St. David Cathedral, Kudeti, Ibadan in Oyo State is set to celebrate its 170th anniversary.
The church has also announced a series of activities to celebrate the anniversary in grand style. Amongst the anniversary activities is the packaging of the church’s history for preservation.
The Mogaji of Aboderin compound in Ibadanland and Chairman of the 170th-anniversary committee, Chief Olutunde Aboderin, on Monday, disclosed this while speaking at a press conference in Ibadan, the state capital on Monday.
He said the essence of the celebration was to package the history of Christianity in the ancient town for posterity and to leave a legacy for future generations.
He said, “This anniversary is to package history for posterity. If we don’t do this, we will have thrown away a great legacy that we should give to future generations. By the special grace of God, the church of God will continue to match on.
“We are here to showcase that Christianity started in Ibadan, from this place. It is a pride of the entire Ibadanland and a pride of the Yoruba race. We were told that it was under that tree that the first gospel was preached on April 27, 1853. I have been to so many parts of the world and I want to say this, in Hong Kong, you have trees on the road and when they were planted you dare not take a leaf from them without being arrested.
“There is a storey building here in Ibadanland which was built in 1853, the first storey building in the entire Ibadanland, not many people know that. Actually, this building should rank with the ones in Badagry and Abeokuta and should be a place that the state and Federal Government should take over and maintain as they do in other parts of the world,” he said.
