Renowned journalist Babafemi Ojudu, who served as the late President Muhammad Buhari’s Special Adviser on Political Matters, has described how an Anglican church in Ise Ekiti, Ekiti State, transformed a somber funeral service for a politician and trader named Kehinde Adebowale Ajifolawe, nee Olokesusi, also known as Kenny Ise, into a fundraising event on Friday.
In such a painful moment, when the deceased’s friends and family were grieving over the loss of their loved one, who was reportedly in her fifties, guests and family members could hardly contain their rage and contempt for a religion that failed to be sensitive and exhibit empathy.
When Ajifolawe led the women’s wing of his campaign for the governorship ticket in Ekiti State in 2018, Ojudu, a former senator who served as the representative for Ekiti Central from 2011 to 2015, said he got to know her well. In a Facebook post that went viral on Monday, he said he last saw the deceased in June at his wife’s 60th birthday celebration, where she was her typical vibrant self, laughing, dancing, teasing, and correcting, bringing energy and light into every room she entered.
During the service, we were asked to donate four different times. We were instructed to place one more in the envelopes. That might have been missed. Then the startling moment arrived.
“Kenny’s two nieces, who are no older than teens, were asked to speak on behalf of her kids. They declared a ₦200,000 donation to the church with trepidation. Rather than expressing appreciation, the reverend scowled and remarked that it was “too small.”
I was appalled. The little girls froze in embarrassment. To spare them more humiliation, I had to stand up, grab the microphone, and increase the donation.
However, it didn’t stop there. Then, one by one, the reverend called on each mourner to come forward and publicly declare their contributions.
The crowd erupted at that moment.
“What are you doing?”
Are we here to purchase or to grieve? “What are you selling here?”
“Angry voices raised. Together, the assembly got up and started to leave. In order to host a one-hour service, women yelled that the church had already raised ₦100,000 “for diesel” in addition to various other fees.
The reverend’s face became white with shame. It was a chaotic, unpleasant, and enlightening moment.
The former senator expressed his sympathy for the plight of the nation’s religion and acknowledged that the occurrence undoubtedly caused him and other mourners great sadness.
“What was once a haven for the broken has turned into a marketplace,” Ojudu continued. Compassion has taken off.
“What was once a haven for the broken has turned into a marketplace,” Ojudu continued. Compassion has taken off.
“Weddings and funerals can now be used to raise money. Today, the pulpit serves as a counter. Salesmanship has supplanted the sacred.
This is not how the missionaries who introduced Christianity to this area acted. They provided free education, took in orphans, cared for widows, and grieved with the bereaved. “But their successors — our own clergy — have turned faith into business.” They donated without anticipating recompense. turning the altar into a cash register. turning the gospel into a product.
However, the novelist and journalist has urged immediate reforms, arguing that the events in Ise-Ekiti cannot be written off as a singular episode but rather as a sign of a more serious moral illness that is destroying the church’s soul.
“When mourners rebel inside a church, it is not rebellion,” he said. It is a moral outcry.
“The Nigerian church runs the risk of losing all moral authority if it does not rediscover humility, compassion, and service. Individuals will just stop coming, not because they no longer believe in God, but rather because they no longer trust those who profess to be His representatives.
