•Oba ADEYEYE OGUNWUSI Reveals Their Family Ties
Until recently, not many people knew that both the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi and Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, the Senior Pastor of Trinity House are very close.
It was at the 62nd birthday colloquium of Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, held at the Trinity House in Victoria Island, Lagos, that this came out. At this 3rd Nigerian Leadership Colloquium in honour of Pastor Ituah @ 62, the Ooni who just arrived from Brazil was the Royal Father of the Day.
At the event the Ooni of Ife revealed why he and Pastor Ituah are very close. He also went on to reveal why he doesn’t joke with Pastor Ituah. Until he said it, at that event many didn’t know they are cousins.
Though Pastor Ituah Ighodalo is from Edo State, his mum is Yoruba from the Giesi family in Ife, which the Ooni also belongs to. That is why the Ooni always calls Pastor Ituah, Uncle and Pastor Ituah, in turn, shows the Ooni reverence, by calling him Kabiyeesi.
It was at this colourful event that the Ooni told the guests the depth of their relationship. It was the Ooni that made many know that Pastor Ituah is a Prince of the throne of Oduduwa.
What did the Ooni actually say? We can tell you. “A lot of people don’t know that Pastor Ituah is my Uncle. You call him Pastor Ituah, I call him Uncle Ituah. A l ot of people don’t know that he is more of a Yoruba man, than an Ishan man. Infact, we borrowed him away to Ishan. Everything about him, everything is from Yorubaland. If I get into the story about how he is a typical Yoruba man you will understand. He is my Uncle. We are blood-related. Auntie is here too. And she can testify to it. I can tell you a little bit of story. He has a role to play on this throne. He has a role to play on this throne. He is a Prince. He doesn’t like to call himself a Prince. He will be saying Pastor Ituah, Pastor Ituah. If you keep saying No way, I will take him away from this church and take him to Ife. If you don’t put Prince when you call his name I will take him away completely. I will take him to the Kingdom of Ife. He has a role to perform there.
Oba Ogunwusi let guests know that Pastor Ituah has deep links with Ile-Ife. “I can’t even quatify my love for Uncle Ituah. You have been there for me, way before I ascended this throne. There is this saying in Yorubaland, Agbe oro eni so ri, a gbe ti e sile. That is Pastor Prince Ituah or Prince Pastor Ituah, everything is PPI. We are changing your name today from PI to PPI. Has anybody here, ever seen Pastor Prince Ituah angry before? He is always smiling, very charming smile, very adorable, wonderful, with his candour, he is always there to support everybody. And that is why the whole world loves you Pastor Prince Ituah. Not only me, myself here, that is your Cousin, because of our common heritage.”
“When, I was about to clock 40 years many years ago (you can do the Maths) I took Pastor Prince Ituah to a lot of my various projects. There is one that he particularly likes by the ocean side. I built an Island called Inagbe Grand Resort and I told Pastor Prince Ituah, that Uncle, when I clock 40, I want to celebrate my 40th birthday on this Island. And he said Aburo, that is what he used to call me then. He doesn’t know how to call me that again. He now calls me Kabiyeesi. Atimes he get confused, he will say Kabiyeesi or Aburo. He will say I am sorry. I will just say Uncle you are forgiven, don’t worry. I know you are not used to it.”
It wasn’t only the Ooni that spoke, Pastor Ituah also spoke. He described Oba Ogunwusi as the Great Ooni of Ife. He said his mother almost lost her life to make sure that the Giesi family got its rightful place in the history of Ife she didn’t like the Politics of that time which made Sijuwade become King. She was the living witness. My mother took late Oba Sijuwade to court and the case went on for several years. Until one day she was going to Ife for court case and she had an accident. So she knew there were powers beyond her. She came back to say its alright, she will live to fight another day.”
“But what she established was that there was a court ruling that said if the throne was vacant it will have to go to the Giesi family. And when the throne became vacant it went to our beloved Kabiyeesi. There was no contest with the other families, it was just a contest within the Giesi family.
For many who don’t know, lets tell you a bit about Pastor Ituah Ighodalo who is a popular Lagos Pastor, whose services are in high demand by many celebrities. Because he is a nice and easy going person, practically everyone wants the Pastor-In-Charge at Trinity House to officiate at their events, be it naming, weddings, burials, house warming and so on.
That is why almost on a daily basis he gets requests from many celebrities who will like him to personally officiate at their event.
They will not want him to send someone else to stand in for him.
Why is this so? It is because of the amiable nature of Pastor Ituah. He is so friendly and has a robust sense of humour. He knows how to get you to loosen up. He is also a good listener.
He is so patient that he takes time to listen to each person’s story. He is also very deep philosophically and he is a teacher of the word. He always quotes copiously from the scriptures and he has a way of consoling those going through a lot of challenges.
How does he cope with the deluge of requests, we asked him a few days back.
He managed a smile and said that is part of his role in society. He said he has to be able to reach out to as many as those who need his help. He said the sad part is that much as he would have loved to be at all the events he gets invited to, he can’t be at every event. So, I humbly decline some.
Pastor Ituah Ighodalo is not only a Pastor, but an Accountant, a Thinker, a Social reformer and a Writer. he obtained a B.Sc combined honors degree in Economics and Accounting in 1982 from the University of Hull, England, qualified as a Chartered Accountant in July 1986 and attended a business management course at the Harvard Business School, Boston in 2011.
Pastor Ituah is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Nigeria, member of the Nigeria Institute of Management, member of the American Society of Industrial Security and member, the American Institute of Management. He sits on the board of several corporations, charitable organizations and NGOS as chairman and director; they include, FAMAD Nig. Plc, Valency International Trading Limited, FINATRUST MFB, The Clinix Diagnostic Centre, the Courage Education Foundation, Edensfield Health Initiative, ELPIS Mental Health lnitiative, Heritage Homes and others.
He is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief of the Timeless Media Group, Chairman Trinity Media and films, Celebr8 Music Festival and producer Courage Center TV series. He has written and published several articles, papers and books.
Pastor Ituah has sat on various government panels (State and Federal), and has been an adviser/consultant to government at different levels. He is on the council of the Nigerian British Chamber of Commence and Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, he is the Pastor-in-charge, Trinity House and the Chancellor, Wellspring University, Edo State.
He was 62 on Tuesday 4th April, 2023 and a Colloquium was held in is honour. It was the 3rd Nigerian Leadership Colloquium with the theme: A New NIGERIA: Leadership Imperatives For Radical Growth & Transformation.
The well attended event was organised by Truine Foundation. According to Jeremiah Olanrewaju Akinsele, the Colloquium Director of Triune Foundation, given the amazing talents, monumental accomplishments, as well as the global influence of Pastor Ituah Ighodalo the Triune Foundation decided to institute an annual Colloquium to commemorate the birthday of our beloved Pastor in 2021 when he turned 60.
