05/03/2024
AIYETORO
INTRODUCTION
The Holy Apostlesβ Community which has recently become one. of the most civilized Communities
in the world today, has had a unclean research establishment of her own. The day which it dropped into the
founder of this Community was a historic occasion
for this city. With pleasure, all members felt that we
would be able to keep abreast of development and
become scientifically and technically equipped to take
our place among the world leading communities.
Now we offer ourselves to Thee that we shall ever keep
those that invade us at bay.
We like to experiment, to try something new, to
live a good Christian life. Nothing could have
been more experimental than the loyal cooperation
among the members, the establishment of big factories,
provision of light, communal exploration of technical
work, building of nonesuch launches in Nigeria and
the overall rapid improvement of our Happy City.
Aiyetoro, whichβlies on the Atlantic coast and
about seven miles away froiji the Mahin lagoon, is
often spoken of as the happy city. It is inhabited by
the members of the Holy Apostlesβ Community Church
in 1947. You may be prompted to ask why do we
AIYETORO THE HAPPY CITY
both men and women leave our homes only and find
Aiyetoro as our best home in life?
Yes, if you want to be told all about us, I better
b^gin when we were Cherubim's and Seraphims. In the
year 1928, we were a very small band of Cherubims
and Seraphim's living in our different towns and villages.
We only had to come together when we had important
things to do and for the purpose of collective worship.
That was so until 1942 when we learned to distinguish
people who really worshipped God from those who
worshipped idols and served mammon. As it was said
by the prophets of God, βWhat agreement hath the
Temple of God with idols?β we took our ticket for
Glory.
As we learned and believed that God could make
manifest his words through His holy prophets, some
prophets among us started to preach the gospel of God
as did the Apostels of Old from one place to another
when the spirit of God came upon them in 1943.
They went round the whole Igbekun area and nearly
round the whole country. E. O. Peter, the then Oba
ofAiyetoro, Z. 0. Okenla, Z. O. Orele, M. O. Lemanu,
E.O. Asakasiki, J. Y. Arowojolu, S. E. Ojomo and E. A.
Ilemboye, to mention some, were the prophets who
first started this missionary work. During this circumstantial period, the course of events proved
very difficult to them and in fact not far from
what happened to the ancient 'apostles happened to
them wherever they went. Though things in those
days were abnormal, their voyages and journeys were
not entirely a failure for they returned home with some
considerable converts.
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For it had been spoken by prophet Joel: βAnd it
shall be in the last day,β saith God, β1 will pour forth
of my spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters
shall prophesy and your young men shall see vision,
and your old men shall dream dreams.β This spirit
of God inspired Prophet E. O. Peter and he saw visions
and told us that we Should come together and settle
in a place before we should be able to solve our problems. We did not at first Snow where to settle, as
we were all aware that were in trouble with everybody in Ilaje area. We had particularly offended them
Our religious convictions were barely the weapon
β’ with which we fought the antagonistic ideas of the foes.
We felt that malpractices, such as cannibal activities,
should not be allowed to represent the true nature of
African Religion. However, in 1944, we were able to
influence and gain more people to our fold. This was
followed by immediate and drastic decisions of the
Native Authorities in Okitipupa Division to the effect
that many more βmartialβ laws were enforced. At
that time we were known and called the Holy Apostles
though living with our different parents and guardians.
We could not help being often disturbed even by our
closest relatives. Our rights and liberties were denied
us and above all the Native Authorities were all out
to interdict our movement at every instance. Not
only that. They ordered us not to preach in any place
in the area of Igbekun under the dominance of Thomas
Lagho, the Omapetu of Mahin and Samuel Ajagboma,
the Olugbo of Ugbo. During those days those two
chiefs and the members ofthe community were on either
side, fighting desperately. At last, a spectacular
victory was gained by us.
AIYETORO THE HAPPY CITY
by turning deaf ears and no attention to their Presidentβs
order which was asking us to do away with God.
We continued our preaching steadfastly as a Christian
band. God helping us, we were winning more and more
people 4o our side. In 1944, a great number of our
members including the Leader were arrested and
charged for contravening the native laws and customs.
It then seemed in the eyes of the unbelievers that there
was just the end of our band; it was not. For we were
extremely serious with our religion. However, when our
case was brought before the court, the Native Authorities which had been looking for a chance to incriminate us, seized the opportunity to victimise us and they
gave a verdict of Ilaje High Law without option for
fines. At first, we had to protest against the verdict and
gave notice of appeal.
Now let us imagine what Christ said during his
agony in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed:
βFather, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from
me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wiltβ.
He cometh unto the disciples and findeth them sleeping
and saith unto Peter: βWhat, could ye not watch with
me one hour? Watch and pray that ye enter not into
temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh
is w'eak.β Again he w'ent away and prayed saying:
βOh my Father, if this cannot pass away except I
drink it, Thy will be done.β It was an exact combination with us.
So before our appeal came up we had lost many
of our followers under the thfeat of imprisonment
because our leader and some of the members who were
on trial were not allowed bail. It was worthy of note
however that when the news' of the deserted members
reached the prison, Prophet E. O. Peter, the spiritual.
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leader then said to his other lieutenants: βLet us
β’ face our troubles with one mind and dedicate ourselves
to our tasks; let us at this moment forget about those
deserters of little faith and pray to our God for deliverance from the hands of our enemies.β Β«,
The appeal came up but we were neither surprised
nor worried about the judges returning and upholding
the verdict ofβI. H. L.β (Ilaje High Law) passed on us
in the lower courts. We rather thought that there
was an occasion and opportunity for every one of
our members to prove his or her faith and loyalty
to our spiritual leader. Some of us vouchsafed to go
to prison with the jailed members but the authority
refused.
Although the designation of βApostlesβ had been
the daily song for almost everybody in Ilaje area,
until then we did not adopt the name but the leaders
in each town or village were known and called βApostlesβ. When it was proclaimed publicly in the hope
that it was defamatory to us, we sounded it as praise.
Thus the name of βThe Holy Apostlesβ Communityβ
came to be associated with our society in those days.
