Mere
sighting a coffin instils fear in many mortals. But for Prophet Pa Samuel
Olawale ( a.k.a Kogberegbe) it has no meaning as he sleeps in the coffin and in
the grave preaching the gospel.
Conspicuously
displayed on this Mountain of Prayer is a big van with the inscription, ‘The
Holy Michael Church of The Lord ( Aladura) Cherubim and Seraphim , Preacher
Prophet S.O Olawale
(a.ka.Kogberegbe).” In the said
vehicle is a big white-creamy painted coffin covered with a
black cloth
having the following words ‘THIS IS THE
END OF YOUR LIFE AND YOUR POST’
inscribed on it, all in capital letters!
Fear will
normally envelope most people seeing for the first time a coffin draped with
black cloth and a grave dug by the altar
. This is, however, a familiar sight to the congregation of this church. They
have grown used to it.
What is the
connection between an empty coffin and the church? Why should there be a grave
by the altar? These are questions begging for answer.
Speaking to
The Nation on why he keeps both strange and curious objects, the spiritual
leader and founder, Pa Samuel Olawale, who is in his 80s, declared ” Yes, it is true that I have a coffin
covered with a black cloth in the church , it is in a big van .Not only this, I
have a big hole dug by the altar. You
can go and see it, take the picture .But for the grave or the hole, it is by
the altar. And next time, I will open it
for you while I am there .The two
strange objects are pregnant with
meanings .I have reasons why I am keeping them there.”
While preachers , evangelists and men of God go out
preaching with the Holy Bible, asking
sinners to repent , Pa Samuel Olawale (
a.k.a Kogberegbe) goes out not only with the Holy Bible but always ‘armed’ with an empty coffin , a bell
in his hand, preaching to sinners to
repent and come to God.
He
said: ” Yes it is true that I am
carrying the coffin about while preaching and what I am trying to point out is
that no matter how wealthy you are you will not leave this world with these money , it all ends here .You will
not go into the grave with your wealth
or with money , be you a civil servant who stole money , be you an armed robber, be you a landlord or
a caretaker, your money and wealth ends
here the moment you are dead.”
He
continued: “Any time I go out, I would at times sleep in the coffin, telling
everybody that that is how we will end .Yes, we should remember this. If you
are buried with expensive coffin, clothes and jewelleries, all will be stolen from you in the night and
your carcass will be left .To me, life
has no meaning until we come to God .Things are going wrong in this world and
we should mend our ways.”
Kogberegbe
added: “Yes, I even sleep there (in the coffin and the grave) at times too, to
let us know that we will all end up in the grave!”
Asked
whether people read different
meanings to it , he replied: “Oh no, no, they all know that we are
preaching the word of God .It is just to let us all know that there is nothing
in this life. This is an ephemeral world, the grave is for prayer and we open
it every year while praying on the mountain.”
On what it
is in the grave, the old man said, “Nothing , it is empty , nothing .”
When this
reporter requested to see the coffin and the grave, the old man did not
hesitate as he called one of his disciples, Joshua Samuel, to take him there.
Road to the
mountain
The road to
the church’s mountain is about three kilometres from the residence. It is along
Ikotun/Ejigbo Road. The big church is located in a compound on the expansive
mountain.
On the
mountain is also a vehicle, and inside it is an object covered with a black
cloth. The reporter asked the guide, Samue,l to open it. The guide first of all screamed, “Holy Jah!,”
and prayed. He then removed the cover for this reporter to see the cream –
coloured coffin with the words: ‘THIS IS THE END OF YOUR LIFE AND YOUR POST’
inscribed on it. And after the reporter had taken some shots of photographs,
the guide again thanked Jah for His mercies and then covered it again.
According to
the guide, Kogberegbe is a bold man who is a man of God worshipping God
Almighty. He said while evangelising with the bus, they carry the coffin about
and would stop once in a while to bring out the coffin. In his words, “We carry
the coffin from the vehicle; it is normal coffin .We are about four people who
carry it while I would be in my church warrior soutane dress.”
Asked to
comment on the motive behind it, he said: “Baba is trying to show the world
that at the end of everybody in this
world, irrespective of his
status, whether you are rich or poor , whether you are a witch or wizard,
whether you have children or childless,
whether you are a tenant or landlord,
this is how and where we will all end .Baba would with a bell in his
hand sleep in the coffin in the public and be shouting on top of his voice to
everybody to come and see how everybody
would end. It is a big lesson for us all, and it is very interesting. It is
time we should all change from our bad behaviours and turn to Christ”
Encounters
with the evil spirit
Kogberegbe
also spoke to this reporter about his encounters with the evil spirit. He said
“I remember that we used to trek from Somolu to this mountain several years
ago. We faced many challenges. I can remember when on a midnight as myself and
two kids were going to the mountain, we got to the base of an Araba tree (
mighty tree), we saw a strange light
that beckoned at us from the tree top and we heard the voice that said
‘This stupid boy ( Kogberegbe ) has come
to disturb us again.’ But trust my God, nothing happened to me. I prayed and
the tree got dried up .It is God’s work .The evil spirit attempted to stop me
from worshipping God , but no evil spirit had the power. Again, at Ojuwoye,
they (evil spirits) fought us, and again I commanded the tree to dry up and it
happened. It is the work of God. Only God knows what havoc the tree could have
caused. You know a man with swollen scrotum cannot be a goalkeeper. And it is
God’s work, not of mine.”
Who is
Kogberegbe?
Call him a
stubborn agitator. Label him a non conformist; he is a different person
entirely from many other preachers. No wonder he is nicknamed Kogberegbe (A no
nonsense man). He said “My name is Samuel Olawale. When God called me, people
started calling me Kogberegbe, meaning a man who does not tolerate nonsense.”
He speaks
with authority, and his congregants listen with rapt attention. In his living
room, he conducts services and counsels those who come for counselling and
prays for them too. There are portraits of Jesus Christ and of some Saints hung
on the walls. In his living room are big rubber drums of water which he prays
on to become ‘holy water’ and this he gives to people to heal them of their
ailments.
He prays for
people who come to him for prayer. His voice is heard as he prays. People of
all status mill around him for prayer. Whenever he is praised that his prayer
works, he would tell you that it is not his handwork but God’s.
Immediately
he was told that he had a visitor from the press, he humbly left the
congregation to attend to this reporter. He is loved for his humility, passion
for mankind. One thing he is noted for is that he does not tolerate nonsense in
his church. In fact, he is treated as a king as his followers and other people
kneel down to talk to him.
A
disciplinarian to the core, in the presence of this reporter, Kogberegbe acted
out his name as he scolded one of his followers for removing his soutane and
going to another place when the service was still on. He admonished him for not
respecting God.
Genesis of
his life
He told The
Nation that: “I have been in evangelisation since 1957 when I was called and
started it .It is God that called me. I was once a police officer but that was
a long time ago .If God wanted to call you , he will do so
immediately and you will not steal, will not take another man’s wife,
will not be dubious. You must not tell lies because you want to be rich. Many
become prophets because of money. Most of you who are practicing journalism are
fraudsters. People are afraid to walk in the night. Many of you reporters are
fake and go about taking pictures, interviewing people about and collecting
money.”
He spoke
about the Boko Haram: “Now there is the problem of Boko Haram, and you don’t
know those praying for the country. Many of the prophets are doing that
silently. Those pastors and prophets using human blood for many things are devilish
and will go to hell fire. But God knows the truthful ones. Well, only God knows
who is worshiping Him. Today, the prophets and pastors are doing what they
like. But I love the Catholic, who suffer a lot and they are doing well. The Pentecostal Church is trying their best
too.”
But he
added, “He (God) said it is not those who called me God, God that will come to
His Kingdom. It is not all of us prophets, pastors, men of God that would go to
heaven’.
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