For the Most Reverend Julius Oludotun Ogunseye, the Archbishop of Lagos Province and Diocesan Bishop of Lagos Mainland of the African Church, it has been a long winding road to the top despite the fact that he exhibited signs of divine calling even as a little boy. Early in secondary school, he discovered a music talent he felt could decide his future career. Subsequent events, however, forced the Chairman of Ogun State Christian Pilgrims Board to change his mind, as he recalls in this interview with PAUL UKPABIO
How did you come about a career as a clergyman?
I remember my mum told me that when I was a little boy, the plan of God was already evident in my life. My mum recalled that even as a little boy, I used to get up at night, going from one room to another and praying for them one after the other. She said they had never seen such a thing before. I also remember that when I was a little boy, there was this prophet from the Church of the Lord who came for a crusade in our locality. He called me aside and said that what God told him was that I would work for Him in His vineyard. But he said he did not know in what capacity I would be working, whether as a pastor or as a prophet or an evangelist. But the Lord told him I would work for Him. He went further to say that if I went into any other profession, I would be wasting my time, because God had already designed a role for me in the church. Did you heed the advice? Well, many things happened afterwards. Later, when I was in secondary school, I became a member of the literary and debating society.
I was also a member of the scripture union. I had a musical talent which made me to join the church choir. I later started practising the organ and started playing it for the church I attended. I became an organist. In the 1980s, I worked for Imarcel Chemical Company, which had a branch in Abeokuta. But my dream to be a musician changed one day when as a member of the Christ African Church choir, where I was also an assistant organist, a church, which is now the missionary diocese at Abeokuta, I was called and told that the church wanted to give me a scholarship to a seminary, the College of Theology. I was shocked. I told them I would discuss it with my parents.
I accepted the offer after the discussion with my parents. I was warned by my parents that I should think deeply about it because being a servant of God is not an easy job. More so as I was still a young boy. But then, I also had a spiritual father who is late now. He is the retired Bishop of the African Church who retired as the Bishop of Lagos Diocese. At that time, he was the Registrar of the African Church College of Theology in Ifako. I went to meet him and told him that I wanted to go to the College of Theology. He listened to me and laughed. I didn’t know that he was even the one who originated the discussion of the scholarship for me. He said he was happy for me. Why do you think you were chosen? There were actually three of us that were chosen. Two of us were younger and were both members of the choir, while the third man was an usher in the church. Among the three of us, I was the only one who accepted the offer.
The first year, I did the ordination course. After that, I was ordained as a Deacon of the African Church on December 19, 1984 at the Cathedral in Lagos and was posted to my church. That my mentor I spoke about earlier was the Archdeacon of the church. I became his Assistant. He was the Vicar in charge as well, while I assisted him. My life had changed. I later went back to school in 1985 for a Diploma in Theology and finished in 1986. I was posted to African Church in Oko- Oba, Agege, where I stayed for six years. From there, I was posted back to St James’ African Church, Idi Ape, as an Archdeaconry Chairman. After two years, I was elevated to the post of an Archdeacon in 1993 at the Cathedral Bethel in Lagos.
I was later moved back to Abeokuta. At that time, it was a serious job because I had about 24 churches under me and still had other parishes under me. In 2001, I was consecrated as a Bishop of the African Church at the Cathedral here in Lagos and was posted to Ife-Oshogbo Diocese with the headquarters at Ile-Ife. I spent about three years there and back to Agege in Lagos where I spent another five years. I became an ArchBishop of the African Church and was posted to Lagos where I am now. I have been in this position since 2005. What is the next position after this? (Laughs) There is no other position. We spend only 10 years in this position. After that, I am expected to leave the church or go on retirement. But I thank God that by the time I would have spent 10 years in this position, I would have become 65 in age and would be due for retirement. So, my timing would just be accurate. Everything would work together for me.
Now that you have reached the pinnacle of your career as a priest, do you have any regret? I must confess that I have been a lucky person in that all the things that I have laid my hands on in this ministry have been good and pleasant. I do not have any regret whatsoever. I have taken everything that has come my way in the good strides of gratefulness to God who has guided my steps in the right direction. My prayer now is that till I finish my ministry, I should have no regrets. Over the years, what have been the challenges you faced in the ministry? As it is, I shouldn’t cover the glory of God that has been upon me all through the years with ingratitude! So for everything, challenge or no challenge, I thank God. Nonetheless, there is no way one would be a man of God and not face challenges.
As a matter of fact, challenges are natural occurrences with a man of God because those are the problems that you are supposed to solve. So whenever I faced challenges, I usually have my weapon, the bible, to use to solve it with prayer to God. If you were not a clergy, what else would you have been? I would certainly have been a musician. I actually had my own plans of what I wanted to be in life before I was called by God through the church into the ministry. After I left secondary school, I started perfecting my plans to become a musician like I said. That is why Papa Ebenezer Obey and I are close today. Papa’s son, Shina, and I went to the same school. As a matter of fact, when I was in secondary school, I had already formed a band. It was Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey who advised me to go to school and come back later to become a better musician.
I remember then that Shina Obey and I met and he took me to his father who sat me down and encouraged me. He said education is important; that if I continued with education, by the time I would be ready to become a musician, I would be a better musician. I remember that Papa Ebenezer Obey used Fela Anikulapo Kuti as an example for me. He said that the fact that Fela went to study music also contributed to the success of the kind of music he was playing. So I took Papa Ebenezer Obey’s advice.
I was waiting to go further in school when God called me through the church. Did you ever meet with Chief Commander Ebenezer Obey again? Of course, I did. We have been having a good relationship. Even before I was consecrated as a bishop while I was still at Ile-Ife, Papa Obey used to come to stay with me in the church for three or four days whenever we were having a revival. And here in Lagos too, he has been our revivalist each time, bringing his entire band and instruments. Last year, he was here, and this year too, he will be around. Did Obey recognise you at your first contact with him after school? He did. But I went down memory lane with him because I was meeting him again as a minister of God. So, on that particular day, when we were seated together, I asked him if he could remember Shina’s friend who came to him, asking to become a musician.
He recalled the incident and laughed. Though I was still seeing his son, after that, I used to call Papa Obey on the phone to pray with him. Sometimes, I send people with prayer messages to him. Did your interest in music end when God called you? No, it didn’t. The passion for music, which started in Abeokuta Grammar School where music was a top priority, continued. Even when I was a young minister of God, I later went to Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education to study Music and got a certificate for it. What was your plan at that point? My intention was to develop my knowledge of music and also to be available to teach music at the church’s College of Theology.
Again, I also intended to build music notes for our church hymns because it was not available. But then some members of the church did not understand my dual roles. As a matter of fact, they felt sometimes confused because sometimes I am mostly serving as the organist and sometimes as a minister. So they were jokingly telling me to choose one of the roles. That led me to Emmanuel College where I did a degree programme in Religious Studies at the University of Ibadan. After that, I went to Crowther Seminary at Abeokuta for Masters in Divinity. From the look of things, you are likely to have picked your wife from the choir… (Laughs) Yes, I got her from the ministry. I actually felt the need to marry early.
And that was the position of the church too for those in the ministry. But all the girls who came to me then were not ready for marriage. I was lucky to have married the daughter of a fellow minister of God in 1989, where I was a serving priest. I believe it was the Lord’s arrangement. Right now, she is a lady evangelist. We are working together and she is helping me a lot with my ministry. Sometimes when I am at work, she takes people to ori oke (the mountain) where she prays for them and they pray for me and my work. Was she surprised when you picked her as your wife? She was not, because we were in the same church where she was a member of the choir and a lay reader.
We were already seeing and discussing. It was a process that was inevitable. The parents even saw it coming too. Let’s talk about your personal ministry, because I noticed that you attended to a crowd of people, anointing them with oil… Yes, I have this ministry called ‘O to ge!’ meaning enough is enough. I started it at the church in Agege when I was there. And when I left, I handed it over to the Bishop that is there now. Over here, I started another one, which is also now doing well. It is a two-hour prayer session on Thursdays where I anoint the sick, pray with people who have challenges and give them water that has been sanctified. We have been having testimonies about the goodness of the Lord. When you eventually retire, what will you be doing? I have handed over that matter to God.
And I think He has already given me a ministry in ‘Oto ge’ and it is a special calling on its own. Perhaps I will have a prayer camp where I can attend to people and minister to them as God leads. How do you combine your role as a bishop with your travels? It is the grace of God. You know I am the Chairman of the Ogun State Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board. In the course of the year, we lead the pilgrimage to Israel, Italy, Rome and Thessalonica, and sometimes I travel on my volition to London, America and so on. Sometimes I am invited abroad by ministries and churches. Pilgrimage is an important aspect of Christianity. It is one thing to read the bible and another thing to visit the historical settings of the bible and see for yourself and pray there. The place where Jesus was born is still there, and like other such places, people go there to pray. There are lots of testimonies from people who have gone there and came back with one healing or another. Pilgrimage makes the bible come alive. The bible is an intervention of God. It is an inspiration of God.
What have been your challenges at the Christians Pilgrims Welfare Board? The governor has been cooperative. He has been up to the task despite being a Muslim. He has been supportive and we have a cordial relationship. I actually got to know him in 1999 when I was an Archdeacon. He came to our church in Idi Ape. That was where we met. How much time do you have for your family? That is the lifestyle of a minister of God. I have just finished attending to about 300 people individually. When I leave here, I will go for a wake at Agege, which will last into the night. From there to Abeokuta in the morning for a burial. From Abeokuta, I will go straight to a management meeting at Maryland here in Lagos, and so on. We need God’s grace to be with our families because the people we attend to are also our families. In between all that, I create time for the family. It is better now as a Bishop. In my earlier days in marriage, it was tough, because as an Archdeacon, the work took me everywhere.