Untold Story of Jesu Oyingbo..

The untold Story of Jesu Oyingbo..
In the beginning, there lived a man whose real
names were Olufunmilayo Immanuel Odumosu,
but he fondly called himself “Jesu Oyingbo”.
He was highly revered, adored and venerated by
his disciples and followers, who believed that he
loomed larger than life. He taught his adherents
that he was the real Jesus Christ and his
presence on earth was his second coming.
Indeed, many of Odumosu’s adherents had to
sell their properties, forsake their families and
joined the religious leader to build a spiritual
enclave.
Although the self-styled religious leader
proclaimed himself Jesu Oyingbo, he never
shared any trait with Jesus Christ who
resurrected the third day. In actual fact, he failed
to resurrect the third day as he had prophesied.
In this exclusive piece, popular online platform
Naij, narrated the journey of this Lagos god on
how he rose to become “god amongst men” in
oyigbo
Enjoy..
“I am He. I am Jesus Christ, the very one whose
second coming was foretold in the New
Testament. I have come, and those who believe
in me will have an everlasting life and joy. I am
the missing of the trinity. I have come to
prepare the faithful for the judgment day.” It was
this declaration made in June 1959 that officially
marked the transformation of 43-year-old
Immanuel Olufunmilayo Odumosu to Jesu
Oyingbo.
It was on the basis of the convincing and
convicting declaration that he set up a group
headquartered in Oyingbo suburbs of Lagos
state. It did not take him time to draw to himself
a crowd of people who were interested in his
supposed supernatural personality.
This group of loyalists trooped to his enclave
which he called the Universal College of
Regeneration (UCR), believing in totality in his
larger than life image he created. Perhaps his
background in the carpentry vocation with his
uncle, which is similar to what Jesus Christ had
with his foster father Joseph, led them to believe
in the genuineness of the Ijebu-Ode born
Immanuel proclamation. On his own part, he
claimed that his declaration was a result of a
divine revelation straight from the chambers of
heaven.
He claimed that having no formal education,
when he suddenly received insight into the
secret meanings of the Bible, as well as the
power to perform miracles, “save people from
their earthly worries, comfort and redeem them,”
he knew that he was the second coming of
Jesus Christ, the “I AM.”
He emphasised that he did not need to be a Jew
before he could be Jesus, since he and his
followers were simply Jews in dispersion.
Oyingbo, being a bubbling municipal area in the
Lagos which was in itself the capital of
commercial activities in the country, his
activities drew attention to Lagos in the way
ants are drawn to sugar. In no time, the country
was awash with tales about the man who had
declared himself to be the living reincarnation of
Jesus Christ. However, his pattern of apostleship
was distinctly different from the Bible records of
Jesus Christ or any of his apostles.
First of all, his mode of conversion involved
flogging the new convert nine strokes of the
cane —a cane which many said he inherited from
his grandfather. He described the strokes being
given to them as the baptism which they needed
to become a part of the flock under his care.
Also, all his members were brought under the
communal enclave. The baptism haven been
done, these converts went back to their families,
packed their belongings, forsook the world and
followed him.
Despite attempts by different families to hold
him responsible for such actions, he always
came out of the police cases clean.
These members then formed not only his
congregation, but also his workforce, as he was
what one might describe as a “Pastorpreneur”
owning a printing outfit, a bakery, restaurant,
barbing salon, a construction company, real
estate development and other business outfit
within his community.
He was very particular when he stated clearly
that his wealth was not a result of offerings from
his flock, but income from the businesses, even
though he sometimes received gifts from them
despite the fringe benefits which he considered
his entitlement as “their Redeemer.”
One of these fringe benefits was the fact that he
had unlimited access to any of the wives of the
men in his flock, and could choose to do with
them whatsoever he pleased.
In this light, there was an occasion when he
married a man’s wife in order to punish him for
his errant behaviours. On another occasion, he
handed over the wife of an unruly member to
other men in the flock.
Not to mention that at his will, he could choose
to call any of the women who pleased him to
satisfy his needs at any time. Notwithstanding
any of these, he married a large number of wives
ranging somewhere between 30 and 80. The real
number of his wives was not possible to
determine, as the communal lifestyle adopted
where any members’ wives could be found in
acting capacity.
In June 1959, as at which time he already had
seven wives, when he was asked about his
polygamous intentions, he said: “I have not
finished with wives yet. I am going to marry
more. To save the faithful, I must behave like
one of themselves.
I must marry more women, for are they not the
sheep and I the shepherd?” Since he had
unquestioned sexual privileges over the wives of
any and every of his member, being his divine
benefit for leading them out of darkness to the
light, he must have been faithfully tending the
flock in his own unique way.
However, most official reports place the figure of
his personal wives somewhere around 34, about
three of whom were his biological daughters.
The number of his children was also impossible
to pin down since some of the members of his
enclave went as far as adopting Odumosu as
their surname, but about 80 were officially listed
and recognised. Most of his children were
sheltered and protected within the enclave, and
did not even get formal education except for a
few whose mothers took charge of it. However,
they enjoyed other privileges like cars and
drivers at their disposal to move around as well
as financial benefits.
Out of this number, it was gathered that not all
accepted the religion or mode of worship and a
few even left the community as they refused to
be coerced into adopting a religion they were not
comfortable with.
One of his daughters, Bukola Immanuel
Odumosu, a graduate of Economics from Lagos
state university stated bluntly that even though
he was clearly her father, she had doubt about
him being her saviour. Interestingly, he was also
said to be practising a unique religion which
blended Christianity, Islam, African traditional
religions and even paganism. He also blended it
with the profiteering motive of his business
outfits.
With about 700 followers, he had more than
enough work force for his businesses. On a
personal level, he was described by neighbours,
friends and even his children as a lively, nice and
humorous man who was friendly with all, and
never got tired of trying to convert them. Most
of his neighbours said the only issue they had
was the noise caused by their activities from the
early hours of the morning, even though they
could not complain.
He, however, entertained them in the evenings by
projecting movies for people to gather and
watch, creating a sort of cinema-like experience
for them. Even though he later relocated to
Maryland, the name Jesu Oyingbo stuck, having
been where he started.
There is even a Yoruba song that acknowledged
his divinity claim despite not quite accepting of
the claim which goes thus: Emi o mo Jesu
Oyingbo, Emi o mo Jesu Agege, Emi o mo Guru
Maharaji, Jesu ti mo mo l’apata ayeraye!!!.
Meaning; I don’t know Jesus of Oyingbo, I don’t
know Jesus of Agege, I don’t know Guru
Maharaji,
The Jesus that I know is the rock of ages! Most
Lagosians who were born long after his death,
most likely first heard the name through this
song. Notably, most of his buildings on Immanuel
Street, Maryland had the inscriptions such as
‘’Merciful and Mighty,’’ “Prince of Peace” and
‘’Everlasting Father.” Some of them were also
surrounded by statues of Christ, caterpillar
tractors, sculptures of lions and mermaids with
water spurting from their mouths, a situation
which caused people to wonder exactly what his
religion was about.
He justified his liberal and abundant life by
saying that while the first Jesus came to
sacrifice and suffer, taking care of the cross-
carrying and crucifixion, he, the second Jesus
simply came to enjoy life. “I have come to enjoy
my life, my friend.” In his life, he amassed
abundant wealth both in cash and kind.
He had a vast estate and some of his listed
properties included numbers 7A, 7B, 9,
10,11,13,14,15,17 Emmanuel Street, Maryland,
Lagos; 37 Aliu Street via Felicia Ayodeji Street,
off Ikorodu Road, Ketu, Lagos; 570/622/624
Ikorodu Road, Ketu, Mile 12, Lagos. It was also
believed that he left properties and funds in the
UK. Unexpectedly, nature called and the
supposedly immortal “Jesu Oyingbo” answered.
He was gripped by the cold hands of death in
1988 when he was aged 73, and he died in an
hospital outside the commune. Most of his
followers did not believe that their messiah had
died, and waited for him to resurrect after three
days, and when he failed to, most of them got
disheartened.
As could be expected from a husband to many,
and father to dozens, he died without a will and a
mini civil war began soon after concerning the
sharing of the assets. It was wives against
wives, children against children and even some
long-term members of the movement who felt
they were entitled to the properties joined in the
battle.
The fight was both petty and dirty, and the
struggle so immense that the eldest son,
Olukayode Immanuel Odumosu took them to
court. It was in the court that the issues were
not only resolved, but a lot of improprieties
which were being perpetrated within the enclave
were brought to the light including the sharing of
wives and incestful relationships. In 1997, the
children won and the disciples who were resident
in Pa Odumosu’s Maryland spiritual enclave in
Lagos were evicted. On 18th June 2014, Justice
Ronke Harrison of the probate division of the
Ikeja High Court ruled that all 167 children are
entitled to share in the vast estate as
beneficiaries in equal proportion. It was at this
point that the church of Jesu Oyingbo which
already had a deep crack in its foundations
following the death of their messiah, crumbled
completely.
With the left over members leaving, the 56- year-
old Olukayode who had been trying to hold the
pieces together left to find some freedom for
himself. But today, in an otherwise well-kept
neighborhood in this city of eight million people,
weeds have pushed through the cracks in the
imperial courtyards and dust has settled inside
the deserted buildings.
The enclave, which is now just made of deserted
buildings has become a hideout for criminals and
the few members left do not even have enough
momentum to pull more into the fold.
The empire which his son, in 1998, said would
resurrect is yet to resurrect just as its founder
failed to resurrect. In fact, we Nigerians await
the second coming of Jesu Oyingbo.