NIGERIA'S OLDEST PREACHER, PA SADELA DIES AT 114

Nigeria’s oldest preacher and grand patriarch of faith, Pastor Samuel Akinbode Sadela is dead. Pa Sadela was the Founder and President of the Gospel Apostolic Church. The 114-year preacher died on Sunday and a condolence register has been opened in the premises of his Gospel Apostolic Church in Lagos on Tuesday evening.
The ELITES gathered that Pa Sadela died few hours before commencement of a special revival programme that would have culminated in the celebration of his 114th birthday on Sunday, August 31. 

Although a senior pastor in the church reportedly claimed that the man described as one of Nigeria’s oldest pastors could still be receiving treatment in a hospital, he was said to have died in the premises of the church in Lagos. At the international headquarters of the church in Gbagada Lagos on Tuesday the church officials declined to speak on the death of the founder.

A native of Ondo State, Sadela attended St. Paul’s Anglican Primary School, Ifon, Osun State, but had to drop out when he travelled to Sapele, Delta State to work as houseboy to one Captain Pullen, a District Officer. Sadela however retraced his steps in 1918 and completed his Standard six education in 1920

Pa. Sadela’s sojourn as a preacher started in 1928 when, as a tax collector, he visited the legendary Prophet Moses Orimolade, founder of the Cherubim and Seraphim Church. He had a burning desire to meet prominent men of God of those days. In 1928, he met the founder of C&S and in 1931 he met Apostle Joseph Ayodele Babalola.
The meeting with Apostle Babalola turned out more rewarding for young Sadela, as the man of God later became his mentor who baptized him by immersion in 1931.
By this time, he was already leading a Christian group that he later converted to the Christ Apostolic Church under the leadership of Apostle Babalola.
The church grew rapidly, and between 1933 and 1936, he had established many branches of the CAC in Ikaleland, leading to his ordination as a full time Minister of God. 

This year would have marked the 82nd anniversary since Pa. Sadela took up the mantle to preach the word of God.