Pastor Bimbo Odukoya: A Tribute

With the passage of time, it’s almost two weeks already; I am finally able to articulate what grief had made me incapable of putting into words. Pastor Bimbo’s (Pastor Bims to those of us at Fountain of Life) death is a tragedy of immeasurable proportions for me and this is not to belittle or discountenance the passing of the innocent children of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja as well as the other hapless Nigerians who were also on that ill fated Sosoliso flight.

As a member of the Fountain of Life church, this tragedy hit too close to the bone. Late to church on that Sunday, my wife and I had missed the announcement but we could not miss the subdued and solemn ambience which hung over the church like a shroud. But it was when the sermon was cut short so we could pray for the wounded, the grieving and Pastor Bims, that my wife turned to the man seated next to us and asked what was amiss. That was when we learnt that our beloved Pastor Bims had been on Flight 1145.

The news was that she was alive but in critical condition and like other members of our church we had held on to that slim thread of hope, but that hope had such a terribly slim back which had broken by the time we turned on the TV later that evening.

I met Pastor Bimbo like many others through her programme, Single and Married. As a newly married couple, my wife and I used to have our breakfast on Sundays with her voice in the background and with time we would catch ourselves mimicking the way she said: “Talk to me!”

When we had problems with our local church after our wedding, we sat down and tried to decide on where to worship. My wife had suggested Fountain of Life and even though we knew next to nothing about Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, the head pastor of Fountain of Life, we had gone to their Ilupeju head office and fallen in love with the wonderful couple who had made it their life mission to build a nation of virtuous men and women by starting from the root: the family.

Pastor Bims was a woman of integrity and what endeared me to her and her unassuming husband was their sincerity. They were the first pastors I saw whose kids never missed church services and whose kids were always active in church.

And I remember that when it was time to start our building fund, I was moved deeply when Pastor Bims and her husband sold their jeep to set the ball rolling.

As President of the Discovery for Women and chief Marriage Counsellor, Pastor Bims brought comfort to many couples like my wife and I with her witty, down-to-earth teachings and one-on-one counselling. Most marriages within and without the Fountain of Life are still intact today, thanks to Bimbo Odukoya.

And the range and scope of her influence is discernible in the way young women – Christians and Moslems alike – would be found imitating Pastor Bims when something shocks or amuses them. The word or expression: Ray-bos-kay! has entered the lexicon thanks to Pastor Bims.

I remember her now, her chubby face lit up with laughter and her eyes twinkling as she advised women to submit to their husbands while urging the men to love their wives. I also remember her advice to us men when she attended our Married Men’s fellowship: tell yourself that no woman is woman enough to take your wife and God will make sure it is so.

My heart bleeds for her family; especially her husband who she never tired of telling us married her as a virgin after years of courtship. That testimony was her own way of admonishing singles to steer clear of pre-marital sex. Her message was simple; if I could do it, you can too.

And we all tried to be like her, to love our wives more and more each day in keeping with the example Pastor Taiwo, her husband, showed us while our wives tried to love us more and more each day as they aimed to follow in Pastor Bims’ footsteps.

I also think of her young children who will now have to grow up without their lovely mother. I wonder how Jimi and his sister, Tolu, felt in far away America when the sad news was broken to them, not having been here at home like their younger sister.

I don’t know this for sure, but I can surmise that reading the papers since her death was announced and seeing the outpouring of grief, in interviews, editorials, and feature stories chronicling the life of his beloved wife who died at a youthful 45 years of age, Pastor Taiwo must be shocked to discover that so many of us loved her more than he did because she was to many of us the mother we would have loved to have, the sister we would have liked to grow up with, the wife we know we could never have.

For me, reading all the eulogies that have flowed out to her in the print and broadcast media, I have almost wished I was the one who had died and was being celebrated! The celebration of her life is the truest testimony of the legacy she has left behind.

Pastor Bims lived a good life and fought the good fight and she touched lives not only in Nigeria or in Africa but all over the world and death has only underlined that beautiful fact.

The last message Pastor Bims preached before her death was “Sowing Your Life as a Seed for God” and it was a fitting epitaph for a woman who died in the service of the Lord and we know that the life she has sowed as a seed will yield a bountiful harvest.

Rest in Peace, Pastor Bims.