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The General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, Rev. (Dr.) Sam Aboyeji, has been re-elected to lead the church for another term of five years, beginning from November 2024.
The Chairman of the Electoral (Affirmation) Committee, who is the Northern Regional Coordinator of the church, Rev. (Prof.) James Jacob, announced Aboyeji’s re-election.
The re-elected cleric received an overwhelming majority vote of 1,931 (97.6%) from the 1,979 votes cast by delegates who had gathered for the church’s special convention held on Monday, April 8, 2024, at the Foursquare Camp, Ajebo, Ogun State.
This special convention came on the eve of the church’s International Conference for Ministers and Leaders with the theme: Making Disciples.
The church’s constitution requires that the General Overseer secures simple majority votes cast by delegates for the renewal of his mandate at the expiration of his first tenure of five years in office.
Part IV Section 2 (h) of the church’s constitution states: The General Overseer shall serve for a term of five (5) years in the first instance. Thereafter, renewable for another final term of five (5) years through a secret ballot of “yes” or “no” which shall hold in the month of April at a Special Convention.
Delegates present at the affirmation exercise described the electoral process which was conducted under a peaceful and godly atmosphere, as transparent and acceptable to the generality of the church membership.
Aboyeji is the 5th indigenous General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria, a church with its roots in the United States of America, founded in 1923 by a Canadian-America Lady Evangelist, Aimee Semple McPherson.
The church was established in Nigeria in 1955 and currently has over 4,700 branches spread across the 36 states of the Federation and the FCT.
The last five years have witnessed the General Overseer focusing the attention of his administration on the training and development of ministers, upscaling their healthcare/welfare and that of members, intentional youth engagement and empowerment, as well as outreaches to both hinterlands and major cities.
In his acceptance speech after the exercise, Aboyeji appreciated the delegates for the peaceful conduct of the affirmation election, while also coveting the cooperation and participation of all the members in fulfilling the mandate of the church.
“It is with humility and a great sense of responsibility that I accept this spiritual task conferred on me through you by God’s divine arrangement. I feel greatly humbled by the event that has just taken place – giving me the renewed mandate to continue to lead this Movement for another term of five years. I, therefore, accept the affirmation conferred on my leadership of this great organization as the will of God for this dispensation.
“Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria will not relent in playing its God-given pivotal role as a frontline evangelical and Pentecostal Movement in our country. Our Inreach, Outreach and Nextgen focus will continue to guide and shape our policies and procedures in meeting the demands of ministry. The welfare of all our ministers will be further enriched as we accelerate the pursuit of our evangelistic and mission thrust,” the general overseer said.
Speaking to journalists, chairman of the electoral (Affirmation) committee, Jacob said the panel was happy to see the outcome of the affirmation.
He posited, “It’s part of the provision of our constitution as a church which is our grand norm that guides us in this process. We are so grateful to God everything has ended up in praise. We are so excited the people exercised their franchise, they did it without being pressured.
“At the end of the day, everybody did as they were led in their heart and we’re so grateful that there was an overwhelming result in terms of the need to go ahead leading the church. That means confidence has been reposed in our General Overseer who has led effectively in the past four years plus.
Speaking, the National Legal Adviser, Foursquare Church in Nigeria, Abiodun Oni, disclosed that the voting process followed the provision of Part 4 Section 2 (h) of the constitution of the church.
“We have the provision in our constitution stating the voting delegate. Those are the things that we use as a guide for us to know the delegates to be registered for the purpose of the election and that was what was followed to the letter.
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