These last few weeks has been full of many gracious wishes from the renowned General Overseers and acclaimed men of God in Nigeria as Reverend Mike Oye clocks his 80 in good health and unwavering agility. Although to many people, especially the younger generation within the Body of Christ in Nigeria, the name Mike Oye may not really ring any bell in their hearing as many of them seem not to be so accustom to the name, or the great works he has done through the grace of God, particularly for the Church in Nigeria. Mike Oye was the first Travelling Secretary to the Scripture Union from 1966-1972. As a Travelling Secretary he worked and travelled around the nation, inspiring the heart of the young ones and winning them over to the Lord; many of the then young men are now General Overseers, Bishops, and great men in their various endeavours, to the glory of the Lord. To many of the older generations, Mike Oye is a household name that has left his mark upon the sand of time, hence the celebration of his age in spite of many waters that have passed under the bridge for him. Mike Oye as a travelling secretary has risked his own life many times just to see men come to the true knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ. Immediately after the Civil War in Nigeria, Mike Oye was part of the pioneers in delivering relief for the brethren in the East, not only in terms of material support, but also to encourage and strengthen them in the Lord through his message of love, kindness, compassion and standing unmovable for the Lord in times of trials and afflictions.
Mike Oye in the time of intellectuality when being a graduate attracts not only a good salary and living a royalty lifestyle, but also distinguish you among the crowd with a honour of being referred as Akowe everywhere you go, in a time when even kings come for convocation that one of their indigenes is now a graduate of a university, he put all those accolades aside, in pursuit of his God whilst delivering His compassion to the unreachable.
“By the time I came to Christ, one of the names that stood out bright, beckoning the rest of us to come closer and closer to Christ was Mike Oye” says the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God worldwide, Pastor E. A. Adeboye. We saw in him, someone who had gone through the road that we were beginning to travel; someone who could say to us come along, the grace of God that is sufficient for me will be sufficient for you. “The works which he has done to and in this nation has been very great”, says Pastor Poju Oyemade of Covenant Christian Centre, Lagos. Reverend Jacob Ajetunmobi, a retired Reverend in Anglican Church, Nigeria, has also come out to say that he came to Immanuel College in Ibadan through the counsel of Mike Oye, “and I can tell you that being a leader in the Anglican Church today is because of Brother Mike’s counsel. All glory be to God for giving it all to the Lord.