Rev. Samuel Abayomi Aboyeji has been elected the new General Overseer of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria. He will become the fifth General Overseer of the movement, which started in Nigeria in 1955 at his official inauguration in November at the church’s national convention.
Expectations are high from church members and the Christian community in Nigeria that he will build on the achievements of the movement’s past leaders, particularly the work of the current General Overseer, Rev. Felix Meduoye.
He has been the Senior Pastor of the Church Olu of Warri’s Palace since 2001 and the Warri District Overseer/Mid-West Region Coordinator since 2006 and 2011 respectively where he was rated the best District Overseer of the Church for three consecutive years.
He is also a member of the Board of both the Home and Foreign Missions and the National Executive Council of the Church. He joined the Foursquare Church in 1988 and served the movement in various leadership capacities before he was ordained a minister of the Church in 2001.
Rev. Samuel Aboyeji started his working career with the premier stock broking firm in Nigeria, the Nigerian Stockbrokers Limited (NSL), a subsidiary of NAL Merchant Bank Plc (now Sterling Bank Plc) from 1987 to 1992 where he trained as a stockbroker and licensed as an authorized dealing clerk of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 1989.
He left Nigerian Stockbrokers Ltd (NSL) to join Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) (Corporate Treasury) in 1992 as an Investment Analyst with responsibility for money and capital market investments of the Pension Fund.
He was a pioneer staff of Shell Trustees Nigeria Limited where he had responsibility for building and managing its capital market portfolio until his transfer to the Community Relations department of SPDC in Warri in the year 2000.
He actively participated in the negotiation of the company with Niger Delta Communities during the Niger Delta Crisis of 2006 to 2009 and was a member of the SPDC West Re-entry team that facilitated the company’s production restoration in the post-amnesty era as the Community Interface Coordinator (CIC) for Swamp Communities of SPDC West. It was from this position, that he opted for early retirement in March 2010 to answer to the call of God as a full-time minister of the gospel.
Rev. Sam Aboyeji holds a Bachelor’s degree in Theology from LIFE Theological Seminary, Ikorodu; B.sc. (Hons) in Economics from the University of Ilorin; and an MBA in Financial Management and Accounting from the University of Lagos. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and a member of the Institute of Chartered Mediators and Conciliators (ICMC).
Born in December 26, 1960, he is married to Rev. (Mrs.) Olabisi T. Aboyeji, a qualified Medical Laboratory Scientist, who has been in full-time ministry with him since 1993 and they are blessed with four grown-up children – Iyanuoluwa, Iyinoluwa, Ifeoluwa and Ireoluwa.
