Rev. Dr. Obiora Ezekiel, General Overseer and Founder of Christian Pentecostal Mission International (CPM), is dead.
He was aged 78 years.
The translation of the firebrand preacher, also known as Demon Bulldozer, was on Sunday made public by the church management after church service.
The announcement of the death was also posted on the church’s Facebook page by one the Imo State Coordinator of the church, Rev. John Ezeh.
He said: “I am saddled with a responsibility to all sons, daughters, friends and lovers of Christian Pentecostal Mission International (CPM) to make an official announcement by the authority vested on me by the National/International Coordinator of CPM International, that our father, mentor, our General, our Field marshal, the man that saw the vision, the man that began the race, the man on whose shoulder we’re all climbing, the Founder and General Overseer of Christian Pentecostal Mission International, REV. DR. O. EZEKIEL, has gone to be with the LORD just a few days ago.
“Before his departure, he had been telling us to keep the vision alive, and the fire burning: that the mantle is with us; the glory is with us while he goes to wait for us to come over when the time is ripe.
“This was a man whose doggedness in the gospel gave him a title, “Demon Destroyer”; the man who is best known as a teacher of DIVINE NATURE. He has left his mantle with us to continue where he stopped to move CPM to the next level.
“He came, he saw, he conquered, and triumphantly he left. Transform Triumphantly, our General, till we meet at Jesus’ feet.”
“The church management will continue to give updates on the burial arrangement,” Ezeh wrote.
Until his death, the Pentecostal leader operated under the five-fold ministerial gifts as an Apostle, a Prophet, an Evangelist, a Pastor and a Teacher.
A highly respected man of God noted for integrity, Ezekiel was one of the founding fathers of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, and gave them office space in his sprawling church headquarters in Ajao Estate, Lagos, known as Believers Cathedral for many years.
Ezekiel was a deliverance minister and a popular evangelist, who touched all nooks and crannies of the country, preaching the word of God with evident signs and wonders trailing his ministry.
His ‘Powerless Power Crusades” attracted a huge congregation and he got his sobriquet of Demon Bulldozer because of the exploits wrought and how demons were forced to let go their victims at such crusades.
Ezekiel later entered the third and last phase of his ministry, devoting time to teaching and could be seen on television dissecting the message of salvation.
Many ministers of the gospel from even other churches from within and outside usually thronged his annual Back to Bible Conference (BBC).
He came to Lagos from his native Anambra State in 1954 and later founded Christian Pentecostal Mission, CPM, one of the leading Pentecostal churches in Nigeria with a three-fold mandate to bring deliverance back to the body of Christ, to create awareness for the second coming of Christ and to prepare the saints for rapture.
Ezekiel was distinct as a man and preacher, even as his ministry is also unique with an express injunction not to copy others. No wonder he was also well respected locally and internationally.
He was outstanding in his stout rejection of enticements by politicians and remained committed to the Truth into which he was called without the distracting trappings of life.
He was a PhD holder in Theology, a four-star General in Chaplaincy, and a prolific author whose works include God’s Battle Axe, Purity of Priesthood, Power of the Spoken Word, In The Heart of The Father, among many others.
Ezekiel was a shining star to his generation and held the torch with which many have seen and come to the knowledge of the truth.
He was married to Rev. Dr. Mercy Ezekiel, the National/International Coordinator of Christian Pentecostal Mission, an Amazon and prayer machine. Their marriage was blessed with glorious children and a grandchild.
The death of Rev. Dr. Obiorah Ezekiel is not only a loss to CPM but also to the entire Christian community in Nigeria and the Diaspora, who had seen him as a big iroko under which they found shelter.
