Remi Tinubu’s Wesleyan history at Abuja GCK
Banji Ojewale
On Sunday, June 28, 2026, Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs. ’Remi Tinubu had a message for the Global Crusade with Kumuyi, GCK, that took place in Abuja, the capital. The six-day event convened by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi saw the wife of the president showing up through a representative, Professor Stephen Adegbite, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrim Commission, NCPC. Bishop Adegbite doubles as the Chaplain of the Chapel in Aso Villa, the seat of the Presidency.
The president’s wife, a long-term cleric at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, one of the largest homebred assemblies, regaled the gathering when her address was delivered by Adegbite. She dug into history, far back into the 18th Century, as she lauded Kumuyi for ‘’ his decades of his unwavering to commitment to evangelism, prayer and national unity.’’
Describing the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, DCLM, as a’’ national asset,’’ the First Lady said: ‘’Pastor Kumuyi is the John Wesley of our generation. He is a man deeply committed to prayer, righteousness and the unity of Nigeria…(We) appreciate your (Kumuyi’s) invaluable contributions to nation-building and the advancement of the Gospel.’’ She added that Pastor Kumuyi’s ‘’ presence in the Federal Capital Territory had brought spiritual renewal and peace to many lives.’’
Now, the same day in history, June 28, 1703 by the Gregorian calendar, was when John Wesley was born at Epworth, England.
Thus, the First Lady spoke when the world was marking the 323rd anniversary of the birth of the co-founder of the Methodist Church and holiness preacher whose teachings slit the sedate Christianity of the era to reroute it to its First Century image.
His coming met laid-back Christian assemblies whose leaders presented an unhurried scriptural staple. These Church fathers pushed the doctrine of ‘’entire sanctification’’ to the background. It wasn’t attainable in practical terms, they insisted. So, the congregants, bereft of the imperatives of holy living, weren’t aware of their sinful state that could bar them from Heaven despite their outward religious observances. The leaders and the led fed on unbiblical diet.
But Wesley’s teaching was different.
In Volume Four of his series on Men Who Changed The World, American author, revivalist and preacher James Gordon Lindsay, wrote: ‘’Generally speaking the Wesleyan revival was an awakening within the Established Church…It was the practical side of the Gospel (holiness within and without) which Wesley emphasized. At that time religion had to a great extent degenerated to mere forms ana ceremonies.
The personal experience was lacking…The Wesleyan revival was actuated by the purpose to fit men for the world to come (Eternity in Heaven)…(not) to fit men for this world,’’ as the Church of the time was doing.
It couldn’t have been fortuitous of Mrs. Tinubu to pick on the natal anniversary of John , Wesley to draw on parallels between him and Kumuyi. God isn’t given to serendipitous relationships with His messengers. He intentionally moves them to bring forth the good He plans, not only for His chosen, but also for all His creation. He directed the president’s wife who promptly and faithfully responded to Him.
It was a grand timing for Heaven to employ the First Lady to use that day to let the world realize that while they remembered a departed John Wesley, God hadn’t permitted a chaotic spiritual vacuum. There’s a latter-day Wesley. God has put right in our midst a Kumuyi, who through a movement, GCK, is giving to humanity the precise purity presentation needed to enjoy life here and hereafter, which the Wesleyans were also inspired to deliver more than three centuries ago.
There’s one prominent parallel: Kumuyi is a votary of John Wesley. Here we have these excerpts from the book, Deeper Life: The Pursuit of Heaven’s Goal: ‘’Wesley’s influence on Kumuyi was phenomenal. His teachings that genuine faith produces inward and outward holiness; and that the regenerative process inwardly cannot help but find expression in a renewed outward moral character, largely conditioned the holiness messages of Pastor Kumuyi.
He dutifully collected and studied all the available books written by John Wesley.’’
GCK is home to the same touching teachings, salvation of souls, restoration of backsliders, hope for the helpless, peace and rest for the restive, healing for the hurt and broken along with sundry miracles and spiritual breakthroughs the Wesleyan drive secured for England in the 18th Century.
In our time, according to the president’s spouse, GCK also ‘’remains a tremendous blessing to Nigeria and beyond.’’
The organization is unveiling an agenda of Divine will that addresses the grave concerns of mankind that have proved intractable over the ages, even by today’s sophisticated and scientific inventions or by our rapidly changing socioeconomic ideas we brew to meet these challenges.
The point, however, is not to seek to reinvent the wheel. The solution has always been with us. It’s about returning to our Creator and humbly stooping to accept His terms for reconciling with Him.
Ojewale is a writer at Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria.
