By Kazeem Ugbodaga
Dr. Joe Okei-Odumakin, President, Centre for Change, has described the death of the Fountain of Life Church founder, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, as a rude shock to her.
Odukoya died on Monday in the United States of America from undisclosed ailment.
Okei-Odumakin, in a statement, said “Pastor Taiwo Odukoya: So long… It is a rude shock, but so is the passage of great men.
“Only men with the confidence of the “true call” yield the resource of life to toil in the Vineyard.
“Through huge losses and vicissitudes of life, he rose to glory as an end time General …led the flock towards the feet of Christ.
“This surely is our terrestrial loss…but a great celestial gain. Goodnight, till resurrection.”
Odukoya‘s death was announced by his church on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The church said: “The fountain of Life Church Family, in tatal submission to the will of God Almighty announces the passing unto greater glory of our Father, Teacher, a great servant of the Most High God, Pastor Daniel Taiwo Odukoya, Founding Pastor of The Fountain of Life Church, who passed unto glory on the 7th of August 2023 in the USA.
“We are in total submission to you LORD!!! We thank the Lord for the gift of greater leader!!!”
Odukoya was born on 15 June 1956 in the city of Kaduna, where he was also raised.
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, before proceeding 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.
On 10 December 2005, Bimbo Odukoya, along with 102 other people, died on the crashed Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145.
Bimbo Odukoya’s messages had been well and widely received by many. On 5 January 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.”
Taiwo 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 what they are created to be.
The Church has several missions in South Africa, the United Kingdom, United States of America, Switzerland, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Republic of Benin and Togo.
