Ever since the late Prophet Ireti Ajanaku died, the scandal-ridden church (Christ Revival Victory International) which is now run by his wife, Joy Ajanaku, has been in the news for several reasons.
Recently, self proclaimed messiah, Sat Guru Maharaj Ji claimed in an interview that the late pastor might still be alive if he had been more respectful towards him, while his wife was recently reported to have declared that her husband is still alive, albeit, inside her.
With such an interesting series of events and stories surrounding the Ajanaku ministry, it was only proper to pay a visit to the church for a Sunday service.
On February 9, 2014, I arrived midway into the service, whilst the sermon, ‘sexual curse’ was being preached. The presiding pastor of the 100+ congregation was the wife of the late founder.
The ambience was calm as the members all listened attentively, while some dozed off. Women seemed to be in charge of more than a chunk of church activities, as men workers were evidently outnumbered.
Initially, I thought it was probably the Sunday school bible study that was going on, considering the fact that a fifth of the available chairs were unoccupied. Upon inquiring from an elderly lady by my right, I was told it was the service proper.
I then wondered what the Pastor Joy meant when she told City People that her husband in his lifetime predicted that people will come surging to his ministry after his death. She told the magazine, ‘Even before this death rumour, I remembered he told the large congregation that he will cause commotion and the whole world will come to look for him.’
From the observed attendance rate, maybe the commotion hasn’t started, or rather, maybe the world hasn’t realised the man has died.
After the engaging sermon which had the scanty audience engrossed, different groups of people were called out to kneel down for brief prayer sessions, while the standby cameraman filmed proceedings.
Once the service climaxed and the crowd that wanted to see the pastor reduced, I located the head usher and intimated of him of my intention to conduct an interview with Mrs Joy, but I was denied the request. He said with a note of finality that ‘Mummy won’t be talking to journalists any more.’
Sensing a lost war, I decided against attempting to convince him to grant me access.
As I walked out of the church, I felt a hasty footstep behind me, which turned out to be a worker who craved anonymity. She had witnessed my conversation with the head usher and rushed after me to explain why they wouldn’t let me speak to ‘Madam’.
She said, ‘The reason why they won’t let you see her is because journalists keep misinterpreting her comments. Everybody keeps spreading false stories about us and we have decided to keep to ourselves.’
‘Even if we’re doing something evil, People should leave us alone to God’s judgement.’
‘By the way, what she meant by saying her husband is still alive is that he is alive inside her and his power and anointing will continue to manifest through her,’ she concluded.
I shook off my earlier feeling of discontent, thanked her, exchanged contacts, and made my way out of the premises to begin my journey back to whence I came from, in search of a better understanding of the Ajanaku debacle.
Indeed, the late Prophet is causing commotion, but the world still hasn’t come to witness it yet.
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