Encomium
The General Overseer of The Deeper Life Christian Ministry in Nigeria, Pastor W.F Kumuyi cancelled their popular annual National Youth Success Camp 2014 scheduled for Tuesday, September 2, 2014, till Friday, September 7, 2014. ENCOMIUM Weekly’s check revealed that this was not unconnected to the fear of Ebola Virus.
According to our source, the five-day National Youth Success Camp, with the theme: Raising Incorruptible Youths, which involves the gathering of over 500, 000 youths across the nation was cancelled on Sunday, August 31, 2014, after deliberation by the clergy and his board of directors.
We gathered that about N50 million have been put into the preparation which included transportation, feeding, materials and honorarium, amongst others, for 500,000 guests. But during their meeting, the board decided to call it off.
Although some argued that since it’s a faith based church, the fear of Ebola should not disrupt the camp but we learnt Pastor Kumuyi said it’s good to obey the law of the land and thus, it was called off.
On Thursday, September 4, 2014, one of the ministry’s spokesmen, Pastor Lekan confirmed the detail. “Yes, it’s true. We have postponed indefinitely.”
We also got an official cancellation message which read thus: “This is to inform you that the National Youth Success Camp has been postponed till further notice.”
The cancellation of the programme is due to the outbreak of Ebola disease in Lagos and Rivers states.
It is also connected with the federal government’s shifting of the resumption date of all schools to 13 October, 2014 and cancelling all forms of tutorials in schools pending the containment of the Ebola virus.
William Folorunso Kumuyi (born June 6, 1941) is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria. He is the author of several books. In the early 1970s, Kumuyi worked as lecturer at the University of Lagos.
Kumuyi was born into a Christian family in Erin-Ijesha, Osun State, Nigeria. He completed his secondary school education in 1961, and in 1962 started teaching Mathematics at Mayflower School in Ikenne, Ogun-State. From where he proceeded to the University of Ibadan and in 1967 graduated with a first-class honours degree in Mathematics. He became a born-again Christian in April 1964. Kumuyi remarried in October 2010 in London, about 18 months after the death of his first wife.
In April 2013, he was named one of the 500 most powerful people on the planet and Deeper Christian Life Ministry named as the world’s largest mega church by Foreign Policy magazine.
-FEMI OYEWALE
