Heaps of charms dug out of church altar in Ilesa

Tunde Oyekola, Osogbo
Sunday, July 1, 2007

And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceives you. For many shall come in my name saying I am Christ, and shall deceive many… and many false prophets shall rise and deceive many, for there shall arise false christs and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”


The church Altar with white ceramic bowl and the charms


The above quotation taken from the Book of Saint Matthew chapter 24, verses 5, 11 and 24 were the words of Jesus Christ when he was answering questions from his disciples on the signs of the end time shortly before his arrest and crucifixition on the cross.


This issue manifested last Tuesday in Iretiayo area of Ilesa in Osun State where a heap of charms and amulets where dug out from the altar and entrance of a 22 year old church, CAC Temidire.


The medium sized hall, located in the premises of a house built by late Professor Olajuwon Olaide, a former vice chancellor of the University of Ibadan in the early 1980s and was named as CAC Temidire in Iretiayo Area became a tourist center as people from far and near, comprising of former worshippers of the church came to see for themselves, what was buried inside the altar of a holy of holies where they worship their God.


Sunday Tribune gathered that CAC Temidire was for the past twenty years being pastored by a woman simple identified as “Iya Adimula” (Real names withheld).


Among the various charms and amulets exhumed inside the altar and the two main entrance of the church were some concoctions which were preserved in a white ceramic bowl with cover, some objects wrapped with black local leather which were removed from the roof of the altar and a local clay pot that housed a live snake.


The discoveries were made by a pastor of a new Pentecostal Church, Covenant Church of Nations, Prophet Kehinde Babajide, who had just hired the building to be used as a place of worship for his members.


Prophet Babajide, a 40 year old Chemical Engineering graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife said that he had just secured the house and the church hall to be used as a place of worship about a week to the time of the discovery of the charms from a caretaker who was in charge of the building.


Babajide, a native of Esa-Odo in Obokun local government council of the state and a holder of a Master degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) said that he had been residing in Lagos since 1994 when he finished from OAU and had to come down to Ilesa in September 2005 following a message from God that He wanted to use him for His work.


Babajide, who said when he was into Chemical and Lubricant business in Lagos stated that he was attending CAC, Ile-Iyanu church, Ijoko road, Ijaiye, Lagos as a worker in the church, he received a revelation in 1997 that God said He would use him.


“By then, I was the head of the ushers and Deputy Secretary of the church and I was also a trainee Evangelist”.

He said that he later joined the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Church (MFM) in Lagos between 2002 and 2005 and “in July 2005, I had a revelation from God that I should proceed to Ilesa and by September 30, we came` to Ilesa and secured a building where we were holding our services and in May 2007, the rent we paid expired and the landlord said we should move out of the building.


“I secured this place last week and last Sunday was our first service. After the service, I was relaxing at the altar and I went into trance.


In the trance, I saw some insects such as flies and mosquitoes oozing out from the ground in the altar but while the trance was still going on, my wife came to wake me up and thus disturbed the message,” he said.


However, on Monday, God revealed to me and my co-evangelist at a conference in Abeokuta that we should go back to Ilesa and dig the altar that there were impure and unclean things buried inside the altar and the entrance of the church.



“This, we did in accordance to God’s instruction and we made these discoveries of heaps of charms and while we were digging the ground on the main entrance, there was a black pot from which a live snake came out when the digger broke the pot. It attempted to fight and attack us but some members of the community who were around helped us to kill it,” he said.



Elder Bode Osunkeye, who claimed to have attended CAC Temidire in 1987 but left when he discovered that the head of the church was using black power, stated that though the church was bearing CAC, it was not duly registered with the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC).

Elder Osunkeye, who said that he joined the church when he moved into his new house at Iretiayo Area, said that the woman who was the founder of the church used “Olorun Adimula” to pray for worshipers who came to the church and that was the reason why the woman was nicknamed “Iya Adimula”.



“When we moved to our new house in Iretiayo, we joined the church being CAC because the CAC church, Odundun Area in Ilesa was too far and we felt that since we are members of CAC, we should be worshipping in a nearby church,” he said.


Elder Osunkeye, who was rolling on the ground and praising God for victory, said that he faced a lot of problems and tribulations for some years after leaving the church because the woman threatened that he and his family should not leave the church.


Elder Osunkeye, who claimed to have known the history of the building, in which premise the church was located said that it was built by Late Professor Olaide around 1983 but the woman came to occupy the house in 1986 after the death of the former Vice Chancellor.



He said that some churches had attempted to use the building for worship when the woman left about four years ago but failed, citing as example, one Ebenezer CAC Gospel church which killed a big snake inside the church, and the church had to relocate to another place because people were no longer interested in worshipping at the place.


Another person who came to ascertain the news of the great discoveries, Mrs. Victoria Olopade, who said that she spent two months as a member of the church alleged that the founder used to enslave the members. She said “ My husband and I left the church because we did not like the mode of worship and secondly, we could not tolerate the idea of using church members as slaves.”


“Iya Adimula is a dragon to the people of the area” she alleged. Prophet Babajide said that he pitied those who were attending the church adding that such people were always in bondage.


He advised people to always go into serious prayers before they decide to join any church. He also advised pastors to always stick to the words of God as contained in the Holy Book adding “Pastors who know they are true servants of God should stick to the words of God as written in the Holy Bible.

The woman, who is founder of CAC Temidire could not be reached by Sunday Tribune for reaction as she was said to have relocated to Lagos few years ago after leaving the church and none of the people in the area knows her whereabouts.

what kind of church is this?.