Peter, the Prince of the Church

[SunNews]

By Dare Babarinsa

We are gathered here to celebrate a scholar-priest who has given meaning to the Christian life.  Right Reverend (Dr.) Peter Awelewa Adebiyi is the humble giant, through whom God has wrought great things in our midst.  Teacher, author, social crusader and militant evangelist, our father, Adebiyi, has been a constant predicate in the contemporary history of the Diocese of Lagos West and especially of the Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja.

It was here, in this sacred citadel of the Christian faith, that his destiny joined that of our diocese.  It is fitting that this great milestone in our collective history and in his personal story is being celebrated here.  It is his unique luck that the mantle is falling on his able lieutenant and protégé, our father, Right Reverend James Odedeji, lately the dean of this Cathedral and who would be enthroned as our second bishop tomorrow (Sunday, April 28, 2013).

Today, we stand on the threshold of history.  Who could have known that in this premises where Adebiyi once came face to face with death and terror would also be the place of his glory.  On November 16, 1987, he was in the vicarage with his family when robbers invaded, shot the gateman dead and moved in into the private quarters of the vicar.  Faced with the resolute vicar who denied that church offerings, especially the N100, 000 announced as donation to the church during the morning Sunday service was in his care, the robbers shot him and fled. Adebiyi, bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital.  He survived that attack by robbers.  Our Lord Jesus Christ was with him and has made him a living testimony to the unfailing power of God.

Adebiyi has been the handmaiden of Destiny from his youth. Born into a Christian home in Osi, in Ido-Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State on 27th April 1943, he is the third in a polygamous home of 13 children.

Faced with tedious challenge of wants as a youth, Adebiyi showed his mettle right from primary school which he completed in Osi in 1956 before moving to the Community Modern School where he graduated in 1960. After that, he became a pupil teacher in his Alma Mater, Saint Paul Primary School, Osi. In 1963, he was admitted to the All Saints Teachers Training College, Usi, a neighboring town that is less than 10 kilometers from Osi.  Armed with a Grade Two Teachers Certificate from Usi in 1964, he was posted to Aramoko, the present headquarters of Ekiti West Local Government, as a teacher at St Phillip's School.  It was in Aramoko that God set his feet on the path of his destiny.

He met two persons in Aramoko who were to change his story.  First was Caroline Adefiola, a princess of Aramoko-Ekiti, whom he wooed and eventually overwhelmed.  She was destined to become the mother of his seven children, three of whom have followed their father into the priesthood.  The second person was the late Venerable Joshua Oloniyo who was impressed by the skill and brilliance of his young organist. He hectored Adebiyi to join the clergy. Adebiyi was admitted into the Immanuel College of Theology, Ibadan, in 1967, on the prompting of Oloniyo.  Confronted by then Reverend Bolanle Gbonigi, one of his teachers who would later to serve with distinction as the Lord Bishop of Akure Diocese, who asked him how Adebiyi knew he was called by God to join the priesthood, he replied simply: "Sir, it was the Venerable Oloniyo who called me and ordered me to come here!"

Such naked candour was to be the hallmark of Adebiyi career.  He graduated from Immanuel College in 1970 and was posted to Holy Trinity Church, Ilawe Ekiti as a deacon. In 1971, Right Reverend Abiodun Adetiloye, the new Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, ordained him as a priest and he became a Canon in 1983. Spotted by Adetiloye, as a scholarly priest, he puts Adebiyi under his wings and made him one of his chaplains.  He was encouraged to bag a degree from the then University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, OAU, in 1975 and was later to bag a Masters and Doctorate in 1981 and 1987 respectively.

As he was pursuing his career in the ministry, he was also pursuing a parallel career as a teacher.  He was Chaplain and Vice-Principal of Babatope Memorial High School, Ikoro-Ekiti, from 1975 to 1983. From 1976 to 1980, he served as a member of the Board of Governors of Oganganmodu Grammar School, Ido-Ekiti. He was a lecturer at the Ondo State University (now Ekiti State University), Ado-Ekiti, between 1983 and 1987. He also lectured at the Lagos State University, Ojoo, between 1987 and 1990.

But it was not just in the accumulation of academic laurels that Adebiyi proved his mettle as a scholar.  He was soon to churn out seminal essays and books which today include The Ministry of Women in Ekitiland, Christian Missions in Ekitiland 1893 to 1973, The Planting of Christianity in Ekititiland: the role of Ex-Slaves, Divine Messages for Special Seasons, History of Christianity in Ekitiland and the latest, Let the Nations Hear. He also co-authored 150 Years of Christianity in Nigeria and The Church Fathers with the Right Revd (Dr.) Akin Omoyajowo.

His collaboration with Adetiloye was to have profound effect, both on his career and the history of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). When Adetiloye was translated to Lagos as the Lord Bishop of the Lagos Diocese in 1985, he later brought his protégé and chaplain with him.  Adetiloye posted him to Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church in 1987 as a parish priest where Adebiyi was welcomed with qualified enthusiasm. Six months into his tenure, he was to have that unforgettable encounter with robbers.

When the church became the seat of the newly created Ikeja archdeaconry, Adebiyi was collated as a venerable in 1990.  In 1993, he was preferred as a bishop and posted to Owo Diocese in Ondo State.  In 1999, when the Diocese of Lagos West was created by the College of Bishops under the leadership of Adetiloye,  Adebiyi was translated from Owo to become the first Lord Bishop of the diocese. It was a homecoming for him.  He had served as priest, archdeacon and now as the Lord Bishop at the same Archbishop Vinning. For the past 20 years that Adebiyi has served as bishop, 13 of which he has spent with us at the Diocese of Lagos West, he has cast light into our darkness, giving us hope in place of despair and strengthening our faith in the all merciful Father, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the Adebiyi saga has reached an important turning point as he bowed out of formal episcopacy.   There is a lot for our Lord Bishop to be proud of in his service in the Lord's Vineyard. While he was in Ekiti, he was the examining chaplain from 1980 to 1987.  Since he became a bishop, he served as the Episcopal Secretary to the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) from 1994 to 2005. From 2000 to 2008, he was the chairman of the Board of Governors, Ezekiel College of Theology, Ekpoma, Edo State.  He was the National Patron of the Scripture Union of Nigeria, 2001 to 2007, and the National Patron of the Anglican Youth Fellowship of Nigeria from 2001 to 2007.  From 1999, he has served as the Grand Patron of Apostles of Peace of the Anglican Church.  He was the representative of the Church of Nigeria to the Conference of Anglican Provinces in Africa, CAPA. He was also the chairman of the Church of Nigeria Inter-Anglican Global Relations. He was a member of the National Political Reform Conference on the Review of the 1999 Constitution.  He also served as the chairman of the Diocese of Lagos West Election Monitoring Group accredited by INEC during the 2007 elections.

But it was in the performance of his episcopal functions in Owo and later Lagos West that Adebiyi made the greatest impact.  In Owo, he embarked on aggressive evangelism that led to the planting of six new churches and the building of a new primary school and a secondary school.  He also initiated the formation of the Anglican Students Fellowship, which has now become a national youth organization of the Anglican faith.

But it was in the See of Lagos West that Adebiyi was to fully embrace his greatness. His introduction of the Covenant Seed offering has been revolutionary in sourcing fund for the Church of Nigeria.  He succeeded in ensuring the return of mission schools by the Lagos State government.  He also spearheaded the formation of mission-owned new primary and secondary schools in the diocese and participated actively in the establishment of the Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, owned by the Church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion). The Diocese of Lagos West has now built a 600-room female hostel for the university. Adebiyi also played a leading role in the raising of funds for the improvement of infrastructure in the Anglican theological seminaries based in Akure, Ibadan and Ekpoma.

Though the Diocese of Lagos West has since given birth to two new dioceses of Awori and Badagry, Adebiyi has expanded the activities of his diocese (what is left of it) in geometric proportion. He has established an army of priests, evangelists and missionaries, which has resulted in aggressive church planting and the introduction of a more vigorous mode of worship. During his tenure, he oversaw the establishment of 270 new churches and funded many less endowed dioceses and missionary forays into foreign lands.  He made his dioceses rich by creative investments, prudent management and transparent sourcing of money.

For example, the church purchased the 12 acres former Nigeria Airways grounds close to AVMCC and turned it into a money-spinning cornucopia.  When he came in 1999, the diocese had N500, 000 only in its account.  By the time Adebiyi was bowing out, the Diocese had more than N600 million in its accounts, apart from its multi-billion naira investments. He also inherited only six arch-deaconries.  Today, there are 29 viable and indeed buoyant archdioceses.

But Adebiyi's greatest legacy is his firm belief that leadership by personal example is the driving force of modern Christianity in a world menaced not just by sins and unbelief, but also marred by wants, diseases, epidemics, wars and new terrorist groups like the Boko Haram of Nigeria. Not for him the clinical separation of Church and State. He embraced the danger of social and political intervention by the Church with personal courage and daring pronouncements.  He used his pedestal as a priest to talk truth to power not minding personal peril or the possibility of incurring the wraths of temporary tenants of power.

At the darkest days of military dictatorship, he was regarded as a NADECO bishop because of his perceived backing of the opposition National Democratic Coalition. Therefore, he was always dogged by agents of the State Security Service, SSS, especially because he was living in the same Owo town with Chief Michael Adekunle Ajasin, the leader of NADECO and patriarch of the pan-Yoruba socio-political movement, Afenifere. In May 1998, he told the synod in Owo, in the presence of many SSS agents that Nigerian nightmare would soon be over.

Said he:

"We are inspired to say this. Head or tail, this government and its political collaborators cannot win the war, which they are now waging against the oppressed people of this country.  We are positively sure that God will again move in a mysterious way with His iron rod, to break the tyranny of misrule and oppression."

It takes an extra ounce of courage for someone to say this in public when General Sani Abacha was in power. Exactly a month after this prophetic pronouncement, Abacha died suddenly and Nigerian history took a different turn.

Adebiyi never fails to exhort Nigerian leaders, especially those of the Christian faith, to rule with the fear of God and the doctrines of Our Lord Jesus Christ. For him, the church, to remain relevant, must not only worry about the people's visa to the heavenly kingdom, but must also care passionately about justice, fairness, godliness, human dignity and human security.

The impact of Adebiyi's ministry and his episcopacy on our church and our country has been profound and many generations to come would continue to benefit from and appreciate the labour of this humble giant. His days of militant episcopacy are over, but the job remains uncompleted for our country is still overhung with the cloud of uncertainties and fear. Therefore, we expect that as he moves into his well-deserved retirement, this church, this Nigeria and the world at large, would continue to benefit from his deep sagacity and lion-hearted courage.

Congratulations Baba and Mama Adebiyi for attaining this great milestone together. We have no doubt that God will grant you the capacity to function as the Voice of Reason and Courage for many years to come.  We have unshakable trust in Our Lord Jesus Christ that he will make the Prophesy of Isaiah to come true in your life that "those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."

Forty-six years ago, the young Adebiyi had told Baba Gbonigi that "it was Venerable Oloniyo who called me."  We know now, tracing the contour of his rewarding career, that it was indeed God that called our father and made him a prince of the Church.  Oloniyo was only delivering a divine message.  We congratulate him and his magnificent wife for their fruitful episcopacy.  They are passing to the next generation represented by the competent and cerebral Right Reverend James Odedeji, his successor, a flag without stain and a record without blemish.  We congratulate ourselves for the special privilege for having such and rare giant in our midst.

Dare Babarinsa is the chairman and editor-in-chief, Gaskia Media Limited. He delivered this citation on Rt. Revd Peter Adebiyi, the Lord Bishop of Lagos West of the Church of Nigeria, (Anglican Communion) at Archbishop Vinning Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja, Lagos, on Saturday, April 27, 2013.

Via: Sun News Online