Kingmakers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State have reportedly picked a Senior Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Jesus House Washington DC Parish, Pastor Afolabi Ghandi Olaoye, as the new Soun.
He is billed to succeed Oba Jimoh Oladunni Oyewumi who died last year at 95 after reigning for almost 50 years.
Pastor Olaoye name is to be forwarded to the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, to ratify.
However, in a video posted on social media by the Parish, Olaoye, told members of the church that it was never his ambition to become the Soun.
But he claimed that God spoke to him about it and he had no option but to take a step of faith to obey God and watch what He wanted to do.
He said, âAll I am doing is to obey God. Let me tell you this if we find out in five yearsâ time that this church starts to have a crisis. And things start to go down and you find out that the Lord spoke to me and I did not obey him.
âAnd it becomes like the case of Jonah or Achan, I hope you will not say thank God you did not answer God. You will be angry that God spoke to me and I did not obey. All I am doing is obeying God. This is action is not any action of avarice. It is not any action of greediness. It is nothing but obeying God. And this is what I have preached for 30 years.
âI told God if it is not your will, Lord stop it, let it not go through. But then I got into the process. I am only following God.
âThere is nothing in this world that anybody has to offer me than what I have committed half of my life to do. If you know me very well, I am not doing this because I have nothing else to do. I am doing it because I believe it with my whole heart.â
He dismissed fears that he might compromise his Christian faith through involvement in traditional rituals as demanded by custom, saying, âI can tell you, I have only one covenant. The blood of Jesus is enough for me. No other covenant will I engage in. I am not going to go into the details of a lot of things you have seen on social media.â
He denied he had resigned as senior pastor of the church as widely reported in the media, stating he couldnât have because the process was still ongoing. Â âIt is still a process. We will tell you when the process is over. There were 23 of us before I entered into the race. Two of us were eventually picked. The chairman of the kingmaker voted for me to break the tie. The next thing is that it goes to the governor.
âIf you know the process, the person who makes anybody a king is the governor. The kingmaker can choose you. Your family can choose you, which they did not initially. But that is a story for another day. It is the governor who chooses.â
Pastor Olaoye had been rumoured to be the candidate of the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who is also a Redeem Church pastor.
