His life is a replica of the biblical Jonah. He got a divine call to serve God but ran to far away United States of America because he was not only a high flying socialite but a high chief in Lagos. But he faced the storm of life in the US and knew no peace until he returned to Nigeria to start a church.
The eventual submission of Rev. Oluwafemi Emmanuel Iroh to God’s will has seen him prospering as a clergyman, but not until he has endured temptations that would stretch the patience and endurance of many beyond tolerable limits. These include having to leave apart with his wife for 12 years with temptations from women who were desperate for affair.
Cash-strapped and penurious, all the effort he made to dispose his huge collection of properties just to raise enough money to rejoin his wife in the US failed. He struggled with life until his large collection of exotic cars drained into a rickety Peugeot 504 before fortune began to smile on him once again.
The beginning
Pastor Femi Iroh, as he is now widely known, is an indigene of Sagamu, Ogun State, where he was born before his parents moved to Lagos around 1962.
“But things went sour when after I finished primary school, I couldn’t proceed to secondary school. I had a Lagos State scholarship but there was no one to push me through. I ended up staying at home, helping my father to take palm wine from Isheri to Surulere to sell. I did that for about three years,” he said.
But that low beginning did not stop Iroh. He collected notebooks and reading books from friends to study at home most evenings.
He said: “I was a school prefect when I left MTC School Mushin in those days. I started to self-educate myself at home. After sitting at home for four years, the Principal Cup (football competition) came up. I was skillful in football, so I went for test at Western College of Commerce, Yaba and luckily I was selected as a footballer.
“I was given admission to start from class four. I never read classes 1 to 3. Luckily for me, I was brilliant. When I was in class four, my friends in class five used to come to me to put them through in academics.”
Once in school, Iroh faced his academics and emerged out of secondary school with a Grade 3, which was just as good for one who wasn’t in school until he joined in Year 4.
The road to becoming a banker
A restless student, Iroh had unknowingly got an education in typing and shorthand and was capable of typing 50 words per minute. He could also write 120 words in shorthand within a minute even before he went to school.
He did not know the value of what he had until he finished secondary school and went for an interview for a clerical job. There, the personnel manager who interviewed him saw his interest in a typewriter and asked if he could type.
“I told him I could type 50 words per minute and that I could write 120 words of shorthand per minute. He was dazed. Another interview was immediately done, which I passed.
“So, instead of a clerical job, I became a confidential secretary. And that was how God began to bless me further. From there, I did my AIB. I went to National Bank where I left years later as an Assistant Bank Manager. That was in 1987.
“From there, I went to America, came back and started my business.”
Life as a philanthropist and socialite
“Oh yes, I was a giver,” said Femi Iroh. “I did help a lot of people. I used to go out with a convoy of between five and ten cars to social events. I was that loud. Though people knew my wife and I for the parties we attended, but they also knew us more for giving to people.”
According to Iroh, it was his philanthropic disposition that won him a chieftaincy title from the Lagos royal palace. “That was just who I was, and that actually brought people to me.
“An influential Lagosian called Alhaji Alli Balogun sent his son who is now Otunba Dapo Balogun to me. When he called for assistance, it was a little sum. But in those days in 1993, it was a big amount too.
“I said, ‘Daddy, is that why you are calling me? Please send someone to come right away.’
“He sent his son. When he received it, he called back and said, ‘So you are still doing these good deeds. I will reward you for this thing that you have done.’
“He asked me, ‘How would you love being conferred with a chieftaincy title in Lagos?’ I was dazed.
“He told me to send my curriculum vitae. I sent it to him. It passed through a process, with Chief Michael Otedola, the then governor, finally approving.
“Few weeks later, the man called me to his house in Lagos. I went with my wife and there I was handed two envelopes, one for me and one for my wife.
“This was a man I came in and prostrated to greet. But immediately I opened the envelope, saw the letter which read that I had been confirmed with the title of the Borokini of Lagos, and my wife, Yeye Borokini of Lagos, I made out to prostrate but I was held back. I was told I could never prostrate again because it had become a taboo.
“After that, I was told all the taboos of the title. I shivered. That was how I got the chieftaincy title.
“While it lasted, it was good. My wife and I were everywhere in the society.
Life on the social plane
“Like I told you, my wife and I used to move in a convoy. I was popular with the top musicians too. But when I finally heeded God’s call, the top musicians knew it was over and they left me alone. They knew that the past life I lived, was gone, especially Wasiu (K-One De Ultimate). The money I used to spend there was over.
“When I used to attend parties, I would spend and spend and end up borrowing to spend more. Can you beat that? It was madness! I had someone who used to hold the bag or carton. I would spray money and keep spraying. There was always a money changer on hand. I would finish the money I came with and borrow from the money changer to continue spraying. The money had to finish before I would leave the party.
“Now I just bless God, because I have never had cause to look back and I have no regrets. I am happy about this life that I am living and I know that there is no better life.”
The call to ministry
The life of glamour had to come to an abrupt end for Iroh after he got a divine call.
He said: “At a point, the Lord told me to relinquish my (chieftaincy) title. He told me that I should come over to carry His cross and take His own title. It was a difficult thing to do. So I resisted. I moved to America with my family. Life in America was good until things started changing.”
Iroh recalled that he had landed properties in Nigeria but buyers were not forthcoming. Business became bad. He therefore had to return to Nigeria.
Upon his return to Nigeria, the call came to him again.
He said: “In 1998 when I came back from America, the Lord told me to relinquish the title and go for His work. So I said where would I go? I struggle on and finally decided in 2000 to think about God’s calling.
“In year 2000, I went to a bible college. But in 2003, I still tried to return to America but I couldn’t. I wanted to go and meet my family. I got to the airport, the road was closed even though I had a visa for five years, which eventually expired. I got another visa for five years, which also expired. Since then, I have not been able to leave the country.”
While at the bible school, his friend, an influential Northerner who was close to the Emir of Kano with possible Arewa support, sought his participation in the governorship race in Edo State. That prompted Iroh to suddenly turn his mind to politics.
He was told to provide just 20 per cent of the campaign funds while his influential friends would provide the 80 per cent. He was pleased.
“I was to collect a letter from Oba Oyekan, which would be handed over to the Emir to facilitate my being accepted,” he said.
But his pastor had a message for him. “I told my pastor about it. He told me that it was good to contest but that I would get my fingers soiled. He told me to ask for my purpose. I went and prayed and God told me ‘Christ unity,’ that I should build the body of Christ. I didn’t know what it meant then, but I later knew.”
Iroh’s influential northerner suddenly took ill and was flown to London. He could not return before the elections were over. It was a sad moment in his life.
Faced with dwindling fortunes and inability to return to America to be with his family, Iroh succumbed finally to God’s call and started the Christ Unity Ministry in 2004.
The royal visitation
As a traditional chief and a once influential individual, the palace was concerned. So an emissary was sent to meet him.
He recalled: “The palace was concerned. In fact the present ruler, Oba Akiolu, is a friend. He was the one that advised me to return from America to Nigeria. When he became the Oba, I recall that I visited him at an earlier period. I went there to pray and thank God for his life. Since then, I have not seen him.
“However, in 2007, he sent the Bajulaiye of Lagos to me with a few other traditional title holders, who brought the message that even if I have relinquished the title, at least I should still be coming around and still be making appearances in society circles.
“But as it turned out, when they arrived, they met me in church. I led them to Christ and prayed for them. That was the last time they visited me and I have not gone to the palace too.”
Asked if he was not worried that his financial condition could depreciate further with a decision to go into ministry work at that point, robust looking Iroh looked up and said: “At that point, I had no doubt or fear at all because God had shown me that everything belongs to Him. He took me on the hard way. He said riches and gold belongs to Him. He told me before I started that He would never forsake His own child and neither will I see a servant of God’s children beg for bread.
“I had no regret. But I went through that wilderness, begging to feed, though I didn’t mind because I saw joy ahead of me. I was in plenty but I was hungry. But again, I was not poor. I saw my investments, but they refused to turn to cash! I had property in multiples of millions of naira, which did not turn to cash.
“For instance, I had a property on this same road which now will soon be sold as much as N170 million. I wanted to sell it at N5m then but we couldn’t find a buyer. Someone who came to buy ran away because he couldn’t understand why we wanted to collect so little for such a vast investment; one acre of land with four flats on it. He refused to believe such desperation for money.
“But even in such a situation, I never looked back. I didn’t abandon my calling.”
The vow
“There was one thing that I did before now. That was when I came back and my wife was still abroad. I vowed to God that if I went into a woman aside from my wife, God should kill me. And I continued that ‘Father, as long as I do not do that, don’t let my wife do it there too.”
That vow became my strong weapon and that was what kept me all those years. Of course, the temptations were there, but I ignored all of them.
Asked if he kept the vow, Iroh replied, ‘Yes, I had nothing to do with a woman for those 12 years that I did not see my wife. I was here in a wilderness experience. The strange aspect is that all through those years, despite not seeing each other, we didn’t quarrel. The calling was total.”
The trials
Iroh recalled that even while he was in the world, he was still always fasting and praying. He said that even for his juju while he was in the world, one of the don’ts was to stay away from women!
He added: “The fasting and prayer helped me to stay away from women. That also helped me not to have a child outside my matrimonial home.
“As for the women, they were there, plenty of them, but I knew as a rule, I was not to do anything with them. Big girls flocked around, women came from everywhere, but I did not do it. So when I agreed to start working for God, I held unto the vow.”
But did the women leave him alone? He said as some did, new ones would come up. “By the time they found that I was for God, it became a new story. They started to stop coming. They saw the true calling.
“But even when I started the church, they still kept coming. I had experiences. But let me share one with you: I had a friend who was a top official in the police force. He introduced me to a girl. We went to her house, ate and afterwards I was to go. But when we got outside, she grabbed me. She said she would not let me go; that I had to have her since I didn’t have anyone. She asked why a handsome man like me should remain alone for so long. I was shocked. I had to start begging her that we were in the public, but she said she did not mind, that I had to accept her.
“I told her I could not do it. She said pastors do it, that all it takes is to pray for forgiveness after doing it. When I realised how serious she was, I pleaded with her and told her that we would talk about it. She held unto me and said, ‘kiss me.’ I told her that I was married. She replied that she knew but that my wife was not in Nigeria. I told her to come to my office so we could plan it properly. When I talked to her like that, she released me.
“She said her father was an accountant in one of the foreign airlines in the country. She assured me of good business. But when she came, I called it off in a manner that she couldn’t come back. She left because once they see the spirit of God in you, they will not come near you. They will run away. But one also has to know the word and also flee from every appearances of evil.
“I had challenges with money. When my wife eventually returned from America to join me here, I was down to only a Peugeot 504 car. That was in December 2006. That same week she returned, the car broke down in the middle of the road. That is one of the reasons that I love that woman till today.
“A woman who had been in America for 16 years returned and the car broke down in the middle of the busy road. She came down and was pushing the car. I couldn’t believe it! She was pushing the Peugeot and I asked God, what kind of thing is this? What kind of embarrassment is this? Me, who used to be the Borokini of Lagos now pushing a Peugeot 504 with my wife? I wept.
“But later I realised that without a story, there can never be a glory. Without a cross, there cannot be a crown. I’m most grateful today. I look back and thank God. I am filled with joy.”
The revival
Years later, Rev. Iroh, as he became, built God an edifice where he ministers and evangelises. Twelve years later, we asked him how the journey has been.
“It has been awesome. God has been showing Himself mightily here. I remember in 2006, the Lord used me to deliver a lady who had paralysis. She is from a popular family in Lagos. She had been paralysed for over a year. I went to minister to her at a specialist medical hospital off Adeola Odeku. The family used to know me as Borokini of Lagos.
“When I got there, the mother was shocked to see me with a giant sized bible. She couldn’t help herself. She had to ask outright, ‘Is this our chief carrying a big bible?’ The size of the bible was like four in one.
“She asked another person there in the hospital, ‘I hope this man has not gone kolo o?’ When I got near her, she told me her daughter was paralysed. I told her not to worry. I went in to pray; her husband was there with his friends, and the Lord did wonder.
“Someone who had been paralysed for one year, the Lord delivered her. After about 30 minutes battle with the devil, she recovered. A mad woman was delivered too. People who sought for the fruit of the womb were delivered of babies. So God has been doing wonders. I never doubted God’s power.”
The new look
Life for Iroh and his beautiful wife, Olufunmilayo, revolves around the ministry. Still looking much like a banker that he was in those days, the preacher, though 60, still looked yuppie and dandy.
So what is the secret?
“It seems like I keep rejuvenating (laughs). The truth is that I do nothing to keep healthy. The secret to my good features and physique is fasting and prayers. There is no week I do not fast three or four times. Last year I fasted from June and ended in December. And in between, I go seven days without food or water.
“To look this way at 60 means glory to God. Our first child is now 34 years old. Some people say I’m 40, especially when I cut my hair low. I have never dyed my hair in my entire life. It is God at work.
The fashion, the style
Curious as to how his sense of fashion would have been in his heyday in high society and the probable disparity it would be now, we asked him and he laughed, “Of course, it’s different now. As a matter of fact, the moment you give your life to Christ, you are consumed totally. Your mode of dressing will change. Nobody will tell you. You will have that inner conviction that this is the way you will dress. No more flamboyancy.
“The scripture says that we should be moderate. The traditional beads that go with chieftaincy titles and so on, all that had to go! Those were the first things to go (laughs again). I had to relinquish them. I didn’t need them anymore.
As one who has been through life’s different situations, Rev. Iroh had a parting shot. Shaking his head in deep thought, he said: “You asked what life is. My kid brother asked me same after I fasted for days and transited to heaven.
“I had this answer for him: life is vanity. All is vanity. Yes, we need money, car, and light and so on, but they are temporary issues. We should focus on eternity. If one lives so much, you can’t live outside 150 years. In short, you will regret life then. What preparations are we making here towards eternity? That should be our major focus.”
