What brought me close to Oshoffa as a boy – Ademola Bolaji, Greater Tomorrow Group leader

RIFNOTE

Brother Ademola Bolaji,leader of Greater Tomorrow Group, clocked 50 recently. But that’s not the story. Weeks after his lavish two-week birthday celebration, what he said and did not say within the period have,like a burst pipe, continued to elicit reactions in virtual and real spaces.

While he has attracted knocks from his critics, a great number of his admirers have showered plaudits on him. In an interview with Sunday Telegraph, the peripatetic teacher provided answers to frequently questions about why his age and his knowledge of the Celestial Church and its founder, Rev. SBJ Oshoffa, don’t match. Bolaji narrated how the foundation about his rich knowledge of the church was laid through Bible quiz, offering him the rare privilege of meeting with the founder of the church as a little boy.

He said: “He told me so many things. I had encounters through the Bible quiz named after him- Oshoffa Cup. When he died, it became Oshoffa Memorial Cup. That was the Bible quiz that gave information about the church to us. Also growing up from the Sunday School. It was like a formative stage for us in the church. If you are not in that quiz, you may not know anything.That quiz taught us to be detailed in what we view, in our view in the church. It taught us to be detailed in our information with the church. Like, the day he had an accident and the number on the number plate. So, no matter what comes out as an information, I am interested in it.

“God gave me another grace to be in his last Christmas Convocation Service, where he derobed himself, taking away the surface of his regalia, and asked everybody to do the same. He said, you will remain this way until the person who God will appoint to sit on my seat will come, the one who will replace me.That was December 24, 1984. That was his last service.He even said, ‘I’m sure I will not be here next year.’You will believe things will remain as he has said it-that is the will of our Father.
Now, the elders, juggling things among themselves, began to say, ‘we cannot remain like this. Let’s continue with anointment. Let’s continue with this and that.’”