By Bose Adelaja
CITIZENS COMPASS— She came to the limelight barely 20 years ago as a chorister with the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), formerly known as the Evangelical Church of West Africa, Mushin area of Lagos State.
Findings revealed that she was 26-year-old when the choir was to record an album and necessary arrangements have been made including constant rehearsals.
Some of the vocalists have been trained to lead the various tracks in the album and all have mastered what they were assigned for until the D-Day to record the album when one of the vocalists did not show up due to an exigency.
The leaders of the group were said to be discouraged as this almost jeopardised other arrangements.
As they were thinking about an alternative arrangement or the possibility of shifting the recording to a new date, one of them suggested that before shifting the recording date, Akinnaanu be allowed to stand in for the absentee and this worked out.
In what could be described as a corporate anointing, the album was successfully recorded and Akinnaanu turned out to be a Golden fish among the choristers.
Lo and behold! ‘Omije Ojumi’ turned out to be the hit track in the album.
As gathered by Citizens Compass, this opened doors of opportunities particularly invitations for outside engagements for the Choir and at every outing, the hit track was said to be in high demand with Akinnaanu being the lead vocalist.
This gradually brought her to limelight as she was well known at crusades and other outside engagements.
Gradually, division stylishly crept in among the choir members prompting Akinnaanu to pull out of the group.
In preparation for higher responsibilities, she was said to have quit her banking job and formed a band to be able to meet up.
Akinnaanu, who turned 46 in November 2025, has since waxed other albums to her credit though ‘Omije Ojumi’ has continued to be evergreen.
ECWA is one of the largest Christian denominations in Nigeria with millions of members. It is a partner church of the international Christian mission organization, Serving In Mission (SIM), formerly Sudan Interior Mission.
The Church was founded in 1954 when the SIM-related churches (initially in Nigeria) came together to form an indigenous body. Since that time, mission stations, Bible Schools, academic schools, and medical programmes have been transferred to ECWA leadership.
She studied Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at the Lagos State University (LASU).
The death of the Gospel singer was confirmed in a family statement posted on Instagram by her fellow gospel juju singer, Akinola Ayoola Michael popularly known as Alayo Melody Singer on Wednesday.
The statement, signed by Olawale Akinnaanu on behalf of the family, disclosed that the former banker died on Monday at a hospital in Lagos.
The statement reads, “With great sadness, we announce the passing of Evangelist Olubunmi Akinnaanu Adeoye Omije Ojumi, who passed away on 12th January, 2026, at Lagos hospital, Nigeria. May God grant her eternal rest,”
In 2015, the late Akinnaanu was off stage for a while and while her fans were ruminating over this, she was captured in a viral video during a church service at G.F. David Ministries in Ibadan, Oyo State seated with her leg stretched during a prayer session.
An intravenous (IV) cannula was attached to her hand, underscoring the severity of her condition.
During the service, the cleric told the congregation that the singer was experiencing persistent bleeding in her leg, which he described as a spiritual attack.
However, the exact nature of her medical condition remained unclear, and no further updates on her health emerged since then.
A few months after, an appeal fund was launched on her behalf and a few days back, information filtered that her condition had grown worse and may likely require being flown to India for a surgery.
However, she gave up the ghost before the overseas trip.
Career
It was learnt that Akinnaanu who was married to Adeoye began singing at the age of 10 but initially built a career in banking. She later resigned after 10 years in the sector to sojourn into full-time music.
On Wednesday, some viral videos captured the singer during her lifetime.
One of the videos was an interview session which captured the late singer talking about her early beginning and poor background.
She recounted a point in her life when she went borrowing to get a costume.
Bunmi Akinnaanu went down memory lane and recounted a time when she attended church programmes in shreds wearing pairs of bathroom slippons before fate smiled on her.
She recounted when she borrowed a pair of earrings for a video shoot and the owner had to stand behind her in order to monitor the use.
Born on November 19, 1979, in Lagos, she passed away on January 12, 2026, at a Lagos hospital.
