Samuel Sadela the founder and president of the
Gospel Apostolic Church has died in Lagos just a
week short of his 114th birthday.
Pastor Sadela, who was due to celebrate his
birthday on August 31, passed away in the
premises of the church in Lagos. A condolence
register has been opened in the church premises
in the Gbagada district of Lagos.
He reportedly died few hours before
commencement of a special revival programme
that would have culminated in the celebration of
his 114th birthday on Sunday, August 31. His
pastoral calling started in 1928 when he visited the
famous Prophet Moses Orimolade of the Cherubim
and Seraphim Church.
When Pastor Sadela marked his 113th last year
birthday, he expressed the hope that he would live
up to 200 years of age. Ever controversial, Pastor
Sadela, who claimed angels taught him to read the
Holy Bible when he was only two years of age,
raised few eyebrows when he married a 30-year-
old woman in 2007.
At his birthday celebrations last year, Pastor
Sadela said: “I feel happy to be this old. Actually, I
feel like a young man and I still enjoy my meal of
pounded yam, eba and bush meat.
"I sleep whenever I want to and wake up stronger,
so I want to live longer to prove to all that God
remains the same as He was in times past. If
Methuselah could live for 969 years, God can make
me live well beyond 113 and if Noah could be 950,
it is not too much for Him to make me live up to
200.”
Pastor Sadela first got married in 1934, with the
marriage lasting for 21 years but none of the
couple’s seven children reportedly lived beyond
their infancy. A second marriage consummated in
1965, was blessed with four children, but only two
survived, although his second wife died in 2001.
A native of Ondo State, Sadela attended St Paul’s
Anglican Primary School, Ifon, Osun State but had
to drop out when he travelled to Sapele, Delta
State to work as houseboy to one Captain Pullen, a
district officer. In 1918, however, Pastor Sadela
returned to primary school and obtained his
Standard Six Certificate of Education in 1920.
Clerics from across Nigeria have paid tribute to the
elderly clergyman. Among them were Reverend
Elisha Ogundiya, the chairman of the Osun State
Christian Association of Nigeria and Reverend Dipo
Filani, the founder of Christ Overcomer’s
Assembly.
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