Obadare may be buried in $25,000 casket (World's most expensive)

BARRING last-minute changes in plan, the body of late Timothy Obadare, a renowned evangelist and founder of the World Soul Winning Evangelical Mission, WOSEM, who died on March 21 after battling an undisclosed ailment, will be interred in a $25,000 gold casket.

Obadare, the blind Akure-based evangelist, the second officially recognized Apostle by the Christ Apostolic Church, CAC, after Apostle Joseph Ayo Babalola noted for his monthly Koseunti Crusade, until his death devoted most of his time teaching the Bible and winning souls for the Kingdom of God. He was in ministry for about six decades, eagerly committed to soul winning.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos during the week, the son of the late evangelist and the general overseer of WOSEM in America and Europe, Pastor Paul Obadare, the WOSEM founder will buried in his hometown, Ilesha, Osun State on August 17 in a 14-karat gold plated coffin like the one used for the burial late popstar, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston.

According to the son who had relocated to Nigeria to rebuild the father’s ministry “we want the world to know that the best is given to the one who has done his best for the gospel. If the world can celebrate a carnal man, the world should be able to celebrate a spiritual man better,” adding that “these people have planted seeds into people’s lives and touched lives positively. Not just ordinary lives, but people from the top to the bottom.

“Why can’t the whole world, our nation Nigeria, put all their resources together and say he (Prophet Oba-dare) is our own, we are going to give him the best?” he asked.

The gold casket used for the burial of late Michael Jackson was manufactured by the Batesville Casket Company of Indiana and it was the same model used for the funeral of Jackson’s hero, James Brown. It was said to have cost $25,000 while that of Whitney Houston was put at between $10,000 and $20,000. As the world’s largest casket maker, Batesville’s products have been used in many celebrity funerals, including those for Farrah Fawcett, Bob Hope, Wilt Chamberlain and Fred Astaire.

Giving details of the burial plan made by the several committees set up by WOSEM, CAC and the sons of the prophet, Pastor Obadare said the ceremonies would commence on August 15 with a service of songs in Ilesha, Akure, Ibadan and Lagos as well as a lying-in-state at Ilesha and an interdenominational wake keep service on August 17 preceding the interment at a mausoleum currently under construction at WOSEM Conference ground along Ilesha-Ife Expressway in Ilesha.


Prophet T.O Obadare
He therefore appealed to Christians, governments, public-spirited individuals, church leaders and believers to join hands with the children to give the fallen evangelist a befitting burial.

He acknowledged that the Osun State governor, Ruaf Aregbeshola had promised to accord him a state burial and had actually begun the construction of the road leading to Baba Obadare’s home in Ilesha.

-vanguard