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Founder and Senior Pastor at The Fountain of Life Church (TFOLC), Taiwo Odukoya, died at the age of 67 on Monday, August 7, 2023, in the United States of America. The news was confirmed by the Church in a heartfelt message shared on its official Facebook page. It read:
"(TFOLC) in total submission to the will of God Almighty announces the passing unto greater glory of our Father, Teacher, a great servant of the Most High God, Pastor Daniel Taiwo Odukoya."
Odukoya is best remembered for founding TFOLC with his wife Bimbo in 1992 with a vision to "teach men and women the art of building successful relationships and the principles of leadership so they can be who they are created to be." The Church has a strength of over 8,000 people and has several missions across the globe.
Who is Taiwo Odukoya?
Pastor Odukoya was born in June 1956 in the city of Kaduna, Nigeria (then a British Colony). He completed his schooling at Baptist Primary School and St. Paul's College before attending the University of Ibadan, where he received a degree in petroleum engineering in 1981.
In April 1982, he started working as a petroleum engineer at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) after completing a one-year compulsory National Youth Service Corps program. He would remain working at the company until his voluntary retirement in January 1994 to focus on his ministerial duties.
The pastor met his wife, Bimbo Williams while studying at the University of Ibadan. The couple was married in 1984, and they shared three children together. On December 10, 2005, Bimbo, along with 102 other passengers, died in a plane crash in Port Harcourt.
Taiwo Odukoya remarried in January 2010 to Rosemary Simangele Zulu from South Africa and the couple shared two kids. The pastor announced the death of Rosemary in November 2021, after she "battled cancer for the better part of two years."
"A teacher he was": Netizens offer tribute to Taiwo Odukoya, reflect on his positive impact
As news of Pastor Taiwo Odukoya's death spread, internet users took to social media to express their loss. Many celebrated his teachings and reflected on the positive influence Odukoya had on them and their community.
Odukoya was a firm believer that the church played a vital role in the community's upliftment. His ideology translated to outreach projects including a hospital, an orphanage, a school for destitute children, a farm, a borehole water project to provide clean and potable water, and a vocational and entrepreneurial institute for disadvantaged groups.
No cause of death was disclosed. Additionally, no other statements were released at the time of writing this article.
