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The president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention and Christian Association of Nigeria, Dr Samson Ayokunle has announced the demise of Rev Dr S.T. Ola Akande, the former General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention.
Making the announcement on his Facebook page, the president wrote “Baba S.T.Ola Akande, former General Secretary, Nigerian Baptist Convention, has changed address today at a ripe age of 94. Rev Dr Samuel Titilola Oladele Akande has answered the Glorious Call! Baba relocated to the great beyond a few minutes ago after a brief illness. GOOD NIGHT BABA. May God console and comfort the Nigerian Baptist Convention and his immediate family.”
Samuel Titilola Oladele Akande, a man who, while in office, was fondly referred to by some of his friends as “the Archbishop of the Baptist Church of Nigeria” is a Nigerian Baptist minister, held in very high esteem by the Baptist communities in Nigeria, Africa, and the world at large. He was the third indigenous General Secretary of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. He served the Convention in various capacities from 1951 to 1991, a period of forty years. For the last 12 of those years, he was the General Secretary. To his many admirers, he is a dutiful minister, a courageous preacher, a talented teacher, and the “best Nigerian Baptist leader ever produced.”
Akande was born Awe, Oyo State on March 31, 1926. His father was Daniel Oladele Akande, who was the son of Papa Oyetunde Akande of the Onsa-Olapeleke’s Compound in Awe. His mother was Susainah Ayannihun, the daughter of Ayanwale, her father, and Olanbiwonninu, her mother.
Amanda attended the A. M. E. Zion Primary School, the Salvation Army School, and the Aggrey Memorial Primary School in Ghana before returning to Awe in 1937. He continued his primary education in Awe at the Awe Baptist Day School in 1938. He completed his primary education in 1943 and went back to Ghana to join his parents. He completed his secondary education at Adisadel College in 1949, receiving a very good grade on the London Matriculation Examination as well as on the Cambridge School Certificate Examination.
The Baptist Mission in Ghana, under Reverend W. N. Claxon, offered him a scholarship to enable him to complete his education after the death of his mother in 1948.However, the scholarship was conditional: after the completion of his education, he was to serve the Baptist Mission as a teacher in one of their schools in Ghana. So, in 1949 he was appointed as a teacher in the Baptist Mission School in Suhum, a town in the southern part of Ghana.
While serving as a teacher with the Baptist Mission, he felt the urge to go into the ministry. He returned to Nigeria and enrolled in the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary in Ogbomoso in 1952, to be trained as a Baptist minister. At the seminary, Akande was a very brilliant and popular student. From 1952 to 1955, he was elected editor of the seminary’s magazine, Theologue. He also participated in sports, having been a good athlete since primary school. He completed his theological education with a Bachelor’s degree in theology in December of 1955.
In 1959, while serving as pastor of First Baptist Church, Fiditi in the present Oyo State of Nigeria, the Nigerian Baptist Convention awarded him a scholarship to study in the U.S.A. In America, he attended Wayland Baptist College, now Wayland Baptist University, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, from 1959 to 1962. At the former institution, he obtained a B. A. in English, obtaining a Bachelor of divinity degree from the latter. He returned to Nigeria in 1962 and worked briefly with some Baptist churches as a pastor, later returning to the United States in 1969 on a scholarship from Union Theological Seminary in New York, for his postgraduate studies. He completed an M.A. in New Testament there in 1970 and went on to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for his PhD in New Testament, which he completed in 1973.
In 1969, while serving as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church, he secured another scholarship from Union Theological Seminary in America for his postgraduate studies in the New Testament. He was in America from August of 1969 to December of 1973.
On his return to Nigeria in December of 1973, Akande taught at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, Ogbomoso. He served as an associate professor at the seminary until December of 1976 when he was invited to become pastor of the Oritamefa Baptist Church in Ibadan.
From March 1977 through April 1979, Akande served as the president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, and in April of 1979, he was appointed General Secretary. As a reformer and an agent of change, he was determined to leave his mark as a facilitator of positive development in the Nigerian Baptist Convention. His tenure witnessed giant strides in administrative innovations and spiritual development.
In 2018, the popular Bashorun-Ashi, Bodija road was named Reverend S T Ola Akande way by the Oyo State Government.