By Oluseye Ojo
Idowu Odeleye, a zonal pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), is the founder and CEO, Omo Akogun Properties, a real estate firm with head office in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, and branches in Lagos and Ogun States. He has a story that truly inspires.
The last child of his parents – Odeleye Oluyede and Olayemi Odeleye – he started going on hunting expeditions with his hunter-father at six. He eventually started primary school at 12. By the time he began his secondary education at the prestigious Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, he was already 18.
But Odeleye never allowed his late start to retard his progress. Today, he is a university graduate, a pastor, and a real estate mogul with tentacles spread across the South West. He shares his story with Saturday Sun.
Tell us about your childhood. Why did you get involved in hunting at six?
My mum was the youngest of my father’s three wives. I was the last born of the family.
I loved my father and everything about him, particularly his profession as a hunter. My father told me that his own father in Ado Ekiti killed three lions in one day. This made him become famous among all the hunters in Ekiti.
The then king, Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, heard that a particular hunter called Oluyede killed three lions in one day and summoned him. Oluyede was my grandfather.
So I became very interested in hunting from an early age. I started by setting traps to catch mice and rodents. I used slings to kill birds and squirrels. My father encouraged me by always allowing me to hunt with him.
We lived in a hut then in the bush from Mondays to Fridays, with his wives and other children. We would return to Ado-Ekiti on Saturday evening to attend church on Sundays. My father would always attend hunters’ meeting every Sunday evening, and I would always go with him.
My childhood was very interesting, as there was food to eat. I had many friends of my age that I played with in the farm.
There were about seven huts on our farm with different families living in them.
We wore rags about; no shoes, and no good water. Our hut was covered with grass.
Whenever rain fell in the night, everywhere would be leaking. We would all stay awake throughout the night. There was no bed. We slept only on mats and sometimes on leaves. We used chewing sticks. They dished our food inside banana and cocoyam leaves.
How were you able to start school?
One Monday morning in 1976, my father, my mother, and myself were going to the farm as usual. I was already 12 years old then, and I was already enjoying hunting and going to the farm with my father. Sometimes, I would carry my dad’s bag in the bush during hunting. Sometimes, we would go to his farm. Our farm from Ado was about 12 miles. We would walk to the farm. It was around 5:30a.m.
So, one of my sisters ran after us. Her name is Felicia Odeleye -now Mrs. Odeleye-Ayodele. She told my dad that he should allow me go to school. My father said: ‘Ask him if he would like to go to school’. My big sister took my hand and we stepped back. By 8 a.m that day, she took me to L.A. Primary School, Aafin, Ado-Ekiti. I was the oldest in the class.
The following week, I got a pair of knickers and a shirt. There was no shoes and no bag.
But I was very brilliant and mature because of my age. After school on Fridays, myself and some of my friends would trek to the 12-mile distance to the farm to see our parents. I was 12, going to 13 years then.
We would get there very late in the evening. We would stay on the farm till Saturday afternoon, and we would return to Ado-Ekiti with our parents.
In my own case, I would take yams and firewood from the farm to the house in Ado and carry them on my head. I would put the yam at home in Ado and sell the firewood.
I could sell the firewood for between two and five kobo. With the money, I would feed myself for the week.
While in primary six, I was the assistant senior prefect. In 1982, I got into Christ School, Ado-Ekiti. The school would not admit anyone except on merit.
Did you have a local gun for hunting then?
Yes. I was 18 years old when I got into Form One. What is known as JSSI now was Form One then. At 18, my father gave me a local gun because he was getting old then. Naturally, without anybody teaching me how to straighten my hands to shoot and how to hunt, I already knew it. I had been following my day both in the day and at night on hunting expeditions.
At 18, I killed my first big animal, an antelope. That was how my hunting experience began. But my father told me I could not become rich through hunting. He said I could only become rich if I studied my books very well. I allowed that to sink into my brain. Although I was enjoying my hunting, I never joked with my schooling.
As a hunter, I killed many wild animals, including python, warthogs, deer, different species of monkeys, snakes, and different species of wild animals.
I have hunted widely in towns and villages in Ekiti State and parts of Ondo State. My immediate elder brother, Kehinde Odeleye, is also a renowned hunter across Ekiti.
There is the belief that hunters use charms a lot. Did you encounter hunters using charms? Were those charms effective?
I would like to answer this question as a hunter, not as a pastor. I have encountered many other hunters and big hunters that were more knowledgeable than myself, older than me, and those that were even in the class of my father. We met during the day and at night in the forests. I can confirm to you that hunters truly use charms, and the charms were effective.
You would encounter different dangerous animals in the bush, and if you don’t have something to fortify yourself, you might be attacked and even get killed.
As a hunter, if you are hunting in a bush far from where people live, you could mistakenly enter into a trap set for big animals, like buffaloes, lions, or warthogs. The traps were always very big and with nails. For a hunter of my status, if you put your hand in it, the iron would break into two, and it would not harm you. It’s not that the trap would not close, but it would break into two. But if it is an animal, the trap would catch it, and the iron would not break. There is a charm for that.
Another one is that if I stepped on any snake, that snake would die, even if it escape. And if any snake bites any hunter, it would not be effective. There’re things we did to fortify ourselves.
Also, while hunting, other hunters might mistake you for an animal and fire at you. That bullet will not penetrate. So, in reality, these things exist. And they work.
as for whether I used them or not, let’s leave all that. I am a pastor now. I rely absolutely on the power of God in everything I do.
What are some of your adventures as a hunter?
I remembered a particular time. I was hunting in the night on a mountain. The mountain is called Oke-Elemirin in Ado-Ekiti. It is a very popular mountain. The place is still bushy now, but it’s gradually becoming a town. I went there one night to hunt – around 1am. There was a particular place where the rock had an opening, and some space between two rocks. Anytime I went to that place, I would jump over that opening.
So, on this particular night, I jumped over it. My hunting light was strapped on my head. I looked back at the cave. I saw this big python. It was so big and long. I moved away and reloaded my gun. I put on my cap, went back to the cave, and fired at the python.
I left that place and went straight to my dad in the hut. I told him what happened. My father immediately took me to the nearest stream and gave me a bath.
It was the belief of hunters that a python of that size was not an ordinary one.
All these may not make sense to somebody who is not familiar with the terrain and may not be scientifically proven. But these things happen. Then, we went back to the hut around 2:30am.
When the day broke, we gathered other hunters and we went to look for the python. When we found it, It wasn’t totally dead. Someone cut off its head. About three of the hunters carried it to the hut.
There was a particular time that I wore my father’s hunting clothes that we called it ‘alaborun’. What he did to the clothes, I don’t know. Then, I fell into a hole that had been dug as a trap for animals like antelopes, warthogs and so on. If the animals fell inside the hole, they would be trapped there. The top was usually covered with banana leaves, and dried leaves would be put on top of the banana leaves, so it would look like there was nothing there.
By error, I fell into one of the holes. Unconsciously, I just uttered a certain word, and I found myself up. How it happened, I did not know. Perhaps something had been done to my father’s hunter’s regalia that I wore.
All these happened when I was between 18 and 23, when I was in secondary school. But only few of my classmates knew I was a good hunter then.
How did your classmates react when you started school, since you were older than most of them?
Sincerely, it was tough. I was the oldest in the set. I didn’t have many friends among them. Nobody wanted to be a friend to somebody who was older than their elder brothers.
Today, there are some of my mates that are now 53 and 54 years old. And I’m over 60. But I was never a bully. I’ve always been a very humble person, and my humility attracted my classmates to me.
Later, some of my mates would use me for protection. If another student wanted to bully them, immediately they were with me, the bullying would not happen. My mates loved me, and I loved them. Up till now, we are still friends. My humility made me enjoy schooling. right from primary to secondary school.
At a time, my teachers were scared of beating me. I was the oldest in the class, and I was usually the class captain from primary to secondary school, except at a time that I voluntarily allowed somebody else to be the class captain. The following year, I took it over again.
Can you share any particularly challenging experience you faced in school due to your age and background?
The challenge was that any tedious work, I was the one the teachers would call. If students were to cut grass, I was the one that would be given the biggest portion. If the class was making noise, I was the one that would be saddled with the responsibility of writing names of the noise makers.
I remembered at Christ School, one of our teachers, I don’t want to mention his name, would take me to his personal farm at Oke-Agidimo to work for him. This was without the knowledge of the principal or other teachers. He was just taking advantage of my age. He knew that I could do the work very well, even better than labourers, because that was what I was born into. At least two or three times, it was a must to go and work on his farm.
The school would call me to catch late comers when I was not even among the prefects.
The principal called me one day because some people would go to a mountain at Oke-Agidimo to pluck mango fruits, very close to the Bishop’s House. They would scale the fence, and they were disturbing the bishop. The principal, Chief Olusola Bayode, gave me the assignment to write their names. It was against my wish because I did not want to betray my friends, but then it was an assignment and my responsibility.
How did you eventually become a pastor and real estate mogul?
I am somebody who is successful without any shady deal. I can beat my chest and say all the money I have earned from day one to this moment, I can account for every penny.
I never knew I would go to school. After my primary and secondary education, I never knew I would go to the university, yet God helped me to become a graduate.
My father died in 1986. I wrote my WAEC exams in 1987. I entered Ekiti State University, known then as Ondo State University, in 1991. I studied Computer Science. God has been very kind to me.
In 1991, I gave my life to Jesus. I was baptised. I made progress spiritually. I became a worker. minister, deacon, assistant pastor, and pastor in the Redeemed Christian Church. I became a full pastor in 2011.
I have worked in many places. The last place I worked at before I voluntarily retired was as a Registrar in one of the foremost private universities in Lagos.
Then, I started a company of my own. I became the founder, MD and CEO of Omo Akogun Properties, a real estate giant in the South West of Nigeria, and Ekiti State in particular. I have offices in Lagos, Ogun State and Ado-Ekiti. The company is doing well. I have been able to combine this with my service to humanity and to my God as a pastor.
I have stopped hunting. But that does not mean if I go for gaming, I would aim and miss.
How did you come about the name of your real estate firm – Omo Akogun Properties?
I chose Omo Akogun as the name of my company because my father, grandfather, great grandfather, and my ancestors were Akoguns. Akogun means warrior, and Omo Akogun means a son of a warrior. The name Akogun is unique and very important to me. I am from the Akogun dynasty. The Akogun family is in Ado-Ekiti, Irona community. Akogun is the number one Chief in Irona community with many chiefs under him. Akogun was a warrior, who came with the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti from Ile-Ife to Ado-Ekiti. And that was my great grandfather.
What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned in life and in your career?
I have learnt to be humble. Humility opens doors. There is always hope when there is life. Therefore, I don’t give up.
One can become successful through hard work, dedication to duty, and by Godly means. I don’t cut corners. It has helped me.
The post Odeleye: From kid hunter to varsity graduate, real estate mogul appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.
