True religion is to bless the orphans, widows, says Ashimolowo

The widows of Ode Omu, Modakeke, Ikire, Ife, Apomu and Osogbo enjoyed the generosity of Senior Pastor of Kings International Christian Centre (KICC), Matthew Ashimolowo and his wife, last week, at Ode-Omu, when they were given money, clothing and food, to celebrate the new year, as well as alleviate their suffering.

At the 11th edition of the programme, the Senior Pastor said the Nigerian system does not have social security for anybody and that in the scale of suffering, the widows are probably the most affected.

“The Bible says true religion is to bless the orphans and the widows, and this is our motivation,” he said.

The cleric, who expected about 9, 600 beneficiaries, explained that he made provision for 10, 000 because last year, “5, 000 people were expected but we ended up with about 5, 500. There will always be some who will just show up. Again, we try as much as possible to put a system in place, in order to avoid problems because we want to verify that you are not just taking advantage of the programme, but that you are truly a widow.”

He said the vision, which began with his father’s household has grown to accommodate six surrounding towns.

“This is not from KICC,” he said. “It’s just me and my wife. It’s our vision, and there is no government support anywhere. However, we have a few friends and family, who support the vision.

“In the past, I introduced something, when I also gave 40 University scholarships to students, who came from the town, as long as they could prove that they were in the university. We gave tuition fees, and once we started our own university, we redirected that into our university. So, the first year of Kings University, the 86 students were all on scholarship and 40 percent were paid for by my wife and I and 60 percent by KICC. In the New Year, not everybody is on scholarship, maybe like 60 percent. You can only give what you have.”