An elder in the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of David Parish, Quincy Ayodele, has denied claims that the former Pastor-in-charge of the parish, Idowu Iluyomade, rebelled against the church before starting his own.
Ayodele stated that she had expected that Iluyomade would be restored to his parish or another after he had served his three-month suspension handed to him by the church leadership.
According to Church Times, in a chat with Daddy Freeze posted on his YouTube Channel on Monday, the natural medicine practitioner said she was surprised and disappointed that Iluyomade was given a letter not to step into the church’s premises.
The World Health Organisation consultant said she was always going with Iluyomade to the headquarters of the RCCG in Ebute Meta for the three months that he served the punishment.
She said, “We were expecting that after the three months he would be restored to the City of David. but to our surprise, whatt we heard was that he was given a letter that he must not step into the City of David.”
Ayodele expressed concern about the action of the RCCG, saying, ‘Pastor Adeboye and Pastor Iluyomade were like father and son..They are so close..There is nothing Adeboye wanted that Iluyomade would not go out of his way to make available.”
While insisting that Iluyomade did not rebel against the church, she reiterated, ‘He was told not to enter City of David. Why they did that is only known to our daddy, the governing council and God. I cannot answer why. But we are curious.”
She said some elders in the church had to step in when it was clear that Iluyomade was stopped from entering the church.
According to Ayodele, the concerned elders wrote letters of appeal to the General Overseer of the Church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, to plead with him not to take such drastic action against Iluyomade.
She said, “They wrote letters and signed their names on the letters to Pastor Adeboye. But there was no response from Baba Adeboye.”
Ayodele said the next step the Iluyomades took was to start going to Kings Court, another RCCG Parish that Iluyomade pioneered many years ago.
‘The pastor in the church welcomed them and accorded them the honour of the founding pastors, only to be told later that they should not be accommodated.
“Pastor Adeboye taught us that if one sheep is missing out of 100, Jesus would go after the lost sheep..I was now asking will he now allow Iluyomade to be lost to the world.”
Ayodele, who disclosed she has been in RCCG for about 32 years, said she had to be on the trail of Iluyomade to bring him back to the church.
She also denied insinuation that it was the former CEO of Access Bank, late Herbert Wigwe, who was the highest contributor to the building of the Trinity Towers of the City of David.
According to her, many people contributed to the building of the tower, and some gave as much as Wigwe gave. She said many were as committed to the church as Wigwe, citing examples of how people supported projects at the prompting of Iluyomade.
She said Iluyomade did a lot for the RCCG and Adeboye, wondering what could have led to the church’s action against Iluyomade.
She gave examples of free schools that Iluyomade built, how he fed the hungry every week, and how he impacted the larger society by using church funds.
Ayodele said many prominent Nigerians were contacted to beg Daddy GO and change his mind about the expulsion of Iluyomade, but to no avail.
“They went to beg him, and he said he (Iluyomade) was paying loan. But he has been paying loans without coming to ask for money from you. So, why don’t you leave him and let him finish paying the loan?
“He said it’s okay; he will let him come back. He did not. Other people went to beg him, rolling on the floor and asking for his forgiveness..He did not.” Ayodele said.
Asked if the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria intervened in the matter, she said, ‘Who will talk to him if God has not talked to him. My daddy hears from God. It is what God says that he tells us, and we believe him. He will say my daddy says’ and we believe him.”
Ayodele said Pastor Iluyomade never planned to start a church, adding that the people they helped abandoned them in their moment of trials.
She said. “He does not even know how to start a church. He was an Anglican before he joined RCCG. His father was a reverend. He had left Anglican for almost 32 years. If he goes back to Anglican, where is he going to start from?
“I can tell you that the people they helped abandoned them in their moment of trials. They were not even praying for him in the City of David that he left. That was what made me go to him. When I got to him, he was weeping, telling me that he was told not to step into the church.”
Ayodele said she was moved to tears when Pastor Adeboye insinuated during his visit to the City of David on Sunday that those who left the Church were demons and that devils built trinity towers.
She said, “I started wondering if this my daddy is talking. What is going on?”
The health practitioner said she did not follow Iluyomade when he started his church because she believed the matter could still be resolved and that she was mediating.
Ayodele said if she had the grace of meeting Pastor Adeboye, she would be him frantically and appeal to him to forgive Iluyomade.