General Superintendent and Supreme Head, Sacred Cherubim and Seraphim Church of Nigeria and Overseas, Dr. Solomon Alao, shares his life story in this interview with ADEOLA BALOGUN
At 75, it is believed that you should have slowed down a bit now even as head of your church?
It is a misconception. Moses the Hebrew was called to service at the age of 80, so I’m still five years younger. Being 75 years is no big deal; age is in the mind. I’m busier than when I was 40, as a matter of fact. Things that I would normally not be able to do when I was 40, I do them now. I can’t remember when I last went to bed before 1am.
As a young man, did you dream that you would become a priest?
No, my foray into ministry work was accidental. In fact, it was because of my hatred for the Christian world, particularly the Cherubim and Seraphim church. I used to be a formidable enemy of the C and S Church or the white garment churches generally. I was born a Baptist though. I used to hate the C and S, especially when they said they were in spirit or speaking in tongues. I used to say it was all make-belief or mere pretence. I used to say that when they clapped and their brains opened up, more oxygen rushed into their brains and so they went into hallucination. That was my belief and that was what I thought. So, anytime they were anywhere for crusade, I used to go there to disrupt it. But when I came back from England after my qualification, I had to move to a city like Lagos to be able to practise insurance that I studied abroad. Again, I knew that I could no longer disturb any religious activities as I used to do in Ibadan without being arrested. I decided to write a book against the C and S, describing as deception speaking in tongues and falling into trance. The very day I went to a C and S church to see them in full play, I then decided to check out their choir play (I love music so much) and that was my undoing. I got hooked. Since then, I have remained. Let me tell you something, I never believed that one had to go to one place and spend 10 minutes praying to God. In those days, I didn’t believe in going to church at all. I had done everything in search of the truth before I ended up here.
What was your background; were you born a Christian or a Muslim or a pagan?
Half of my family are Christians and half are Muslim. The Muslim part gave me the name Sulaiman while the Christian side named me Solomon. I was born a Baptist because my father was a catechist. As a matter of fact, my father would have loved to be a priest but he was not educated and that was why he sent me to school. He wanted me to be a priest but he didn’t want me to go beyond Standard Six because it was fashionable in those days to go to the seminary after Standard Six. But when I decided to further my education, he was not happy and he made a prediction before he was persuaded to let me go. He said if Adegboyega (that is my name) is allowed to go further in education, he may not have time to serve God. He would fly all over the country in an aeroplane and that was exactly what happened. Unfortunately, he died before it came to pass. There is hardly any world capital that I have not been to.
What then did you want to become?
I wanted to be a university professor but destiny changed that in-between and I then went to study insurance. It was something that was very novel at that time. Insurance was very new in Nigeria at that time and I studied in England. I am a pension consultant as a chartered insurance practitioner. A chartered insurance practitioner is equivalent of a senior advocate of Nigeria in the legal profession.
As probably one of the pioneers of the profession in Nigeria; how was it like practising in a country where the average Nigerian didn’t like insurance?
Such an attitude was as a result of ignorance and lack of education. If they were educated, they would know that the most important thing in one’s life is insurance. After God’s assurance, the next thing is earthly insurance. The purpose of insurance is to share your fortuitous event with somebody else. In fact, most of Nigerians put their cars on the road and they are not insured. We have many houses today that are not insured. If there is a fire outbreak, their owners are ruined. So many people go about their business without bothering to insure them. It is due to lack of insurance education; it’s getting better now. When we started, it was very poor but we did public enlightenment overtly and covertly to let people understand the reason why they had to insure their property and their lives. Those who insure their property live longer because they sleep better and they are not afraid of any marauder. If you want to live longer, you have to become what is called ‘insurance poor’. The ring I wear is insured and so is everything I have. So, I have no fear of any accident because there is adequate cover for any loss.
After training in London, where did you start working?
I took up an appointment with the first insurance brokers in this country called C T A Baurin which was brought in by the colonial masters in those days. From there, I went to NICON to head the marketing department. From there, I left for Nigeria Life and Pension which is the foremost pension consultancy in the country. I was there until I retired voluntarily in 1998 after about 36 years in practice. I had to leave when I was finding it difficult to combine the two jobs.
From your experience, why does the average Nigerian find it difficult to trust insurance, especially when it comes to paying claims?
My first answer is this: if you are not honest with your fellow human beings, you can’t trust him. Most of the people insured are very dishonest. When the issue of claims arises, a good insurance person or a good claims manager should look for ways of settling it, not repudiating it. The first thing that should be on his or her mind is that he or she must settle this claim unless compelling circumstances arise. It is a contract of absolute good faith, what you tell me should be the truth. Let me give you an example of a case in 1961. A fellow bought a vehicle and was working at the Nigerian Ports Authority. When he bought it, he went to insure it and as part of the form he had to fill, it stated: is anybody beside the driver going to drive the car? And he said ‘no’. Two years later, he got his own driving licence and started driving. When an accident occurred, he reported it to the insurance company and when the claims manager asked him who was driving at the time of the accident, he said he was the one. Whereas, that was not what he signed with the insurance company. Of course, the insurance company declined liability. At the point of the contract, the insurance company recognised one person driving but at the point of accident, it had become two driving, so that can create a difficulty. Otherwise, when you tell the insurance company the truth, there is nothing to fear when claims arise. Admittedly, there is always a bad egg but the insurance association cleans the house. But Nigerians are becoming more enlightened now.
You said you hated C and S with passion. You would agree that many Christians still have same perception about white garment churches generally.
I think it is due to abysmal ignorance. When you analyse us properly as a white garment church, we are a role model to all other churches. What they were accusing us of doing in those days are the things they are now doing. In those days, it was abnormal to beat drums during service, I don’t think there is any church that does not do it now. In those days, it was a taboo for you to dance during service, there is no church where people don’t dance now. In those days, it was a taboo to shout halleluiyha, everybody does that now. In those days, if anybody outside the white garment church was speaking in tongues, they would either rush him to the Psychiatrist Hospital at Yaba or Aro in Abeokuta. But everybody is speaking in tongues today. So, what they were condemning us for doing is what they do now. In those days, it was only C and S that used water to heal; I don’t think there is any church that does not do it now. In those days, it was only C and S that used olive oil to heal various illnesses. Now everybody does it, they call it anointing oil; but what they call anointing oil is pure olive oil. But for C and S, the church would not have spread because it was C and S that started doing revival and open air service, going from one village to the other. If anyone still has such a misconception, it is ignorance that is worrying them because all the other churches are following in our footsteps. Some of them who do not wear white garment, they wear agbada and other dresses that are white. What do you want to call that beside white garment? Some of them put on white shoes. Some of them don’t understand why we don’t put on shoes during services; if they ask questions, we will explain to them. When obaship was what it really was, you dared not wear shoes into the palace. It was a way of revering the oba. If an oba can be revered, then why can’t we rever God, who is the creator? That is why we don’t put on shoes in church. Again, it is also hygienic not to wear shoes into the church. Again, if you have just two garments, you can wear them to church as long as they are clean. But if you are in the other churches where they wear other dresses, your wardrobe has to be well stocked because you don’t want to wear the same thing to the church all the time. This is because people might see you as not being buoyant. So, it is cheaper for you to be a white garment church goer and it also encourages hygiene because you want to be clean always. There is something distinct about the white garment and if you look at it again, people are usually buried in white clothes. Aside, it is only the C and S that is mentioned in the Bible.
Why do some people say C and S is fetish?
What Nigerians don’t understand, they criticise instead of asking questions. Agreed that we may have some bad eggs; some people wear white, they are not C and S but real herbalists. Part of the stigma attached to C and S abounds in other churches in larger proportions. There is nothing fetish in C and S. In the Sacred C and S which I preside over, aside the anointing oil, water and white candle, we don’t allow the use of green or black or any coloured candle. We use the white candle to get the focus of the people in the altar and it is in the Bible. We use incense that are spiritual which is also in the Bible. Catholics too use it, so why are they criticising C and S?
Why must the white garment churches be situated besides a stream or a river?
Traditional beliefs have crept into religion. In that case, you don’t need to locate your church near a river. When God says you should go and bathe in flowing water, I’m not against it but it must not be a sine qua non. There are some people who wear white garments just to deceive people; that does not make them C and S. My advice to the public is that before you go to anyone in white garment, find out their background.
How did your journey to the top start?
I started as an aladura and before you become an aladura, you must be baptised by immersion in water. If you are serious and dedicated, you then become a leader, then a senior leader, a rabbi, a pastor, a prophet, an apostle, a senior apostle, most senior apostle, special apostle, most special apostle, a superintendent, senior superintendent, elder apostle, senor elder apostle, which is the climax. It is when you become the head of the church that you become most elder apostle.
As an insurance practitioner, how were you able to attain all this?
As I told you, I was combining my insurance practice with my priesthood without one conflicting with the other. I became general overseer not because I wanted it. I refused it but God compelled me to take it. In my own case, when it was mooted, I rejected it, saying that I was not ready. When I refused it, I became ill and all tests carried out to diagnose what was wrong with me did not detect anything both here and abroad. In fact I preferred to die rather than taking the mantle of leadership of the church. Then, there was a man who wanted to be the head at all cost and he vowed to make heaven fall if he was not made the G.O. And as a young man, I was not ready to stick out my neck and then I ran to the UK to take up permanent residence because I had a house there. Then, I was travelling to the UK sometimes twice a week because of my business activities. When I got to the UK, I fell ill and nothing was diagnosed. I came back home and I met someone (who was not a member of the church) who said I was ill because of my refusal to take the mantle of leadership somewhere. I then decided to agree and the following day, I got well. When I got back home and told my wife, she refused. She said we don’t want that kind of job because it would take a lot of things away from me. I loved travelling first class and attending cocktails in big hotels and so on. As head of the church, I would not be able to do so. But since I took up the job in 1995, I have not had a headache.
Are you a member of Christian Association of Nigeria?
Yes, I am a member by bloc, Organisation of African Instituted Churches.
A priest recently described CAN leadership as becoming political nowadays, do you agree?
Seemingly, the man may be right because some of the pronouncements at the CAN leadership level sometimes are more political, which shouldn’t be. When the headship of the nation is going in the wrong way, I think we should, as a church, be able to call a spade a spade. We are not to be seen to be doing that. Nigeria is already in trouble and we don’t appear to realise it. If 35 governors cannot conduct a credible election among themselves, then we are in for trouble in 2015. This is what I think the CAN leadership should harp upon. The presidency that should have at best remained neutral, decided to go with the loser.
If you were the CAN president, what would you tell the President?
I would tell him that it was wrong to back the loser of the election. I would also tell him that it was wrong to pardon the ex-governor of Bayelsa State who was indicted for corruption. I would tell him not to grant amnesty to terrorists and militants fighting the nation in the wrong way. I understand that the President was present where the CAN president was given a jet, I wasn’t there but I would say that was the wrong place for the President to be at that time.
You have your churches all over the place, don’t you have a jet to oversee them too?
I don’t have the money to do so. When I was in the mundane world, I flew first class but as soon as I became the head of the church, I thought it was not morally tenable to fly first class anymore when the teeming population can’t afford a meal per day. A priest should enjoy relative comfort but I don’t think a priest flying first class is doing the will of God. It is not only flamboyant, he cannot defend it.
How did it feel having to give up cocktail parties and flying first class when you became head of the church?
I must confess that at first, I felt I lost something. I could not imagine myself unable to attend cocktail parties here and abroad anymore. I loved to wear suits but I can’t wear them anymore; I have to be in my cassock. I love to stay in five-star hotels; I can’t do that anymore because my church cannot afford it. I don’t know why a priest would want to own an aeroplane. Assume that you fly often, the cost of your flights every month for a year is not more than 10 per cent maintenance of an aeroplane. I don’t think it is right; morally it is wrong for any head of a Nigerian church to own a jet.
But if your church members present you with a jet as your birthday gift, what would you do?
I run a programme on radio and television and somebody wanted to donate N150,000 to aid the programme. He wanted my bank account. It took me three weeks to give out the details of the account because I had to pray about it. Somebody who buys you a jet, where did he get that money? I would wan to know what he does for a living for him to be able to buy a jet as a present. I would not be a party to stealing and abuse of public funds. As a priest, you have to be careful the money you take from people into the church coffers. Two institutions will stand to answer questions before God, the traditional institution and the royal institution. Some who pay millions as tithes into the church account, do you find out what they do for a living and source of their wealth?
What did you then feel when the president of CAN accepted a jet gift from his church members recently?
As a Christian, I did not particularly feel comfortable for him not to ask questions. If I were him, I would ask questions about the source of the money for such a gift. If you listen to all my programmes on radio and television, anytime I solicit fund to sustain the programmes, I always say please I don’t want blood money. It is not that I am comfortable; it’s just that I am not covetous.
But some of your colleagues fly their private jets to oversee their different branches all over the place.
Well, it is because our objectives are different. They are not giving a good example, and it is not in consonance with the teachings of the Bible. We should live by example; I am not saying priests should not be comfortable. There should be a line between profligacy and comfort. I want my colleagues to minimise the message of prosperity they preach on electronic media because people are influenced more by what they say. Christ was not ostentatious when he was going about preaching. Christ was not hawking miracles as some of today’s pastors who package them for the television. People are now saying that such miracles are make-belief, do you blame them? We should lead by example and flamboyant life is not part of our culture.
At what time did you get married?
I married very early and I’m glad that I did. God gave me the grace too to have a limited number of children and to space their births. I thank God all of them are out of the university and on their own. But if I have to come back to this world again and have the opportunity to marry, I would not have more than one or two children.