Ajoke Anike Ajala-Afin, born on the 5th November 1974, is a Virtuous Woman, a Prophetess, an Evangelist, a Teacher, an Accountant, a Writer, an Author, an Entrepreneur, a Philanthropist and a Preacher of the Word of God. She is also a woman of Vision and Accomplishment.

Born in Houègbo, Benin Republic, Ajoke was brought up in Senegal, Togo, Burkina-Faso, and France. She is a God-fearing Nigerian and a Woman of valour, God sent, life coach, good listener, a distinguished leader, an inventor and a business strategist. She is a woman on a mission, a woman clothed with strength and dignity. She maintains a humble and an unassuming lifestyle of a woman commissioned and favoured by God Almighty.

There is a popular truism that behind every successful man there is a woman. As it relates to Obafemi, his success is not only as a result of a woman, but an incredibly good woman. This truism is correct in the life of the duo of Obafemi and Ajoke.

One afternoon, in the year 2003, Obafemi was in the church, and tired. So, he decided to go across the road to his private apartment to observe his siesta, particularly because it was not a visitation day for Obafemi and he was not expecting any visitor. While sleeping, suddenly, he saw a cocoa tree with ripe fruits all over it. This is one of the fruits that Obafemi loved so much from his childhood. He was immediately attracted to the tree, so, he went for it with the intention to pluck one of the pods, have it broken and to start licking.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. So, he woke up, for it was all a dream. Obafemi then saw one of the Ushers who told him that he had a visitor. ‘’From where?’’ Obafemi enquired. ‘’Today is not a visiting day’’, he stated. But the Usher insisted that Obafemi should see the visitor, because the Usher had already told the visitor that Obafemi was around. He reluctantly obliged to see the visitor.

Eventually, when Obafemi met the visitor, he asked for her name and she told him her name was Ajoke Anike Ajala. Obafemi was shocked, because he did not expect the name he heard. ‘’Where are you from?’’, Obafemi inquired further. ‘’Oyo State in Nigeria’’, she responded. Now, Obafemi was convinced that she was a Yoruba lady. He asked if she could speak the Yoruba language. But she said, ‘’no’’. He asked where her mother came from. ‘’Benin Republic’’, she replied. Obafemi was wondering, because her mastery of the French language was impeccable, fluent and accurate with the intonation of a French native.

Ajoke told Obafemi that her mother got married to the Ajala family from Oyo State in Nigeria and she was born in Houègbo, Benin Republic and brought up in Senegal, Togo, and Burkina-Faso. So, she had never been to Nigeria before. At this moment, Obafemi told her that his name was Obafemi Afin and equally from Oyo State. He was already carried away but had to quickly caution himself from digging further into her private life. He called himself to order. So, they reverted to the subject of her visit. She disclosed that the purpose of her visit was to secure a job. She further told Obafemi that she was a banker and chartered accountant working with a reputable bank which she newly joined and got promoted upon the sack of her immediate boss.

She went into the reason why her boss was sacked, that monies in his care usually got missing in mysterious ways and that the fellow was greatly indebted before he was shown the way out. And that was the basic reason for her coming for spiritual guidance. Someone in her work place spoke about Prophet Obafemi Affin as a very powerful man of God and directed her to see him for help.

Obafemi then prayed for Ajoke and thereafter gave her prayer points and told her to take her mind away from the problem being a spiritual one. He told her to be very careful and cross check every transaction over and over again, before drawing conclusions. Obafemi concluded by telling her that, while observing the prayers, she must write down every of her dream or divine sign, so that they can discuss them whenever they meet again, and then she left.

The brief meeting was on Friday, and Obafemi had invited her to church on the following Sunday before she left. On Sunday, while Obafemi was at the Alter preaching, Ajoke came into the church as was ushered in. Obafemi looked at her and he saw the image of the cocoa tree that he saw earlier in his dream as if she changed to that tree and like a flash, she transformed again into her normal self.

That was when Obafemi recalled the dream he had earlier before meeting Ajoke for the first time. This disturbed his mind a bit, but he did not allow the congregation to notice anything. After the service, Ajoke walked up to see Obafemi in the midst of many other people that were waiting to see him too. But when she realized this, she decided to wait until Obafemi had seen everyone. Ajoke then went in last with some members of her family that came with her.

While she was seated before coming in to see Obafemi, the same image in the dream appeared to Obafemi again when he looked towards her. It came like a flash again and then back to her normal self. So, Obafemi began to wonder if she was a normal human being. He started rebuking any evil spirit that may want to manifest against him in any form.

Eventually, Ajoke came in with her family members and Obafemi mentioned her name, greeted her and started joking, by singing “Ajala travel all over the world”. Those who came with her were amazed and they started laughing, at the same time wondering how Obafemi got to know her name. She later said to them that they had met earlier during the week, on Friday. Obafemi there after told his audience the story behind the popular song; "Ajala travel".

They exchanged pleasantries as she told Obafemi all was well with her and her job and they left. After she left, Obafemi kept wondering about his dream and what he saw with the young lady, Ajoke. He could not draw any immediate correlation between his dream and the strange signs around Ajoke twice on that same day. Therefore, he decided to put it aside and continue his normal life.

As designed by destiny, Obafemi started having affectionate feelings towards Ajoke because this was the first time that he would be seeing a lady, not just of Yoruba ethnicity in the Republic of Benin, but also from his own place. In addition, she was a highly educated person with a very good job. Obafemi perceived her as being lucky to be so many things at the same time.

Obafemi wondered why this was happening to him because he had promised himself that he would not approach any lady for anything because of his past experiences with ladies generally. So, he did not want anything to drag him into a similar scenario anymore except God spoke loud and clear for him to go ahead. Obafemi managed to suppress whatever voice that was coming from within him. Consequently, he put everything behind him as the day gradually faded away like every other day.

As the week went by, Ajoke’s thought refused to leave Obafemi as different ideas kept running through his mind. At some point, he was tempted to call her but again, he restrained himself. While he was still brooding, he was carried away with her thought in his heart floating in the world of fantasy, and then the unexpected happened; his phone rang.

Coincidentally, Ajoke was the one online. They exchanged pleasantries and after the usual introduction, she said she wanted to come and see Obafemi. When her call came in, before Obafemi picked it, a voice had come from within him saying: “this is your wife calling”, but he quickly rebuked it because he does not want to fall once again. They continued with their conversation on the phone as Obafemi asked her to come over after work time. But Ajoke said she would not be able to make it on that day, but the following day.

The day that was convenient for Ajoke to visit Obafemi was not Obafemi’s visitation day, but for her sake, Obafemi conceded. The following day, Obafemi left his apartment earlier for the church where he asked Ajoke to meet him. While he was praying at the Altar even though he was not fully concentrating, he heard ‘’welcome madam’’. It was the gatekeeper’s voice. Obafemi was tempted to look back but he decided to control himself. Ajoke was ushered in to take a seat when something dropped from her bag and the Usher helped her to pick it up. ‘’Thank you’’, she said to the usher and her voice caught Obafemi’s attention.

So, he turned towards her and immediately Ajoke realized Obafemi was the one sitting in the front seat. So, she came and they greeted. They went together into Obafemi’s office. His office was an open place close to the Altar. They sat down, Ajoke was calm because they could see the ushers and the ushers too could see them. He called Ajoke by her name and started cracking jokes, singing, ‘’Ajala travels’’, once more. They both laughed it over and quickly reverted to business. This time, Obafemi asked for her mother’s name and she told him her name was Elizabeth Gertrude Sossouhounto, who was from Benin Republic.

Obafemi asked how her mother got married to Ajala. In response, she said, Adekunle Rogers Ajala was her father’s name, that he came to Benin Republic in the company of two of his brothers: John Shaanun Ajala and Olabisi Ajala’s father. Olabisi Ajala later became the notorious Ajala traveller. The father of Olabisi Ajala was the immediate younger brother of Adekunle Rogers Ajala, who was Ajoke’s father. The three brothers came to Benin for cultural performance and it was there that, Adekunle Rogers Ajala met Ajoke’s mother, and she (Ajoke) is the product of that union, Ajoke concluded.

Obafemi asked about her marital status. She said she was not married and do not even have a boyfriend. Ajoke was 29 years old at this time. Ajoke also said that, marriage was not part of her plan at that time. She chose to focus on her job and career. She added that, her mother would not allow her to have any kind of friend at all. In addition, it was her mother’s driver who took her to school, church and anywhere, even to her place of work and back home. Obafemi was stunned. But no matter what he had in mind; he must do his job as a prophet of God. Therefore, Obafemi changed the subject as he asked Ajoke why she wanted to see him. Ajoke responded that, she had been having some dreams lately.

She opened her bag and brought out a jotter where she had carefully written all her dreams. Ajoke said she dreamt of a cocoa tree having many ripe fruits and the pods were so beautiful that she started playing with them. Although, she had not seen cocoa tree physically before but she had seen the picture in books and also on the computer. So, she knew what she saw in her dreams was cocoa tree.

Obafemi was already carried away at the mention of the word “cocoa tree”. The man of God had gone on an abstract travel, while the lady continued talking about other dreams. Ajoke later noticed the man of God was no longer paying attention. She then tried to call his attention by asking the man of God to repeat the last thing she mentioned. The man of God said, “Cocoa tree”. Ajoke discovered that Obafemi was not paying attention, with the response he gave. Obafemi said he was only trying to get the spiritual interpretation of the dream. But for all other things said with regards to her other dreams, the man of God did not comprehend one thing except ‘’Cocoa tree’’, an image he saw earlier in his own dream, the first day he met Ajoke Anike Afin (nee Ajala).

Obafemi managed to comport himself and returned to the subject of their discussion. “How is your job”? He asked. “Fine”, Ajoke replied. “Has money started missing”? “No” she responded. Obafemi prayed with her and she left. Obafemi became very worried because he was already falling in love with her. Obafemi started thinking about the cocoa tree dream by both of them. He later concluded it can never be a coincidence and if at all it was, she looked good and beautiful enough to be his wife. So, Obafemi encouraged himself.

Ajoke started coming to church regularly in the company of other members of her family, numbering about six or eight of them. She now understands the meaning of being born again and within three months of her coming to Obafemi’s church, she did water baptism and everything was moving on fine. To be candid, Obafemi could neither sleep nor rest; for he was burning like a midnight candle anytime he saw or thought about the eagle-eyed lady towering in her pride of place.

Obafemi was dying gradually on the inside, for Ajoke had stolen his heart. Whom would he tell? Obafemi’s problem was how he would face Ajoke. If he can face her, how would he tell her he loved her? How could a man of God be in love with a church member? If he tells her and she is not interested, then what happens next? Ajoke might go and every other person who came to the church through her would also go with her. These were Obafemi’s thoughts.

Another thing was that by the time Ajoke returned to the Catholic Church where she came from it would be discovered that a so-called Pentecostal Pastor wooed her and Obafemi would have ended up giving his church a bad name. These and many more thoughts were running through his mind and he had no one to tell except the God whom he served. So, Obafemi started praying.

More so, he did not want the unpleasant things that happened in the past to be repeated. After weeks of prayer, he decided to ask God to give him a sign, if truly Ajoke was his assigned wife from heaven.

On Sunday, the church was already filled to capacity and service was about to start when suddenly, Obafemi started feeling a need to urgently visit the male convenience. He decided to sneak out of the church, and go across the road to his apartment to ease himself. As Obafemi was rushing, he came out of the entrance door. Then, he suddenly bumped into somebody, chest to chest. Behold! It was Ajoke while she was trying to rush into the church because she was already late for service too that morning. Sorry Sir! Sorry Sir! She quickly picked up her Bible that dropped on the floor in that process. Obafemi told her sorry too because it was not intentional from either of them. Obafemi headed for the male convenience in his apartment but to his surprise, he could not relieve himself on arrival. He tried all he could but nothing came out. So, he returned to the church and the Sunday sermon kicked off.

While Obafemi was on the pulpit preaching, he had a revelation that, the incident between him and Ajoke at the entrance of the church was the confirmation he asked God concerning the lady, Ajoke. Obafemi immediately turned and he saw her where she was sitting. At this point, he had his mind made up that he was going to approach her and was equally ready for whatever would happen thereafter. That day, immediately the grace was said in benediction, Ajoke jumped out and off she was gone. So, Obafemi did not have the opportunity to see her again that day and for a few weeks, he was unable to meet her physically one on one, although she came to church, every Sunday.

One day, Obafemi summoned courage and decided to call Ajoke on the phone to inform her that he wanted to see her. Though, before this time, he had been calling her once in a while to say ‘hi’ and to ask about her general welfare. But this time around, the mission was different.

So, Obafemi picked up his phone, selected Ajoke’s phone number but to dial became an uphill task, as different thoughts started running through his mind, but mistakenly, his finger touched the dial without him knowing and before he realized it, Ajoke had picked the call and they greeted. Obafemi used the opportunity to apologize for what happened the other day and Ajoke said “no problem.”

Obafemi concluded by saying that he needed to see her for something. She was excited and wanted to know why. At a point she became so inquisitive to know why Obafemi wanted to see her but he insisted that he needed to see her for something that could not be discussed over the phone that they have to see physically. They later agreed on a date and he ended the call.

On the D-day, she came and met Obafemi at the usual place, his church office. Obafemi had come over to the church earlier and was praying, when Ajoke came around. Obafemi overheard Ajoke responding to the greetings of one of the church workers. Immediately, he asked her to come in and they both exchanged pleasantries and discussion ensued.

Obafemi reminded Ajoke about their discussion on her marital status. Ajoke responded that marriage was still not her problem. Obafemi questioned her further that, if somebody in the church proposed to her, would she marry him? Ajoke responded that, if she sees the person and both of them like themselves, she would marry him. She added that, she deliberately refused to yield to the advances of men and boys in her workplace. Obafemi then, queried further that, if any of the men in the church was ready to marry her, would she agree to marry him? Ajoke said, yes, she would marry him, after years of courtship.

Obafemi further pushed that, in case someone was ready to marry her within the next two weeks, would she agree? He asked her, whether she would want to marry a man of God in the church. She replied that the two weeks was too short, because they had not taken the time to study each other. Then, she started looking around to see if there was any other man around that could possibly be the person. She was somehow confused. Then she asked who the man of God in the church was.

Obafemi did not waste time to tell her that he was the one. Ajoke out rightly rejected his proposal. She said Obafemi was a day dreamer. At that point, she became restless and did not waste much time; she took her bag and went out of his office. Obafemi could not even accompany her to the door. She left and Obafemi felt troubled. He could neither sleep nor eat. So, he started blaming himself on why he had to do what he did. Anyway, he could not undo what was already done; but he would tell no one. After a few days, Ajoke refused calling Obafemi and out of shame and fear, he could not call her too.

Obafemi’s heart was so troubled that he had no one to tell except God. But after some further pondering, he made up his mind and decided to put a call through to Ajoke. It was difficult for Obafemi to do so but eventually he did and she picked up his call. After greeting, the first thing she said was that she was even planning to call Obafemi to apologize over the way she answered him the previous day. She further admitted that she knew she was harsh and that Obafemi should not be offended.

This response gave Obafemi both hope and relief. He told her he was never offended, and that he was calling to equally apologize to her not to be offended. He also appealed to her not to tell her mother or any member of her family. Obafemi also told her that even though she was not interested, she must not stop coming to the church and he promised to continue being nice to Ajoke. Obafemi therefore concluded by saying it was true that he loved her sincerely from the bottom of his heart and God had revealed to him that she was his wife. Then they concluded the call. This call really gave Obafemi a sigh of relief. He was indeed happy with himself that at least, Ajoke did not tell anyone.

The following Sunday, Ajoke was in church with her family members but never wanted to see Obafemi again like before. It is now garbage in garbage out like the computer. One day, she called Obafemi that she was coming to see him, after work. Eventually, she came and they sat together in the church near the Altar.

She opened her bag, gave Obafemi a delicacy of shawarma sandwich and a cold bottle of yoghurt, as if she knew he was very hungry. Obafemi quickly grabbed the package, opened and started eating it. She asked Obafemi why he did not pray, before he started eating. Obafemi told Ajoke he knew she could never poison him. She brought out her own delicacy of shawarma sandwich and a cold bottle of yoghurt and joined in munching. Within minutes, Obafemi had finished everything. He noticed that she was gazing at him the way he was devouring and gulping everything, but he did not care, because he was very hungry. More so, he really loved her. It was also Obafemi’s way of showing that he really cares. As for Ajoke, she did not eat much as she packed it up and dropped the left over in her bag.

Then she brought up the topic, wanting to know how God told Obafemi that she would be his wife. Obafemi tried to explain to her but she was not satisfied with his answer. She then asked him if he was not married? Obafemi told her he was married but his wife left him many years ago and that he equally had children outside that marriage. Obafemi further revealed to her that, the last of such women who had children for him left him too, about four years ago. He told Ajoke the number of children he had. She exclaimed, and said that was too much, but at least she saw the sincerity in Obafemi.

Ajoke then said she could not marry Obafemi but that he would continue to be her god-father and spiritual guardian. Obafemi said he was ready to be the two. Ajoke was bothered about Obafemi being her pastor and at the same time, her husband. Obafemi told her it was possible and that he was ready to be both. Ajoke later said she was not brought up to be the wife of a man of God, and that she was not so spiritual. Obafemi told Ajoke that it was not a big deal, that she would be trained. She concluded that she could not and would not be his wife. Ajoke left without accepting Obafemi’s proposal.

Before Ajoke left, she advised that Obafemi should allow her to hear directly from God. She then said Obafemi should give her six weeks during which there would be no physical contact and no phone calls. Then, she left. The six weeks were like six decades to Obafemi as if it would never come to an end. Ajoke was coming to church but truly no conversation of any kind between them for the said six weeks. At the end of the period, she came back and told Obafemi she heard nothing from God.

On her way back again to see the man of God, she bought him a delicious delicacy of shawarma sandwich and a cold bottle of yoghurt. But this time around, Obafemi could not eat much because her response to his proposal was not pleasing to him. He tried to persuade Ajoke over it but she would not listen. After much talk without success, she asked for another six weeks with same condition as before, and left. Obafemi was not happy with the whole thing because she was giving him stress, as he had never met such a lady all his life. However, he was thankful that she remained in the church with her family members.

Ajoke returned three weeks later to discuss the topic again. This time around she told Obafemi she had a dream where she was in a car and Obafemi was the driver of the car. According to Ajoke, as they were going, a traffic warden tried to show them the way and she tapped Obafemi from behind at least to call his attention to what the traffic warden was saying. When Obafemi eventually turned back to her, it was then Ajoke realized that Obafemi was the driver, driving her in the dream.

Obafemi then told her that the dream was the confirmation that she had been looking up to from God. But again, Ajoke refused, saying how that could be God’s response, when God had not said anything directly to her. Later, she said, if she said ‘no’ for a final answer, what will Obafemi do? Obafemi told her he would not do anything but he would have to go back again and tell God that, the lady He gave him did not accept him. Maybe, God would give him another person. “Will God give you another person”? Ajoke asked. Obafemi said, he was only saying that in the event of ‘no’ being final answer’.

Ajoke eventually gave a ‘no’ as her final answer, but agreed that Obafemi would continue to be her father-in-Christ. But Obafemi replied by saying he would prefer to be the two. In addition, Ajoke said again, if she said ‘yes’, what would Obafemi do? Obafemi then responded that her positive answer would mean that they could start planning for their wedding in the next two weeks. This is because Obafemi wanted her hand in marriage as soon as possible. Ajoke protested that, it was not possible to have marriage without courtship. But Obafemi replied that courtship would be observed. At this point, Obafemi had come to the realization that Ajoke had accepted his proposal but was only pulling his legs.

Obafemi then pleaded with her to tell him ‘Yes’; but she turned him down. Later she said, they were close to the Altar and such a thing was not done close to the Altar of God. She then suggested they moved outside. Obafemi told her that what they were discussing was holy and not part of immorality. “Kissing and hugging in the house of God?” She quizzed. Obafemi corrected her that if she agreed to the proposal, they would not have to kiss or hug but could only hold hands and pray together. It was at this point Ajoke climaxed and said “yes”. Therefore, Obafemi asked her to give him her hands so they could pray together. Ajoke gave Obafemi her hands but later withdrew them, because she felt people were looking at them. Obafemi told her it did not matter as people around were not hearing what they were saying. She then gave Obafemi her palms as they held hands and prayed together after which she left.

Two weeks later, she told her mother of the development, though the mother had her suspicions the way she was now hiding things from her. Her mother had checked her phone while she was fast asleep and had seen all the “I love you” messages from the new love birds. They started the courtship and not too long afterwards, the traditional introduction took place within four months, August to December, 2003. The wedding was held thereafter but she was not allowed to move into her husband’s house until early 2004, when everything was concluded and Obafemi’s jewel of inestimable value, Ajoke Anike Ajala-Afin moved into his apartment as his legally wedded wife.

As a token of Obafemi’s love for Ajoke and to reassure her that he will forever love, cherish and care for her until death do them part, Obafemi has renewed her marriage with all ceremonies performed in seven different countries which include Benin, France, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Cameroun. Since Obafemi married this beautiful, amiable, prudent, intelligent and highly charismatic love of his life, God has been so merciful to them and has continued to be merciful to them in all ramifications of their lives. Obafemi promised that he will forever be indebted to Ajoke in appreciation for accepting him to be her loving husband.

He also appreciated all her unquantifiable contributions and support from ministry to business, as well as their private family life. He thanked his one and only wife, Ajoke Anike Ajala-Afin, the small woman in the Hand of the Great God.
To God be the glory!
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! Amen.