CHRISTIAN RELIGION IN OFFA
We need to relate the spread of Christianity in Offa because of the immense contribution of this religion to the development of our country. If we consider closely some of the development in this town, it would be discovered that they came with Christianity. It is not only in Offa that Christianity made this contribution, wherever there is civilization, there is Christianity. The religion is a light because it provided illumination into the darkness that hitherto existed in Offa. We therefore need to relate how this lightness came by and how it developed and spread in Offa.
The Christian religion came to Offa from Osogbo through Reverend A.W. Smith {who later became a Bishop} and his wife. They both belonged to the Church Missionary Society {C.M.S} and it was this society they founded in Offa. Reverend Smith and his wife came to Offa from Osogbo in 1907. They staged a mobile film show for the people at the present site of Offa Central Mosque. They stayed in Offa for two days before they returned to Osogbo. They were lodged at Elemona compound on this visit.
Nothing was heard again about these Missionaries until the year 1909 when Reverend Smith and his wife came on another visit to Offa. When they came on this visit, they erected their camp at a place where a man named Fasanu used to have his abode near Mr. J.O.S. Onawola’s house, adjacent to Ojomu Doyin compound. They came to Offa on a Saturday and left for Osogbo the following Monday.
As we were told, when these Evangelists were erecting their camp, Mr. Omidele of Rotimi compound and Mr. Onawola of Alagure compound came to assist them. We learnt that the first Sunday service held in the camp commanded the presence of Mr. Onawola and other youths in Offa who came out of curiosity. It was that same year, 1909, that Mr. Onawola embraced Christianity and started attending school.
In the year 1909 still, after the Evangelists had returned to Osogbo, Mr. E.A. Omobile from Ogbomoso came and settled at Offa. It was from here that he used to go to towns like Oyan, Obagun and some other towns in Ibolo land on pastoral visits. Omobile worked in this capacity till the year 1910.
After Mr. Omobile was transferred to Omofe-Ilesa in 1910, Reverend A.W. Smith and his wife came back to Offa permanently. After about three months, they brought Mr. Leke who was a native of Osogbo. Mr. Leke worked in the Church as well as taught in the School. Reverend Smith and his wife also taught in the School but the School period then ran from 9 am to 12 noon and 2 pm to 4 pm.
By this time, Mr. E.A. Adeleye came back to Offa. We need to recall that Mr. E.A Adeleye had embraced Christianity and was attending school in Ibadan under the tutelage of Reverend Olubi before he returned to Offa, his hometown.
During this period, teachers used to come from Osogbo on Sundays to teach in Offa. The Christians in Offa by the year 1909 when the religion was introduced in the town were:
Kasumu, Amos Tade, Odunsi, Abimbola, Roberts, Sesilo, Thomas Adu and Akinkunmi.
The Mission House located at the C.M.S. Church Idi-Olufon was built with the approval from the Oyo District Council, which also donated One Hundred Pounds towards the project. The construction was started in the year 1909, but it was during the tenure of Reverends D.A. Omoniyi and D.O. Ayorinde that the Offa congregation extended the building to its present size. It was also during their tenure that the building behind the Mission House were constructed; only a kitchen was constructed alongside the Mission House built by the C.M.S. in 1909. The bricklayer for the building was one Emmanuel Kehinde.
Mr. Oloyede Toriola was attending school in Offa at this period, but left Offa in 1912 for further education at Oyo. Oloyede Toriola was the first holder of Teachers Certificate {First Class} among those who schooled at the Oyo College*.
Evangelists were going from Offa to places like Igbajo and Oke-Ode for their activities by 1911. At the beginning of 1912, Mr. E.A. Otolorin came to Offa after Reverend Smith and his wife returned to Osogbo. Mr. Otolorin was the first product of Oyo College to take up teaching appointment at Offa. He also did some pastoral works with his teaching duties. This Mr. Otolorin was the father of Dr. M.P. Otolorin who was the first Medical Doctor in Offa in 1948. After a year, Mr. E.A. Otolorin was transferred and replaced by Mr. Gabriel Bolarinwa in August 1912. Mr. Bolarinwa served until the year 1918 when he was transferred to Oba. When he was at Offa, he was doing mainly church duties while Mr. Boboye Tokunbo did the school duties. After Mr. Tokunbo came Mr. E.A. Fadipe who hailed from Iseyin, he also left Offa for Osogbo in 1917. Mr. Alfred Oyekanmi replaced him as a teacher in Offa. Reverend Omoniyi started work at Offa in 1918 and was still in office when Reverend D.O. Ayorinde came in 1932.
Since 1909 when Christianity came into Offa, the C.M.S. Church has been progressing. However, there was a disagreement within the congregation during the tenure of Reverend Ayorinde. The matter was so serious that there was a division in the church on the Easter day celebration on March 24th, 1940. A faction left the church and laid the foundation of their new church on February 13th, 1941 and named it Iyeru Okin African Church because the then Olofa of Offa, King Wuraola Isioye laid the foundation. The church is an indigenous one.
We should mention some of the progress recorded by the C.M.S. {Anglican} church since it came to Offa in the year 1907.
The Authority gave Offa its own District Church Council in April 1949. Archdeacon S.V. Olatunde of Ibadan was the first Chairman of the District Council. In January 1950, Canon S.P. Adeyinka was transferred to llorin as the chairman of Offa District Council. There was a disagreement between the Offa District Council and the C.M.S Authority on why llorin was made the headquarters of Offa district council. After the necessary correction, the authority transferred Canon Adeyinka and replaced him with Canon D.A. Olaitan who came to Offa as both the Head of the Church and Chairman of the Offa District Council.
Reverend D.A. Ayorinde left Offa on January 2nd 1951 for Ifon near Owo. Reverend Olaitan arrived Offa on January 17th, 1951. The Offa C.M.S completed a storey building as the official residence of their Reverend within the church compound in 1954.
The Anglican Girls’ School Offa was founded in February 1953 with Mrs. Onasanya as the first headmistress. At the beginning of 1963, the school was up graded to a post-primary one for girls and named Saint Clare’s Grammar School with Mrs. Sanderson as the first principal.
A Teachers Training College was opened in Offa and named after the man that brought Christianity to Offa (Bishop Smith Memorial College) on May 20th, 1957. Mr. T. A. Aregbesola was the first principal of the school; however, the school was moved to llorin after few years in Offa.
The second school for girls (Offa Community Girls School) was established by the Offa Descendants’ Union in 1953. Mrs. Felicia Adeola Adesiyun headed the school. In 1967 the Offa Descendants’ Union handed over the school to the C.M.S (Anglican) for conversion into Secondary School known as Anglican College of Commerce. The first principal of the school was Mr. Ayo Oyinloye, who resigned in 1976 after working for ten years.
Archdeacon D.A. Olaitan resigned and left Offa on December 28th 1966. Reverend S.A. Odunuga became an Archdeacon in January 1967 and took over from Olaitan. After Archdeacon Odunuga left Offa on December 16th, 1972 came Archdeacon D.O. Okunmuyide to Offa from Esie on December 28th 1972. After the short tenure of Okunmuyide came Archdeacon S.A. Adejinmi whose tenure witnessed the transformation of Saint Mark Church Offa into a Cathedral for the Kwara Diocese. Adejinmi left Offa on January 7th, 1976 and was replaced by Archdeacon S.A. Adeosun who came from Lokoja. Adeosun was the first Provost of the new Cathedral and was still in office as at the time of this second edition.
After about twelve years of heated debate within the C.M.S (Anglican) Church in Kwara State on where would be the Bishop seat when the state eventually became a Diocese, it was resolved at the conference of the church of the province of West Africa (Anglican) that the Bishop’s seat for the Kwara Diocese be located in Offa. This directive came from this conference held at Ado-Ekiti on February 1st, 1974; Arch-Bishop Moses N.O.C Scott from Sierra-Leone chaired the conference.
The Kwara Diocese was established on November 1st 1974, the very day Saint Mark Church Offa became a cathedral and the Diocesan headquarters of Kwara State. Rt. Reverend Herbert Haruna was made the first Bishop of the Kwara Diocese inside Saint James Cathedral Church Ibadan on October 27th, 1974 and was formally installed on the Bishop seat at Saint Mark Cathedral Offa on November 1st, 1974.
The first member of C.M.S (Anglican) Church Offa to become a Reverend was the author of this book, Very Reverend James Bukoye Olafimihan. After Olafimihan had taught and served as Principal of Schools for several years, he was made a Deacon on June 5th, 1955 and became a Reverend by the end of that year. Reverend Olafimihan became the first Provost of Saint Michael Cathedral Kaduna in 1965. Provost Olafimihan voluntarily resigned on December 31st, 1976 and came to Offa in retirement.
(Up to this point has God helped us).
It is a bit difficult to discuss other churches in Offa today because after the advent of C.M.S Church in the town, others came. The most important thing is to relate how Christianity came to Offa and the impact of the religion on the town and her people.
We need to note that after the Offa people had seen the benefits of this religion, they did not savour it alone but spread the gospel to several other towns like Esie, Iludun, Oyan, Erin-lIe, Ikotun, Obo, Omupo, Ira, Ilorin, Igbonna, and Idofihan.
If we take a retrospective look at the status of Offa in 1909, eight years after the people returned from Ido-Osun and its status today, we would see the great impact of the Christian religion in the development. We would then have no choice but to thank God. “You are the light of the World” (Matthew 5:17).
