist, Prophet S.K. Abiara (Rtd);

5)         Member, CAC Ministers’ Welfare Scheme;

6)         Member, CAC Management Board.

He was appointed as the General Superintendent, Christ Apostolic Church (Worldwide) on October 15, 2020, an appointment that took effect from January 1, 2021.

Pastor Odejobi is happily married to Mrs Marian Folasade Odejobi (Nee Oladele) and the marriage is blessed with wonderful male and female Children and Grand Children.

Prophet Hezekiah O. Oladeji (General Evangelist, Christ Apostolic Church)

Profiles of current leaders cannot be complete withuot a mention of the General Evangelist of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide, Prophet Hezekiah Oladeji. He was born in Oloba Compound, Edun Abon, Osun State on 13 February 1967 to Pa David Oladeji, who is a Christian of the Baptist extraction, and Madam Elizabeth Oyeronke Oladeji. He attended Baptist Primary school, Edun-Abon. He was a brilliant pupil but sickness, which often assailed him and which eventually affected his legs, dulled his chances to read to a level he personally could have desired. As the sickness which almost crippled him continued to assail the young Hezekiah unabated, he lost his mother in 1982, in the quest to get a cure and since the sickness did not allow him to complete his secondary education, his father had to hand him over to Abela Oye, an auto mechanic in Osogbo as an apprentice for a four-year training, but he eventually spent six years.

The Osogbo vocational training was to change the course of his life as he joined the Christ Apostolic Church as a member in 1983 on the day he arrived in the town to commence his four-year apprenticeship as a mechanic. He accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour and began to devote his life to fasting and prayer. He received healing for his leg problem and did away with crutches. With this miracle, he told God he was going to serve Him in the Christ Apostolic Church forever.

His call into the ministry came soon after he became a truly born again Christian as he devoted himself to God through prayers, fasting, Bible reading and evangelism. Alone in the church one night, in 1985, he saw Jesus Christ and Apostle Babalola in what seems like a daylight vision. They told him: “We are sending you on a mission in Christ Apostolic Church. You must be obedient and must not copy anybody”.  

After completing apprenticeship for six years and having served as a journey-man for another two years, he decided to go solo. He tried establishing his own mechanic workshop but all to no avail. He was getting poorer. He had to combine mechanic work with doing menial jobs like carrying goods for people, doing menial jobs on farms as a labourer and just anything for survival. Worried on how to break the poverty shackles, Oladeji continued to seek God’s face in fasting and prayers. He enrolled at Babajide School of Prophets and Evangelist in 1992. Midway on the course, God told Prophet Babajide to single him out for graduation. Prophet Babajide told him, “God had taught you from heaven”. This was during the headship of Pastor Olaniyi. Prophet Babajide signed his certificate and asked him to go and commence his ministerial work but Oladeji did not heed the call. He hid the certificate in a box under his bed and began to continue seeking breakthrough from his mechanic work, yet the work did not prosper as he began to live from hand to mouth.

Struggle for Survival

In 1993, God told him to observe seven days fasting and prayers on the mountain at Efon Alaaye. On that mountain, God told him that he would give him (Oladeji) everything he wanted materially within two years. After the two years, he must stop secular work and start the mission God committed to him. He told God: “But I have been doing your work since 1986. I pray, I fast, I do personal evangelism. So, what else do you want?” God told him: “Drop your secular work for full-time work in the ministry at the end of the two years”.

He was highly expectant, but the promise seemed to take longer in getting fulfilled. As a result, Oladeji left Osun State in 1994 for the North where he hoped to make it big as a mechanic. He landed in Kontagora in Niger State. On the seventh day of his arrival in the town, God sent an angel to him. This angel appeared like a Hausa man and said: “You cannot make it in this town or in any other town in the north. Go back to your home state”. He knew instantly that God was reminding him of the mission he gave to him and which he had thought he was fulfilling by engaging in fasting and prayer as well as street evangelism.

On his return to his home state, God told him to go to Garage, Olode. In this town, according to Prophet Oladeji, “God opened the way for me”. Within a short time, he had acquired wealth. He bought trailers, trucks and commercial transport. He became a big transporter. His transport company operated with the name: “Jesus’ Power”. At that point, he was no longer enthusiastic in going into full-time ministry although he was doing evangelism and was establishing churches. but he remained stuck to his mechanic work. Once the churches were established, he handed them over to those who would run them. The first crusade he held in Port Harcourt resulted in the establishment of Canaan Land in the city.

Soon, God was to teach him an unforgettable lesson that His call is without repentance. Between 1995 and 1996, his vehicles began to be involved in accidents. Many of them were destroyed. One of his commercial buses had a fatal accident in which two people died. The news of the dead passengers saddened him. According to him, the accident happened around midday. He told the drivers to take the dead passengers to the hospital. The first hospital certified them dead. He was not pleased; he personally took them to another hospital where they were equally rejected as dead on arrival. At midnight, he was so sad that he began to pray and ask God to please return the dead passengers alive. God told him: “Disobedient child, are you ready to heed my call and leave secular work?” He promised God that if He could spare the lives of’ the two passengers, he would immediately heed his call. At about 2.00 pm the following day, God told Oladeji, ‘lay your hands on the dead bodies’, instantly, the dead passengers arose. They were shouting: “This pain is too much. This cold is biting”. They were later taken to the hospital, which had previously rejected them, they were treated and were completely revived.

He finally left the secular job between 1996 and 1997. He sold all the remaining vehicles. God told him to use the proceeds to establish a petrol filling station: Akinjure Filling Station. God specifically told him: “Don’t ever receive any proceeds from this venture neither must you take tithe nor offering from the proceeds of this venture”.

Mission to Erio

The mission of Prophet Oladeji to Erio began from his personal marital challenge. He had gotten married in 1994 but the marriage faced delay in getting fruits of the womb. As much as the couple tried, there was no conception for the wife. Every year, he had made it a habit to go to various mountains to fast and pray for the first 21 days of the year. When he finished 21 days at Ikeji-Arakeji, he would go to Efon Mountain. He was still in search of the fruit of the womb. One day, God asked him to go and meet Him on two mountains. He finished three hours of prayer on the first and moved to the second mountain which happened to be Ido Ajinare Mountain. After the prayer, God told Oladeji: “I heard your prayer, but haven’t answered you. Now, go and ask for Erio Mountain and when you get there, I will tell you what to do”. As he was ascending the mountain, he met an angel who delivered the message of God to him: “For you to know that I am the Lord, I will give you a car within 24 hours”. God fulfilled his promise. The wife later started bearing children.

Oladeji was in 21 days prayer and fasting in 2003 on Erio Mountain when God asked him to go round the mountain, which was then very bushy and was being inhabited by all kinds of animals and reptiles. God told him: “This place is not supposed to be bushy. Start a programme here to showcase my power”. That was how the Erio programme started in 2003. The first hall was built on the mountain. Prophet Oladeji practically carried on his head, the roofing sheets of the building from Garage Olode to Erio Mountain. The Erio Mountain programme has since become the event with which the prophet is renowned with astounding miracles and the manifestation of the power of God on the mountain.

Pastor Emmanuel E. Mapur (General Secretary, Christ Apostolic Church)

The office of the General Secretary forms a vital part of the profiles of current leaders of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide. Pastor Ezekiel Mapur was born on 12 December 1966 into the family of Mr and Mrs Ezekiel Mapur at Bot village, Bokkos, Plateau State. He attended Local Education Authority Primary School, Bot, Bokkos between 1974 and 1980; Christ Apostolic Church College (formerly Gospel Bible Training School), Kuba from 1981 to 1983; United Faith Tabernacle College, Jarawan-Kogi, Plateau State from 1983 to 1986; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria where he obtained Diploma in Christian Religious Education (2004-2005), Bachelor of Arts in Theology (2007-2008). He also attended Jos ECWA Theological Seminary where he obtained a Master of Arts in Education in 2013.

He was called to the ministry in 1988 and started working as a Teacher (Evangelist) at Christ Apostolic Church Wamat, Bokkos. He attended Christ Apostolic Church Theological Seminary, Enugu between 1988 and 1991. He was ordained a pastor in Christ Apostolic Church in 1993.

He worked as Hausa Translator at Christ Apostolic Church Sunday School Department between 1991 and 1999. He was then posted to Christ Apostolic Church General Secretariat as Special Assistant to General Secretary in 1999 and was there till 2003. He was posted to Jos as a pioneering Zonal Officer (Jos Zone) comprising Plateau, Gombe, Adamawa and Taraba States between 2003 and 2008; CAC Kuba as second Zonal Chairman and 1st DCC Chairman between 2008 and 2011; Jos DCC as DCC Chairman from 2011 to 2014. He was again posted to CAC General Secretariat in January 2014 as Acting General Secretary and was subsequently confirmed as a substantive General Secretary in October 2014.

He is married to Mrs. Fedelia Mapur and blessed with God-fearing children.

Pastor Johnson F. Omitinde (Finance Director, Christ Apostolic Church)

Profiles of current leaders is completed with the office of the Finance Director of Christ Apostolic Church Worldwide. Pastor Johnson Foluso Omitinde was born on 17 July 1951, at Ile-Ife, Osun State to the family of late Elder and Mrs Emmanuel Omitinde. He had his primary education at Saint Michael C & S Primary School, Ogbon-Agbara, Ile-Ife, Osun State. He went through the modern school education system at Christ Apostolic Church Commercial Modern School, Ipetumodu and secondary school education at Ada Commercial Grammar School, Ada Osun State.

In addition to that, he attended the College of Arts and Science, Cyprus for his higher education where he had his Higher National Diploma in Accountancy in 1981, University of Lancaster, Britain for his Postgraduate Diploma in Business Analysis in 1983 and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology where he bagged an MBA in Finance in 2010.

He attended the CAC Theological Seminary, Ibadan Campus where he had his Diploma in Theology and was ordained a Pastor in Christ Apostolic Church in 1995. After working with the old Oyo State School Board for eight years, he joined the Christ Apostolic Church as a Treasurer in January 1992. He was upgraded to the status of Finance Director, Christ Apostolic Church in January 2007, the position he still holds to date.