Eminent Nigerians, including Governors and Priests have paid tributes to late Bishop Ayo-Maria Atoyebi, OP, Emeritus Bishop of Ilorin whose death occurred on March 8, 2025 at the age of 80.
Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, Kwara State Governor, expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Bishop Atoyebi, describing it as the end of a remarkable era of ethical evangelism, peace advocacy, and selfless service to humanity. In his condolence message, the Governor extended sympathies to the Christian community in Kwara State, particularly the Ilorin Catholic Diocese and the late Bishop’s immediate family.
He acknowledged the Bishop’s immense contributions as a father figure and a beacon of moral guidance within the Church in Kwara State and beyond. AbdulRazaq prayed for the repose of Bishop Ayo-Maria’s soul and urged his family and loved ones to find solace in the legacy of impact and service that he left behind. He also prayed for divine comfort and strength for those mourning this great loss. Eulogising the late Bishop Emeritus, Bishop Anselm Pendo Lawani, Bishop of Ilorin Diocese described Bishop Ayo-Maria as a steadfast leader, and passionate advocate for peace. According to Bishop Lawani, “Bishop Ayo-Maria is being remembered for his dutifulness and for being a passionate peace advocate.”
Bishop Atoyebi’s successor also recognises with appreciation the late Catholic Church leader’s qualities of “wisdom and compassion”. “Bishop Ayo-Maria served our diocese with dedication, wisdom, and compassion from 1992 to 2019. During his tenure, he was a steadfast leader, a passionate advocate for peace and a devoted shepherd to his flock,” Bishop Lawani says about the late member of the Order of Friars Preachers, who resigned in June 2019 at the age of 74. “After resigning from the pastoral care of the people of God in Ilorin Diocese, the late Bishop Atoyebi continued to serve our diocese with grace and humility, offering guidance and counsel whenever needed. “
We give thanks for his life, his ministry, and his unwavering commitment to our Lord and the Church,” the Local Ordinary of Ilorin since February 2024 says about his predecessor, who had the late Bishop Paul Adegboyega Olawoore as his immediate successor. “May his legacy continue to inspire us to live out our faith with joy, hope, and charity.” For Very Rev. Fr. (Prof.) Anthony Akinwale, OP Bishop Ayo Maria lived in time preparing for eternity. He described the late Bishop as detrabalise, prayerful, and a man in tune with God. According to Fr. Akinyemi, “His prayer life found a powerful expression in his preaching. And in this, he showed himself a true son of St. Dominic. Of St. Dominic it is said that he seldom spoke, and that when he did, it was either with God or to others about God.
This too can be said of Ayo Maria: He seldom spoke. And when he spoke, he either spoke with God in prayer, or to others about God in preaching. He desired God in contemplation, and he spoke about God in his preaching. He thus lived out the Dominican motto beautifully inspired by St. Thomas Aquinas: “To contemplate and to share with others the fruit of contemplation”.
To contemplate is to desire God. Bishop Ayo Maria lived his life desiring God. He lived in time preparing for eternity. There were times I wanted to take some decisions, and he talked me out of them. Even when I was not convinced of his argument, and I must say we were not always on the same theological page, out of respect for him, it was difficult to say no. Without his advice, I would not have accepted to be pioneer Vice Chancellor of the Dominican University. “You have made many sacrifices for intellectual life in our Order. We want you to make more.” Those were his words to me as we argued on this until way past midnight in August of 2017. A few hours after that argument, it was a Sunday morning, I met him in the Priory Chapel at St. Dominic’s Yaba. I requested of him to be Chief Celebrant of the Sunday Mass. He asked me to say the Mass. The First Reading was about Elijah in the storm. The Gospel was about Peter in a violent wind. I requested of him to preach after the Gospel was read. “No,” he said.
“You preach.” A week before he died, I was by his hospital bedside. I knew his condition was critical. But I still hoped and prayed that, as it happened many times in the past, he would pull through. On the morning of March 8, 2025, I woke up early and received word about an emergency situation at Augustine University. I was still attending to that in the afternoon when I received news that he died. “For your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven” (Preface I For the Dead). This then, in those words, is the assurance that the liturgy gives to us: That, when Bishop Ayo Maria Atoyebi died on March 8, 2025, he continued to live.
And if I were to write an epitaph on his tombstone it would be this: Here lies Ayo Maria who lived in time preparing for eternity. Born on 3 December 1944, Bishop Atoyebi was ordained OP Priest in December 1978. He was consecrated Bishop of Ilorin in May 1992 following his Episcopal appointment in March 1992. In April 2018, Pope Francis appointed Mons. Paul Adegboyega Olawoore as Coadjutor Bishop of Ilorin, who was Consecrated in July 2018 with the right to succeed Bishop Atoyebi. Due to ill-health, the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Bishop Atoyebi from the pastoral care of Ilorin Diocese; Bishop Olawoore succeeded him. The latter passed on in January 2022 at the age of 60.
