Deaconess Omolola Ashabi Elizabeth Sogbesan was buried at her residence in Ejigbo on March 27th 2026 after a service of songs the previous day at the same venue. She was born in the year 1948 to the family of Lay Reader Isaac Enilolobo Makinde and Mrs Suwebatu Aduke Enilolobo in Sojuolu Village in Ogun state. She was not opportune to finish her lower school due to certain issues that led to her leaving for Ayepe town to stay with her father’s sister. There she combined farming with trading and started vending for herself at a very early stage. She got married to her husband, late Daniel Babatunde Sogbesan and the marriage was blessed with children.
Deaconess Elizabeth Sogbesan surrendered her life to Jesus Christ and got baptized by immersion at the Christ Apostolic Mission Church (HQ), Idi-oro, Lagos by Rev. Olaniran on 10th February, 1985. She enrolled to Adult Education School in order to know how to read and write in 1996 after which she also attended Christ Love Assembly School of Evangelism for a Discipleship Course and graduated with a certificate in Discipleship in 1999. She was ordained a Deaconess in May 2001. The Church will surely remember her for her contribution to the development and growth of the church founded over 30 years. She was said to be among the first members that God used when the church was established in 1991 by the founder. Till her death she was the Good Women Assistant Coordinator for Christ Love Assembly Headquarters.
Mama Sogbesan, a hardworking business woman, was fondly called by her admirers as “Iya Oniresi ni Coker”. Coker area in Lagos was where she first lived before she got married. From there she joined her husband in Ejigbo, Lagos on 30th December 1987. She continued with her normal business life at Ejigbo and never ceased doing one thing or the other till she was called back to meet her Maker on Thursday, 5th March, 2026.
Professor Kayode Amos Sogbesan, the first son of the deceased, who is the Deputy Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Modibo Adama University Yola and also the Vice President, Research and Training, Fishery Society of Nigeria wrote in his tribute that Mama was there for him during his many days on sick bed as a teenager and never mind many names she was given because of him. Instead mama always told him that “Oko mi ma beru, Jesu wa fun wa” (my son, don’t be afraid, Jesus is there for us).
Apart from immediate and extended family members, present at the event to bid Mama farewell were friends of the family, Church members, community members, academicians from Modibo Adama University, Yola, and Federal College of Oceanography and Marine Technology Lagos, Fishery Association of Nigeria, classmates of Prof Kayode Sogbesan from early schools attended by him. Among them are Ojuwoye Public School Alumni Association (OPSAA) 1970 and Mushin Boys High School Alumni Association.
Mama was survived by her children, grand-children and great grand-children.
