Elder Michael Ayodeji Oni, a devoted Christian Methodist, an economist and a chartered accountant born prematurely on Tuesday, April 17, 1934, is a life and testimony of God’s grace. Elder Oni’s father, Pa Emmanuel Oni Famuyide, was an early Christian convert in his hometown, Ilesa. Elder Oni described his mother, ‘Rebecca Talabi, as the perfect expression of maternal love and care.’ Elder Oni started primary school at age five years and eight months in January 1940 at Otapete Methodist Primary School, Ilesa. In January 1948, he worked as a ‘Pupil Teacher until August 1949. He attended Ilesa Grammar School, 1950-53. Under Divine guidance, Elder Oni obtained ‘double promotions twice during his secondary school education at Ilesa Grammar School from Form 1 to Form 3 in December 1950, and another promotion from Form 4 to Form 6 in December 1952.’ He studied at Oxford College of Technology, United Kingdom, 1960-63, and City of London College, 1963-64.

Elder Oni ‘obtained his bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of London, joined Ernst & Whinney (E&W) – now Ernst and Young – also in London, and by 1976, became a Country Managing Partner in Nigeria and was simultaneously appointed an International Partner in Nigeria, a position hitherto exclusively reserved for expatriates.’ Elder Oni married his beloved wife, the late Iyabode Olufunmilayo Johnson, in 1970. The marriage is blessed with two sons and three daughters.

In Thanksgiving, a collection of testimonies rather than a biography published ten years ago, Elder Oni said, “I live a life of testimony with countless proofs of God’s abundant grace. I swim in His grace, and I stand in awe of Him. What can I give to Him in appreciation, except my faithfulness to His commandments and to continually give Him thanks and praise? It is a direct command from Him: to give Him thanks with NO EXCEPTIONS.”

Elder Oni celebrated his 80th birthday, surviving multiple deliverances from untimely death. He got his first Ford Anglia car for £70 in England in 1969. A year later, while preparing to return to Nigeria after the international firm had transferred him, he sold the car, but the buyer allowed him to use it until he travelled. Sadly, before that day, he had a freak accident and crashed the car beyond repair.’

In 2000, by divine intervention, Elder Oni escaped the Ife toll gate incident. On March 11, 2009, he experienced divine deliverance unscratched from a near-death experience that happened on an Ash Wednesday when he was going to the service at City Mission Methodist Church, Surulere, Lagos. On February 22, 2012, he was returning from Ash Wednesday service as the only occupant in the car because he had asked his driver to close for the day. He drove under a trailer on the Eko Bridge at about 8:00 pm, approaching Apapa junction on the Eko Bridge. According to him, he was laid on the road until a good Samaritan begged one of the police officers to join him at the General Hospital. They scrolled through my phone contacts at the hospital and saw where I wrote ‘Mummy.’ They contacted her and said: “Mrs Oni, do you have a man near you?”

As I was the only man living in my house, there was no chance of any other man in the house with her except that he was a visitor. However, because God had foreseen the hospital would call and ask for a man, He ‘arrested’ a Reverend gentleman, Very Reverend Okegbile, and positioned him to be in my house then. The Reverend had also attended the Ash Wednesday at the Methodist Church, Tinubu, Lagos, while I attended the church in Surulere. After the service, he came to look for me, and my wife told him, “Daddy is on his way back.” So, he was waiting for me when the call to my wife came in. So, when my wife was asked on the phone if a man was at home, she said “Yes” and they told her to pass the phone to him. When the Reverend picked up the phone, they told him, “We have a man here, Mr Oni. He was involved in a small accident. Can you please come, but please do not tell his wife.” The Reverend came to the hospital alone. They also later called my pastor, and my wife was also informed much later. I came out of the coma the following day by 7:00 am, and the Reverend and my wife arranged to transfer me to the family hospital. I was discharged a few days later, hale and hearty.” Elder Oni remains a miracle at 90, and for him, ‘testimony is a powerful evangelical tool capable of leading souls to the kingdom.’

Professor Wale Omole, a former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University, aptly described Elder Oni’s upbringing, which opened a vista of opportunities to move to the right or the left. According to Professor Omole, Elder Oni ‘deliberately learnt and adhered to the essence of humility, right from a tender age, and still stays humble…Humility is a precursor of empathy. Ayo Oni is well grounded in empathy, always resonating with the action of understanding, of being aware of being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feeling, as well as the strife, the struggle and even the joy of his neighbour in an objectively explicit manner, all making him care for others sincerely. He cares. His thoughtfulness of care makes him discerning of the people, the activities and the possessions that are most important to him and placed according to their priority.’

Rarely does a body of Christ or work impact diverse disciplines as profoundly as Elder Oni is doing. He models scriptural holiness and an entirely new discipline of behavioural banking and economics that immediately applied to every field of human endeavour, especially in Access Bank. He demonstrated how we abandon logic and leap to greed and corrupt conclusions. For Elder Oni, human rationality and greed are like a sandcastle on a beach, washed away in the next tide of impulse, bias, presumption or delusion.

Elder Ayo Oni rightly described Methodist Church Nigeria (MCN) as one of his two main constituencies, the other being ICAN. Bearing in mind the structure of the MCN in different graduating clusters, Elder Oni, without holding the post of an Officer at the local church level, was appointed Circuit Steward in 1994 and served for six years. In 2006, Elder Oni, who was never a Diocesan Lay President in any diocese (to assist the bishop) in MCN, was elected the Archdiocesan Lay President of the Lagos archdiocese. He served for six years. In his humble nature, when the church offered him the knighthood of John Wesley in appreciation of support to Methodism in Nigeria, he refused it for one major reason: ‘The Methodist Knight wears a special gown that is complete with a hat which the Knight wears even inside the church.’ Elder Oni said, “I cannot wear a hat inside a church because I believe a man should never wear a hat inside the church. That is my understanding of the Bible as it is written in 1 Cor 11:7 … Moreover, if I did it as a son of my father, I would be denigrating his memory. One of the virtues I learnt from him was to reverence God. So, I told them so in the Methodist.”

At a Palm Sunday of 2014 ceremony, during a special service for the newly knighted church members, Elder Oni explained that His Eminence Ola Makinde saw him at the service and called him out before the congregation and said, “You see this man. He has done a lot for the Methodist Church Nigeria. We have tried to make him a Knight, but he has refused. We have now decided to give him a new title. We will now call him ‘Elder.'” With the prelate’s pronouncement, Elder Oni became the first officially recognised Conference Elder in the Methodist Church Nigeria.

Elder Oni retired from Ernst and Whinney in 1994 at 60, as of 1997. In his retirement mood, favour again beacons on him in the Nigerian banking sector. Elder Oni, who was neither a customer of Access Bank nor a shareholder, speak less of being a director, was sought out and invited to be the Chairman of the Bank in 1997. According to Professor Omole, ‘considering the circumstances of Access Bank at that time, it appeared that the Bank was seeking a credible ‘undertaker.’ Elder Oni, with his understanding of the psychology of money and economists, shredded the very plausible construct of the “homo economicus,” the “economic man”, a rational being acting from self-interest. Elder Oni was less than one year in office as the Chairman of Access Bank when on July 8, 1998, at a Board meeting, there was a sudden ‘palace coup’ in which Elder Oni was ‘technically removed as the Chairman, a new Chairman and vice Chairman was appointed. According to Elder Oni, the whole episode lasted only seven days, like a storm in a teacup. On Monday, July 13, the Central Bank of Nigeria invited the Access Bank board members for a meeting. Elder Oni and Chief Animashaun, the Managing Director and the Company Secretary were present. In his displeasure, the Deputy Governor of the CBN, Mr Victor Odozi, explained ‘some fundamental principles of bank ownership.’ According to Mr Odozi, ‘it is not the Board that owns banks since the authorities can remove all the members of the Board in one day and the bank would still go on. It is not even the shareholders who own the bank because they can sell all shares to others, and the bank will continue to exist. The real owners of any bank are the depositors because if they decide to withdraw all their money, the bank will cease to exist. That principle, therefore, underlies the key role of CBN regulation, which is to protect the interest of depositors.’ According to Mr Odozi, ‘as far the CBN was concerned, I (Elder Oni) was the recognised Chairman of the Board of Access Bank.’

Within five years of his leadership of Access Bank, with Elder Oni’s concept of doing things objectively devoid of self-interest or amassing wealth, ‘the undertaker became the ‘mid-wife that facilitated the current internationally rated Access Bank of today.’ Elder Oni completed enlisting Access Bank on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. To Elder Oni, Access Bank has the spiritual side and eventual victory.

Elder Oni served in different positions and organisations, including Clerical Officer at the Western Nigeria Ministry of Education. Ibadan. 1954-60; Articled Clerk, Whinney Murray and Company, Chartered Accountants, London, 1964-69; Senior Accountant/Manager, Whinney Murray and Company, Lagos. 1970-76; Managing Partner. Ernst and Whinncy/Oni, Lasebikan and Company. Lagos. \976-89; Managing Partner, Ernst and Young/Osindero Oni and Lasebikan. Lagos, 1990-94- Principal Consultant. Walmer Consulting. Financial and Tax Consultants, since 1992; Access Bank Nigeria Plc, 1997; Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. 1979; Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, 1979; Treasurer, Lagos District, Society of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, 1975-79; Member of Council, Examination Committee, 1979- 92; Director. Dunlop Nigeria PIc; President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, 1990-91; Nigerian representative. Board of International Accounting Standards Committee, London, 1983-87; Member, Nigerian Conservation Foundation, Lagos State Chapter; Member /honorary secretary, Board of Trustees and Board of Governors, Musical Society of Nigeria, since 1995. He is a member of – the Rotary Club of Lagos; The Metropolitan Club, Lagos; Island Club, Lagos; Ikoyi Club, Lagos; Ilesa Social Elite, Lagos; Ilesa Frontliners, Lagos,

Elder Oni loves music, reading, golf, and walking. Baami, Congratulations on turning 90! Dad, you are now officially a national and spiritual treasure. The rest of your years shall be the best. More miracle and testimonies. Worthy is the Lamb!