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Jesus Christ Of Oyingbo ( Jesu Oyingbo) : Meet The Nigerian Jesus Christ / History Of Jesu Oyingbo In Lagos / The Shocking Unbelievable Story Of Jesu Oyingbo,The Self-acclaimed Nigeria Jesus (2) (3) (4)
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Jesu Oyingbo by muyico(m): 8:03am On Apr 09, 2020 |
The 1950s in Lagos, Nigeria witnessed the
shocking declaration of a middle aged
Ijebu man named Olufunmilayo
Immanuel Odumosu aka Jesu Oyingbo as
the long awaited Jesus Christ. Many
people laughed, shook their heads in utter
disbelief while those who believed him
thanked their stars for witnessing the
second coming of Jesus Christ. The latter
set of people packed their belongings and
deserted their homes and families for the
communal enclave of Jesu Oyingbo.
His 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.
Odumosu was born in 1915 to Jacob
Odumosu, his grandfather was Joseph
Odumosu, a famous traditional healer in
Ijebu Ode. Trained as a carpenter, he
served with the Post and Telegraph
Department during World War II. An
active member in the postal workers
union.
A general strike in 1945 led to his
disengagement from the department. He
took on carpentry work and opened a
shop on Lagos Island close to Oil Mill
Street. However, he struggled as a
carpenter and was constantly in debt, he
was jailed for six months on charges
brought by his creditors.
During this period, Odumosu attended
various Protestant churches in Lagos, but
soon claimed he received visions and
dreams from God. He interpreted some
of the visions as messianic visions and
that he was chosen as a messiah that has
come to redeem the world.
He began his rebirth by holding evening
meetings close to his shop.
His religious movement started in 1952 at
a location in Lagos Island. At onset, initial
congregation was small, about 30
members could be counted in 1954.
During this time, he instituted tithe giving
to assist the poor, Odumosu also
encouraged members to fund his
evangelical missions. His movement
began to grow and better organized, the
growth assisted with a donation by a
wealthy convert who provided his
property for Odumosu's use.
Since the founding of the movement,
members lived at their own residences,
but after the movement to Ebute Metta,
Odumosu asked them to leave their
houses and live in rented properties close
to the church building.
Members declared their wealth to
Odumosu who took 10% of the tithe and
charged them rent. To expand his
movement, he began preaching his
sermon with loudspeakers placed outside
in the church hall, at a location close to
Oyingbo Market, where he was
sometimes derisively called 'Jesu
Oyingbo'. To initiate new male members,
he will whip them with nine strokes of
cane.
“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
He reduced his sermons and began to
initiate various business ventures to fund
a New Jerusalem. Among the ventures
were Jolly Makers and Happy Day food
canteens, Deluxe bakeries makers of
Goodluck bread, the properties housing
this venture were then expanded to
include barber shops and lodging.
Economy wise, the various businesses
provided wages to his followers.
Odumosu's sexual practices were less
conservative than other Christian
denominations and he was said to have
established sexual rights over many
females within his sect.
Jesus Oyingbo was religiously tolerant,
mixing, for example, Christian statues
with Islamic and pagan symbols on his
compound. But he was, perhaps too
tolerant, in ways that drew accusations
that he was operating a cult.
Passers-by would notice that some of his
buildings on Immanuel Street, Maryland
had the inscriptions such as ‘’Merciful and
Mighty’’ and ‘’Everlasting Father,’’
surrounded by statues of Christ,
caterpillar tractors, sculptures of lions and
mermaids with water spurting from their
mouths.
Other inscriptions on the buildings
included “Prince of Peace”.
People often traced his power and
charisma to attract followers to a cane he
allegedly used to convert new adherents
through supernatural means.
But, a source claimed that the cane was
bequeathed to him by his grandfather.
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?”
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.
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.
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. |
Re: Jesu Oyingbo by rottable(m): 9:57am On Apr 09, 2020 |
I read everything. Nigerian are very easy to scam 1 Like |
(1) (Reply)
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