The Senior Pastor and founder of Fountain of Life Church, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, who passed away on Monday, August 7, in the United State of America at the age of 67, has no doubt, left a hole in the hearts of many who love him. His death was confirmed and officially announced by his Church, Fountain of Life, on their social media platforms.
Top Society put together few things you might not know about the alternative clergyman, whose demise came as a shock to many.
1. Pst. Taiwo Odukoya was born on June 15, 1956 in Kaduna State, where he was also raised.
2. Late Pastor Taiwo was twin.
3. He had his primary and secondary education at Baptist Primary School, Kigo Road, Kaduna and St. Paul’s College (now known as Kufena College, Wusasa) Zaria respectively.
4. He proceeded to the University of Ibadan in 1976 where he obtained a degree in petroleum engineering in 1981.
5. As a petroleum engineer, he started work at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in April 1982 after the compulsory one-year National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme, and served there until his voluntary retirement in January 1994 after his call to the ministry.
6. In 1984, Pastor Taiwo married Bimbo Williams, a relationship expert of her time, who he co-founded the Fountain of Life Church with in 1992. He met her in 1980 in the University of Ibadan and they dated for four years.
7. The couple had three beautiful children. Jimmy Odukoya (Actor), Tolu Odukoya Ijogun (Gospel Musician/Preacher), Tobi Odukoya (Psychologist/Therapist)
8. Pastor Taiwo Odukoya had lost three loved ones to the cold hands of death, before his demise.
9. His first wife, Bimbo Odukoya died in the Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crash in 2005, which claimed the lives of 102 other people.
10. In 2014, nine years after his wife, Bimbo died, Pst. Odukoya trended for a controversial statement he made about Pastors owning and flying private jets. “Pastors are well advised to use private jets: such aircraft better facilitate pastoral ministry and are a safer means of travel than commercial flights.” he said.
11. Five years after the death of Bimbo, Pastor Taiwo married a second wife Rosemary Simangele Zulu also known as Nomthi, from South Africa, on January 5, 2010.
12. Rosemary gave him two beautiful children, Timileyin and Jomiloju Odukoya.
13. He lost his second wife to cancer on November 9, 2021.
14. Few weeks after his second wife, Pastor Nomthi Rosemary passed, Pastor Taiwo’s twin sister, Kehinde Hassan, also died from cancer, in December 2021.
15. Before his demise, he was the senior pastor of The Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos, with a membership strength of over 8,000 people.
