Elections were held and it was announced that the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, was elected president of the country. What Nigerians should do is to pray for the success of his administration when he assumes office.
Where were you born and who were your parents?
I am a native of Ijelu Ekiti in the Oye Local Government of Ekiti State. My parents were Abraham Ajigbotafe Ipinmoye, who died when I was going up to four years. My mother was Abigail Olumoye Ipinmoye, who died in 2000. My mother was my father and mother because she took up the responsibility and did what my father should have done for me.
How was life growing up without a father?
(Teary eyed) Life was not easy and not interesting for me. My father was a polygamist. I still grew up to know the wives and children. I had brothers and a sister, but I am the only one from my mother. I did not know my father before he died. I have never seen his picture before. But anytime I did something in my village, people would say ‘omo baba re ni’ (he is the son of his father). I grew up in that situation. I grew with it with the mentorship of my mother.
Which schools did you attend?
I gained admission into Christ’s School, Ado Ekiti in 1957 and also Aquinas College, Akure, same year, but I had no money to go, so it was decided I go to Modern School, which was less. But again, my mother could not afford the money to see me through school and I failed my modern school examination. It pained my mother especially because out of every other member of the group from my village that went to Ikole for the modern school education, I was the only one who failed. When I went to check my result and I discovered that I failed, my mother started to cry because she owed some people. I consoled my mother not to cry. I assured her that, “where all those people (who passed) get to in life, if you give me peace of mind, I will get there and go beyond them.’’ She wiped her tears and to the glory of God, nobody can say who or where Michael Ipinmoye is in my village. If you ask five people after me, four and half will say ‘that is his house.’ Life was not easy with me, it was not at all, but determination determines destiny. If you have a focus and you believe in God and you focus on Him, He will take you to places.
After you failed the modern school examination, how did you put yourself together to forge ahead?
My childhood ambition was to meet up with those people who passed the examination. When you passed then, your salary would be six pounds, eight shillings and six pence. I said I would want to meet them. Then, I was taken to the farm as a farm boy, but my mother said this boy would not make any headway there, so I had to return to school. She sent me to her brother in Jebba in 1957. The uncle tried every means to see that I returned to school but all failed. I had a half-brother, Venerable Ipinmoye, he is late now. He was in Isoyin in Ijebu Ode, he asked me to go and stay with his wife who had just been delivered of a baby. I was there when a message came from Ijelu Ekiti that our church needed me because I was a signatory to the church account as young as I was then. I packed my things and returned to Ijelu.
The Baba Egbe of our church said I should go and greet our church District Council Chairman, Rev. Robert Osinsanwo. In those days, when elderly people sent one on an errand, one cannot say no. It was an abomination in Ekiti to say no to an elderly person. The following day, I went there, met the man and told him that Baba Egbe asked me to come to greet him. He asked me to sit down. The man asked me where I felt I could live between Osin Ekiti and Itapaji Ekiti. I said Osin would be better for me if I were to choose one. He asked me why. I had considered that I could trek from Osin to Ijelu without stress but for Itapaji, I would have to walk a long distance in the bush. I considered that a dangerous one. He said ‘okay, tomorrow, February 14, 1965, go and conduct a service for them in St Andrews Anglican Church, Osin Ekiti. That was how I started ministry. I have worked for the Church of Nigeria for 58 years.
So you didn’t attend a school of theology?
No. They called us church agents then. It is after one has passed the exam to the theology school or seminary that one can go. So, with Modern School failed, I was given employment as a church agent. But in 1967, I passed the exam to Vining Christian Leadership Centre, Akure, I left the centre in 1970. At Vining, we were trained to be catechists and then to be academicians. They taught us and introduced us to intense reading. At Vining, I passed the London GCE, which I registered for in 1974. I went to Emmanuel College of Theology and left there in 1977. In 1985 or thereabout, at age 45, I went to the University of Ilorin. I left there in 1988. Since then, I have been around.
How do you feel at 80?
I feel great, I feel fulfilled, I feel the faithfulness of God and I have always enjoyed His grace. I am happy.
What are you happy for?
I am happy about many things. One, that I am still alive. I know many of my peers whose families will point to their burial places. I know there are some of my mates who cannot lift themselves even if they are alive. Most especially, I am happy seeing my grandchildren, playing with them– pulling me here and there. I am happy at 80, enjoying God’s grace.
As a retired bishop, what are your thoughts on Nigeria?
My thinking about Nigeria is that one day, God will intervene in its affairs. I was born and raised in Ekiti State before I left about 58 years ago for church ministry. But the way things are now is scary. I want to believe we caused it. God blessed us so much in Nigeria more than many other countries, but because of self-centeredness, we pushed aside God’s mercy and grace for us. Politically, if we want to be the type of Nigeria God wants us to be, we have to reverse. We have to take 10 steps backwards to catch up with the grace and blessing of God for us.
Let me start with the National Assembly members, I do not know how much they earn per month! We must make the legislature something that people will do voluntarily, so that the members will earn only allowances, like a part-time thing. We waste money on things we should not waste money on. One of such things in this country is politics. How much do they earn at the House of Representatives? How much do those at the Senate earn per month? I don’t know, I have not been there. I am not one of them but I heard that what they call a wardrobe allowance alone for each member is more than what many workers put together can get. What are they using that type of money for? God loves us so much, but again, we have taken God’s grace for granted.
Many eminent Nigerians celebrated you on your birthday. How did you feel listening to their tributes?
During the thanksgiving service, the Lord Bishop of Ekiti said that Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji; a former governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko; and a former governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, should say something in the church. They paid tributes; neither my wife nor I could remember what Governor Oyebanji said about me. He said there was a time he came to our house with the then Governor Adeniyi Adebayo when he was PA or whatever to the former governor and that he was hungry when they got there. He said that we prepared pounded yam for them as an Ekiti person and they ate in our house. He said that he who was the PA that we gave food to in Akure that day is the governor of today to the glory of God. It touched me emotionally. If we did not do that at the time, he would not have said it. But he would have had it in mind that ‘is this a man of God?’ ‘Are you sure this is a man of God – we got to his house, he could not give us even water to drink? It touched me.
What lesson did you learn through the event?
That we should see ourselves as our brothers’ keepers. You don’t have anything. Whatever you have was given to you by God, eat from it, give to the less-privileged ones, give to those who do not have, go to your villages and treat them well there. Go there to relieve the tension of the villagers. Nobody can satisfy everybody, but let them feel your impact.
How do you feel about your retirement 10 years ago?
I feel great, fulfilled and happy. Though I retired 10 years ago after serving for 48 years, we serve till death.
Kindly share some fond memories of your ministerial experience.
My ministerial experience has been good and bad. Let me start with the bad side: As a pastor, pastor is a general name now, during our days, when you have a parish, you are the pastor of the parish. What a pastor meant then was that your focus is on the parish until you are moved from there. What broke my heart most then was when I received bad news about my members. It would be as if the incident happened to me. The most difficult aspect of it was when I was asked to break the news – his child died, he had an accident – I am an emotional person and I cried. When conducting a funeral service for a young person, they said ‘lower it (the body into grave).
The parents are my members. I know them and my mind would say ‘this thing you are lowering, what will be in the mind of the parents,’ then I would start to cry. These are bad experiences I had. My good ones – When you are good and you want to show God that you are good, when you come to tell me your child wants to marry, your child passed exams, your child is travelling abroad, your child has a job, such news gladdens my heart so much. I soaked myself into the ministry. With apology to my family (emphasis), I concentrated on my members more than my family when I was in service. Church members saw me more than my own family members.
How did you feel as a cleric when Nigerian leaders refused to obey admonitions from your sermons?
I felt bad though it may be one in five instances when they would not follow. I am not talking about the Federal Government, but in the states where I worked, the governors knew me for that – that I would not deceive them and would speak the truth from the Bible. They knew I would not accept bad gifts that would seal my mouth.
If you were at my 80th thanksgiving service, you would see that former Ondo State Governor, Olusegun Mimiko, said that when we were together, they respected and feared me. Again, anytime I travelled and I saw something good, I would return home and sell the idea to the governors – the late Ondo State Governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu; or Mimiko; the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati and the late military governor, Navy Captain Anthony Onyearugbulem. There was a time he quarrelled with me and I told him he was in the state to help us and not to lord it over us. Then I was provost. I called him to my office. That is my life.