Odukoya’s children open up about coping with grief of losing parents

Jimmy, Tobi, and Toluwani, the children of Bimbo and Taiwo Odukoya, the founder of Fountain of Life Church, have opened up about coping with the grief of losing their parents.

Bimbo died in the 2005 Sosoliso plane crash which occurred in Port Harcourt, the Rivers capital. Taiwo, on the other hand, passed away on August 7, 2023, in the United States.

Speaking on the Truthable podcast hosted by Toluwani, the siblings talked about the profound impact of losing Bimbo and Taiwo and how their Christian upbringing was instrumental in dealing with grief.

Tobi said: “Part of the processing was identifying all those different layers and walking through them. And giving myself the grace to realise that it was not something to happen overnight. It took me many years to process. I understood there is no timeline for grief”.

“With Dad, I chose to see the goodness of God in my troubles. For the first time in my life, I always admired Dad because he felt like an anomaly. How can you go back and worship when you were grieving?”

On his part, Jimmy said he emulates his late father after seeing the way he handled his mother’s death.

“With mum it was sudden. At the time, my biggest fear in life was losing a member of my family. Mum was the most important woman in my life. When that happened, I felt I was at a crossroads with God and had two choices. Either raise a middle finger to God and say I am done or the other option is just to stay there and cry. And I thought to myself, if I take the other option of walking away, I was still going to come back eventually.” he said.

“I remember God telling me now that I have lost a member of my family do I not realise that I am now fearless? The worst has happened. What can the devil use to scare me?

“With Dad, I did not see it coming. The man was healthy as a fox. He was so full of life. I would have wagered him to be 85 and still preaching. I have to attribute a lot to him. The strength he displayed through his personal losses. I had that example. I had that blueprint. I saw his unwavering faith and strength. And now being thrust into a position where I was required to have faith.

“It was easy to do that because I have had such an exemplary model. I once asked him how he had managed to continue in spite of all he had been through dealing with the loss of mum, his sister. And he said because God has not failed me yet.

“For me, having that kind of mindset and navigating through Dad’s departure, I knew what I had to do. I knew that I could not afford to fold. I knew that I had to see God from a different perspective. God had prepared us to navigate the seas of our lives.”

Also speaking, Toluwani said: “I know one thing that has kept us as elders and made us who we are today, is our knowledge of who God is, knowing the God of our parents. So even when our parents are not around we still know God”.

Watch the interview below: