The death of the Senior Pastor of Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, has come as a shock to many.
Here are some facts about the clergyman.
- Taiwo Odukoya was born on June 15, 1956 in the city of Kaduna where he was also raised.
- He was the senior pastor of The Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, with a membership strength of over 8,000 people.
- He had his primary and secondary education at Baptist Primary School, Kigo Road, Kaduna and St. Paul’s College (now known as Kufena College, Wusasa) Zaria respectively.
- He proceeded to the University of Ibadan in 1976 where he obtained a degree in petroleum engineering in 1981.
- As a petroleum engineer, he started work at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in April 1982 after the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme and served there until his voluntary retirement in January 1994 after his call to the ministry.
- In 1980, Odukoya met Bimbo Williams at the University of Ibadan and the two struck a relationship that led to their marriage in 1984.
- The marriage produced three children.
- Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya co-founded The Fountain of Life Church in 1992 with a stated vision “to teach men and women the art of building successful relationships and the principles of leadership so they can be they are created to be.
- On 10 December 2005, Bimbo Odukoya, along with 102 other people, died on the crashed Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145.
- On January 5, 2010, five years later, Taiwo Odukoya got married again to Rosemary Simangele Zulu from South Africa.
- The marriage produced two boys.
- In November 2021, Odukoya lost his second wife to cancer.
- The pastor announced the death of his wife on 9 November, saying that the South African “battled cancer for the better part of two years.
- In 2014, nine years after the death of his first wife, Odukoya readdressed the matter of the plane crash that made him a widower.
- He claimed that pastors are well advised to use private jets: such aircraft better facilitate pastoral ministry and are a safer means of travel than commercial flights.
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