Close friends call him the Alagbagba Boy. It’s somewhat an ironic name for a global figure, a giant in his own right who bestrides the colossus of a mega Church with real global spread. But Pastor Samuel Olusegun Oladele, President of Christ Apostolic Church, Nigeria and Overseas embraces that name with pride and passion.
True, Alagbagba was the place of his nativity. It is a village in Odeda Local Government of Ogun State. It was the village where his father, Elder Gabriel Oladele, an Ibadan man from Foko Area migrated to for farming and where he met and married his mother who gave birth to him on August 30, 1955. If you meet Pastor Oladele today and you stay with him for a few hours, he would have discussed something about Alagbagba within the one hour of your stay.
That he is proud of Alagbagba is an understatement, it’s something close to an obsession. He has sung ditties of that village. The name of the village has been registered in all the cities of the world where Pastor Oladele has had the privilege to touch with his feet.
As the man of God began celebration of his 70th birthday on Tuesday, August 26, the thought of his darling Alagbagba was uppermost on his mind. He wants the people in that village to experience the salvation of Jesus Christ. He is passionate about this since he knew that the salvation of Jesus transformed him from a village boy to a global Church leader.
The Evangelical Team of Christ Apostolic Church, led by the renowned General Evangelist of CAC, Prophet Hezekiah Oluboye Oladeji had dispatched a group of Evangelists to the village a few days earlier. They were conducting evangelical crusades, revival and prayer programmes. They were going to neighbouring villages spreading the message of salvation. That Tuesday, August 26, 2025 was the day set aside to bring their activities to a close and the President of CAC and his wife, together with his lieutenants and their spouses in tow were all at Alagbagba. The General Superintendent, Pastor Emmanuel Olatoro Odejobi, the General Evangelist, Prophet Oluboye Oladeji, the Finance Director, Pastor Foluso Omitinde and the Missions Director, Pastor Caxton Fasuyi, were there together with a host of senior Pastors, Regional Superintendents, Directors, DCC Superintendents and other categories of ministers in CAC and elsewhere.
Why is Pastor Oladele so obsessed with Alagbagba?
”The Bible says: “forget not the quarry from where you were hewn”, he quoted Isaiah 51:1; “So, I cannot forget this place… I am not more than this. I didn’t come from a millionaire background. Nor from a big, popular family, I was born in this village” he said.
“I thank God I was born here in a Christian home, both father and mother taught us in the way of the Lord. One of the servants of God that God had used in this village was Prophet Bankole, the man of God who prophesied my birth and the names I would bear as well as my destiny in the Gospel ministry”.
He was prophesied to be a glorious child, a minister of God in CAC and one who will reach top position in the Church. But Satan orchestrated all his wiles to derail that vision.
“I want to give thanks to God and I want my listeners, especially those who are hopeless now, to know that there is hope for everyone in Christ Jesus. God had written down what we are going to be in our lives and this cannot change. At the beginning, we went through a lot. There were storms, there were challenges and some shovings which we passed through,” he stated.
He went on to relate three of those storms he faced while in Primary school.
The first instance was how a mis-interpretation of what a teacher/ preacher on Sunday said, which Oladele misunderstood and for which he responded out of tune, became an issue for severe corporeal punishment for young Olusegun on Monday morning in the School during assembly.
He admitted that as a young boy he was tough, always having issues with some other children in the village. He was also fond of querying anything he felt was not appropriate. This toughness and inquisitiveness sometimes made people accuse him of doing things he knew nothing about.
He told the story of how somebody wrote an abusive graffiti against a teacher in his school. As they made effort to know who wrote the graffiti, they summoned all the Primary 5 pupils, Oladele was one of them to do a see-and-copy writing exercise in an exercise book. Oladele queried the rationale behind that task the teacher gave to them; unknown to him that somebody had written an abusive graffiti. He said ‘we are not in primary one, why are you giving us this type of assignment’?
The teacher who was abused in the graffiti eventually accused him of being the author of that offending graffiti. Despite his vehement denial, that his handwriting was different from the graffiti writer’s own, the teachers all met and decided he was the culprit. The young man was given severe punishment by causing him to lie on the foundation block of the Church under construction, where he was given severe beating. The worse part of it, he was asked to be cutting grasses behind the school block for four weeks. He carried out the bush-cutting exercise the first day after he had been thoroughly beaten, but once another teacher from another school intervened and the teacher who was abused in the graffiti said the grass-cutting punishment would last for four weeks Oladele became really angry.
Unable to accept that unjust punishment, he stopped going to school for several months. His action would have ended his education pursuit, but through divine intervention, he returned to school and completed his primary education.
The third incident came when he was about to leave primary school. His effort to go to secondary school met with financial difficulty faced by his peasant farmer parents. But a window of opportunity which opened to him suddenly closed against him when he was very close to achieving his goal. It happened that he was selected as one of the brilliant pupils to write the competitive examination set by the government for primary school pupils who were to be given scholarship into government secondary schools.
He had written arithmetic, and some other subjects in the morning. When they resumed in the afternoon to write the English Language test, he suddenly felt a sting in his leg by something. But he looked around carefully, no scorpion or any other biting insects, he continued his work. But suddenly he began to shiver for cold, rashes (called egbesi) was all over his body and his face. The teacher who accompanied him to the exam from his school was called into the hall. When the teacher spied on what he had done, he was convinced that if he could try a little bit more, there was no way he wouldn’t pass. He therefore encouraged him to try more. But Oladele, too feverish and sick said he couldn’t continue. That was how he left the exam hall; thus ended his last hope to go to secondary school through government scholarship.
On leaving school, he began to work as house boy. The woman he was serving as house boy saw his usefulness and she would not want to release him to his parents when they came to her to request that their son should be released to go and further his education.
The woman had retorted: “Segun cannot read again”. To which his mother sent to get him released snapped back; “Don’t say that again. Segun will go to school and read further. The overseas which your own daughter is going, Segun will go too and come back alive”. The statement turned out to be a prophecy which eventually became fulfilled.
The General Evangelist, Prophet Hezekiah Oladeji in his sermon taken from Hebrews Chapter 2: from verse 3 said Pastor Oladele, though as a boy was tough, but because he did not part ways with the salvation of Jesus, was able to overcome all the obstacles arrayed against his glory by all the powers of darkness. He then told the audience; “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…?”
He added, the plan of the devil for Pastor Oladele was for him to be condemned to a village boy’s life, hunting rabbits, squirrels and rodents. That’s why all those incidents were happening to him. They wanted to stop him from his destiny. But at all the stages where the devil’s agents had purposed to catch him, the salvation of Jesus made him to escape. He therefore, urged all the audience to embrace the salvation of Jesus Christ and witness the great turn-around which Pastor Oladele experienced.
As he made the altar call, several people gave their lives to Jesus Christ.
Praying for the new converts, the General Superintendent, Pastor Emmanuel Olatoro Odejobi said not only does the salvation of Jesus set people free from the boundage of the devil, it makes them to see the favour of God and man; it also makes their growth easier and allows them to fulfill destiny.
Pastor Oladele who had been prophesied to be a minister of God in Christ Apostolic Church and that he would reach very top position in the Church entered the ministry at the age of 13 years and 11 months. He had trained at CAC Bible Training College Akure and he had had academic, field and administrative experiences before becoming the Church’s General Superintendent.
Pastor Oladele was appointed as General Superintendent of Christ Apostolic Church in 2014 and he served diligently for six years before becoming the President of Christ Apostolic Church in January 2021. On assumption of office, Pastor Oladele unveiled the three-point agenda of his administration as follows:
- · Unity of the Church
- · Human Capital Development and
- · Structured Evangelism and Church Planting
To the glory of God, significant achievements of these goals have been recorded in the past four years of the administration.
For instance, over 3000 Senior Pastors of the Church have attended the Pastors’ Leadership Retreat (PLR), since its commencement in January 2022. The training program is the brain-child of the President and is managed by the CAC Leadership Academy (CACLA) – the Training arm of the Church. There is also a revival of the word of God since the commencement of this administration with the introduction of Centralized Bible Study Manual, Discipleship Training Manual, Apostolic Visits and numerous evangelical crusades, revivals and prayer programs in various parts of Nigeria and overseas.
Pastor Oladele’s desire for one-Christ Apostolic Church remains unflinching and we trust God that it shall be realized in his time.
Structural and Infrastructural developments remain one of the hallmarks of this administration as can be seen in the various appointments and policies made by the President as well as the physical projects undertaken by his administration. The re-positioning of the Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), and resuscitation of the CAC Centenary Building Project in Ikeji-Arakeji are pointers to his belief in continuity of leadership.
Pastor Oladele, by his exemplary conduct and ministry, has helped to restore Christ Apostolic Church to her rightful place in the comity of Churches in Nigeria. His faith in God and the authority of His Word (The Bible) remains an anchor to which his leadership is moored.
On behalf of all Pastors and members of Christ Apostolic Church globally we celebrate the grace of God upon this icon of faith and pray that the Lord shall continue to satisfy him with long life, good health, soundness of mind and continued success, in the name of Jesus Christ.
PASTOR ADEMISOYE ALAWODE
DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY,
CAC, NIGERIA AND OVERSEAS
08058073890