By Ihechi Enyinnaya
Church of Nigeria( Anglican communion) has suspended the Bishop of Ekiti State Rt Rev Rufus Victor Ajileye Adepoju, for having sexual affairs with the wife of one of the priests in the church.
He was suspended via a letter by the church noted that the bishop had earlier admitted to the offense and also confessed this on the 10th of December during a panel that was set up to investigate the allegations.
The bishop’s suspension is set to last a year as the church also forbade him from handling any duties which pertain to his office.
He was also asked to hand over all the paraphernalia of office in his possession to the next in command in his diocese.
Adepoju was enthroned as a bishop in the diocese in June 2017 after spending about 32 years as a priest and 20 years as a Venerable in the Anglican Communion.
He replaced the first Diocesan Bishop, the Right Reverend Samuel Oludare Oke, who retired from office as the occupant of the seat after attaining the retirement age of 70 years. Before becoming bishop, Adepoju, 54, was the most senior venerable in Ekiti Diocese.
The new bishop, until his election, was the Archdeacon in charge of Emure Archdeaconry under Ekiti Diocese. He had also served as Archdeacon in Aisegba and Ikole Archdeaconries all in Ekiti Diocese.
Adepoju, an indigene of Iropora-Ekiti in Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area of Ekiti State, was elected Bishop on February 20 2017 in Abeokuta.
He was consecrated alongside three other bishops-elect at the Cathedral Church of Transfiguration of Our Lord (CATOL) in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on May 7 setting the stage for enthronement at the diocese he would superintend over.
Adepoju was born on May 10, 1963; he holds Diploma in Religious Studies from Immanuel College of Theology (1988); a B.A. (Hons) Religious Studies from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife (1993); MSc Sociology with a bias for Criminology from the Ekiti State University (2003); M.A. in Religious Ethics from Crowther Graduate Theological Seminary, Abeokuta (2016) where he is undergoing a Ph.D programme in the same discipline.
Adepoju got married to Tolulope on 22nd October, 1994 and the marriage is blessed with three children.