Pastor Taiwo Odukoya died on Monday, August 7 in the United States of America (USA) as confirmed in a statement released by his church on Facebook.
EARLY LIFE:
Taiwo Odukoya was born on June 15, 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.
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.
FIRST WIFE:
In 1980, Taiwo Odukoya met Bimbo Williams at the University of Ibadan and together they both entered into a relationship that graduated into marriage four years after, in the year in 1984.
The marriage produced three children.
THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE CHURCH ORIGIN:
Together as a couple, 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. Incidentally, Bimbo captured the hearts of many with her style of teaching women how to build their family lives.
THEIR MINISTRY OUTREACHES:
With a nationwide membership numbering about 8,000, Odukoya proclaimed a firm belief in the role of the church in the community and expresses it through several outreach projects including a hospital, an orphanage, a school for destitute children, a farm, a water project which provides boreholes at strategic locations for people who have no access to clean and portable water and a skill acquisition and entrepreneurial institute for the less privileged.
On April 19, 1997, Taiwo Odukoya set up Discovery for Men and Discovery for Women, non-denominational outreaches to men and women designed to help them maximize their potential.
These outreaches reach out to hundreds of thousands of men and women annually through quarterly rallies, mentorship programs, and a vocational center to equip them with technical and practical life skills.
CONTROVERSY:
Just like any other individual, Odukoya was not without controversy. For instance, in
2014, nine years after the death of his first wife, he readdressed the matter of the plane crash that made him a widower.
He however 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, this was in the heat of controversies surrounding Pastors and their ownership of private jets.
SECOND WIFE:
On January 5, 2010, five years later, Taiwo Odukoya got married again to Rosemary Simangele Zulu from South Africa. The marriage produced two boys.
TAIWO ODUKOYA: DEATH OF HIS WIVES
On 10 December 2005, his wife, Bimbo, along with 102 other people, died on the crashed Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145.
In November 2021, yet again Odukoya lost his second wife Rosemary Simangele Zulu 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 ODUKOYA NET WORTH:
Taiwo Odukoya’s net worth or net income is estimated to be $1 million – $5 million dollars. He has made such an amount of wealth from his primary career as a Writer.
Net Worth | $1 million – $5 million |
Annual Salary | Under review |
Source of Income | Writer |
Verification Status of Wealth | Not verified |
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