Pastor Dr. Mrs. Oluwaseyi Bakare, popularly known as Mama Gboromiro, is a woman whose journey from business to ministry reflects a remarkable response to divine calling. A product of the famous Queen’s College, Ibadan, and the C&S white-garment church, Pastor Mrs. Bakare has distinguished herself by building Gboromiro Prayer Ministry on prayer, the Word of God and sound teaching, without the rituals commonly associated with most white-garment churches. Her ministry also transcends denominational boundaries, taking the Gospel to diverse denominational platforms globally. As she puts it, “Thank God, people are now becoming more Bible-based in C&S. We are changing fast.”

Pastor Dr. Oluwaseyi Bakare’s impactful prayer ministry has earned her a nomination for the 2026 BAME Award for Impactful Prayer Ministry. In this interview with Christian Benefits Magazine, she shares her transition from being a Christian student fellowship leader on campus to becoming a successful businesswoman, her calling into ministry as a prophetess, and her philanthropic activities, including running a tuition-free school in Ibadan and providing various forms of charitable support to poor widows and other less privileged members of society. Excerpts below.

How would you like to be introduced?

I am Pastor Mrs. Oluwaseyi Bakare, popularly known as Mama Gboromiro.

Briefly tell us about your background.

I was born before Nigeria gained her independence into a Christian family. I attended Queen’s College, Ibadan, and later proceeded to Ogun State Polytechnic, where I obtained my HND in 1982.

After my education, I went into government service and later moved into private business. I became an area manager for seven years before eventually opting out. I then started a big business and became one of the major distributors of Eleganza products, which blossomed very well. I became a household name and was ranked among the top distributors, sometimes coming third or fourth.

What was your experience growing up in a Christian family?

My mother was a prophetess and the founder of this particular church, from which my own ministry, Gboromiro Prayer Ministry, was birthed in 2000. My mother, now late, had difficulty having children. When she became pregnant with me, another prophetess told her that the baby in her womb was a girl who would become a prophetess across the nation. At that time, the pregnancy was only about two months.

I was born into the Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) Church. As a young woman, I was very focused on living a life of purpose as a career woman, but I knew God would use me.

How did you receive the call into ministry?

I heard the voice of the Lord in 1999. I went to theological school and started the ministry in 2000. The Lord kept telling me to tell people to meet Him every Tuesday.

I combined the ministry with my business until God told me to choose one. At that time, I was selling millions of naira worth of goods every day. Eventually, I chose ministry.

The time finally came when God asked me to come fully into ministry. My last child graduated from the university in 2013, and I felt I was then free to spread my tentacles and give myself more fully to the work of God.

When I told my husband that I believed God was leading me into ministry, he simply said, “Since you said God told you, follow God’s leading.” My husband is a complete gentleman who deliberately chose not to be a stumbling block to me. He does not like being in the public eye, but he gave me the freedom and support to follow God’s call.

My children also supported me. Although ministry runs in our family lineage—my parents were involved in ministry—I am a very focused person, and I knew what I wanted to do. My siblings did not hinder me either. They had seen the traits and passion for ministry in me from when I was young. My senior brother, in particular, knew that I could do it, despite being the last child in the family.

How did your own ministry, Gboromiro Prayer Ministry, germinate from your mother’s C&S Church?

As I said earlier, I was born into a C&S church, but God still gave me my own ministry, Gboromiro Prayer Ministry, within my mother’s C&S assembly. I started the ministry with only women. We called them women of prayer. I gathered them together and encouraged them to stop running “helter-skelter” in search of solutions to their challenges and problems. Later, their husbands also started joining us. That was how we started.

The programme I started in 2002 also helped the church tremendously. Within seven years, we were able to acquire more space and expand the work.Before then, I was used to counting millions of naira before 8:00 a.m. at Aleshinloye Market. I was a household name there. But God told me to drop everything. It was not easy. I cried for about three months. When I shared it with my husband, he simply said, “Since it is God, I believe you.”One day, I finally decided to resume fully into ministry. Two people came to me for counselling. The first person gave me ₦50, while the second gave me ₦20, making ₦70 altogether.I looked at the money and cried. It was so little compared with what I had been accustomed to handling in the marketplace. But I knew I had obeyed God, and I was ready to trust Him completely.

We are a ministry solely based on prayer, the Word of God and sound biblical teaching. My mother gave me Tuesdays for my ministry. I was later ordained a pastor in her church. Eventually, Gboromiro grew bigger than the church and brought the church into the limelight. After seven years, I became the minister in charge of her church while also overseeing the Gboromiro ministry.

What was the early experience like when you started Gboromiro Prayer Ministry inside your mother’s C&S Assembly?

It was very tedious. In the course of running the ministry within my mother’s church, God instructed us to take the programme outside the church, which meant renting a hall. The total cost of the hall was ₦500,000, while the offering collected was only ₦40,000.

At that point, I was tired and almost at the point of giving up. I cried to God, and He eventually showed up for me. It was all because I obeyed Him.

Today, what I have gained is worth far more than money. I am fulfilled. When I travel by air, people who know me greet and celebrate me. I can meet governors, kings and other prominent people without stress. I was happy when I was selling, but today, I am touching and impacting destinies. I am leaving a legacy that will make people remember that a woman came to this planet and made a difference.

Who are the people who have influenced your Christian life and ministry?

My mother is my mentor and role model. Even though she was not educated, she served the Lord faithfully and remained committed to Him until she passed on.

I have also looked beyond the C&S Church for fathers of faith who have influenced me. Baba Alakoso is one of them, as well as several other people whom I have never met personally.

Check my diary; I read a lot of books. I have read the books of Bishop David Oyedepo, Kenneth Hagin and Baba Adeboye. Baba Adeboye even came to anoint me in a dream. Interestingly, shortly after I graduated from Bible school, we were taken to Redemption Camp, where I saw Baba Adeboye in person.

I read their books because I want to understand what makes them strong and steadfast, how they serve their God and how they obtain results in ministry. I also love Kathryn Kuhlman. I love reading books and listening to tapes.

How has your lifestyle changed since you answered the call to ministry?

While growing up, I loved to dress well and look good. My family loved elegant things, and we attended one or two parties. But when God called me, I dropped certain things out of conviction by the Holy Spirit. Today, I am totally sold out to God.

How do you manage the demands of ministry and maintain your strength?

Managing myself is by the grace of God. I just came back from the UK, America and Canada, and it has been God who has given me the strength.

He who called me will justify and glorify His name through me. I work round the clock, and every year I observe 100 days of fasting, according to my age. Even when I am sick, the moment I mount the pulpit and hold the microphone, strength comes. It can only be God.

As the Bible says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.” I have experienced that renewal of strength again and again in ministry.

What gifts has God endowed you with for the ministry?

God has given me the gift of teaching and prophecy. I am a pastor and an Alore Elemi, which I carefully submit to the Word of God because I don’t want to be like some other pastors who work only on miracles. Let people know God first, and His Word, and then miracles will follow.

What are your church’s major programmes and their testimonies?

Majorly, it is the Gboromiro Interdenominational Intercessory Prayer Meeting every Tuesday, with thousands of worshippers from all walks of life attending weekly. We hold the popular “7 to 7” programme on the last Tuesday of every year. It is an annual programme, and people come from all over the world.

It is not only people from the white-garment church who attend. It also attracts unbelievers as well as casual believers.

We have had many testimonies. A woman without a womb got pregnant and gave birth to a child. We have seen people whose hope was restored and people who experienced breakthroughs. Barren women have also given birth.

We are a global ministry because many people have travelled from the ministry to overseas countries, doing exploits globally in various spheres of life, to the glory of God, as members and ministers in Gboromiro Prayer Ministry.

Share with us your experiences and challenges as a female preacher, and how you surmount those challenges.

My experience as a female preacher has been beautiful. I have been resilient, and if God has spoken, so be it. God made it easy for me.

I go on air preaching, and people love me for my boldness. I am blunt and radical as a white-garment minister. I am not ready to compromise; I say it as it is. People generally see me as a minister, not merely as a female preacher.

There were challenges from some of my male counterparts in C&S. We have gifts of the Spirit, but we sometimes lack knowledge of the Word of God. That made me go in search of the Word. I am a teacher, and I wanted to understand the Word properly.

How have you overcome these challenges encountered in your ministry?

The foundation of the white-garment C&S tradition presented some challenges. They saw me as a born-again Christian who wanted to change the pattern. I told them that I was only practising what is in the Bible. I study the Bible and face it squarely.

The criticism started with little things. I told my mother, “If you want me to stay here, let me do what God has asked me to do.”

Thank God, people are now becoming more Bible-based in C&S. We are changing fast. Before, Pentecostal churches took our people away, but now we are talking to them and bringing them back.

The youths are also doing marvellous things.

I travelled to America. My first trip was through a Pentecostal church, and later I ministered through a Baptist church. On these platforms, I saw beyond denominational barriers. I decided not to box myself in. I do things the way I am led by God.

How do you balance being a wife, mother and pastor, and also how will you describe your family’s support for your ministry?

I am a mother, wife, pastor, grandmother and prophetess. It is the grace and strength of the Lord that sustain me.

Faithful is He who has called me; He has empowered the unqualified.

What are your ministry’s most significant milestones and achievements?

One of the major milestones is the growth of Gboromiro from a small gathering of women in prayer into a ministry with global reach.

The “7 to 7” annual programme has become a major gathering, attracting people from different parts of the world and from different Christian backgrounds.

Gboromiro has also brought the church into the limelight. We are changing fast, and we are seeing people return to the faith. Our youths are also doing marvellous things.

What impact do you believe your life and ministry are making on others?

Gboromiro has reached people beyond our immediate church and denominational background. People from different Christian backgrounds attend our programmes.

Talking about impact beyond the spiritual, we run a tuition-free school in Ibadan with hundreds of pupils and students. We also provide welfare support to poor widows, the aged, the vulnerable and other less privileged members of society.

Through invitations and ministry opportunities on Pentecostal and Baptist platforms, I have been able to see beyond denominational barriers. I do not want to box myself in. I follow the leading of God

Many people look up to me as a role model. What attracts them is my zeal for the Lord. They see what I am doing and say, “If a woman can do this, we can do it as well.” I do not believe in failure. You must be brave and courageous.

We have a camp at Iroko, where we run a free school and free medical clinics. This is our way of giving back to society. Our ministry goes beyond the spiritual. We used to give support to widows, but we had to discontinue that because of the financial demands of providing free education. We pay salaries and take care of other maintenance costs.

We do not solicit for funds, and you will never see our church account displayed on social media. Faithful is He who has called us. We also have branches in the United States and the United Kingdom.

How have you been able to build such a committed membership?

The members are very committed, and I believe this is largely the result of our teaching of the Word of God. I was away from home for six weeks, yet the church continued to move forward. The members are not on salary, but they willingly give of themselves and even use their own resources in serving the Lord.

During our 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. programme, we do not provide free buses, yet the place is always filled with people. They come because they enjoy the sound teaching of the Word. We teach and preach the undiluted Word of God.

When people truly know the Word of God, money will not control them; rather, they will learn how to control money. Our offerings are not manipulated or multiplied through pressure. We have never lacked for a day.

What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind?

For me, legacy is about raising people who will continue the work. I have a daughter who is also a prophetess. She is presently a career woman and an accountant, and she is gifted. Very soon, by the grace of God, she will begin her own ministry.

Ultimately, I want to leave this world fulfilled, knowing that I have helped people serve God and made the world better than I met it. I want to depopulate the kingdom of darkness by winning souls for Christ.

When we went to a town called Iroko, we went with God, and we won the town for Him. That is the kind of legacy I want to leave behind.

As a prophetess and someone who speaks concerning the nation, what is your message to Nigerians?

As a prophetess and one who has a burden for the nation, I believe we can make Nigeria work. Our people should vote for the right person—someone who has the capacity and competence to do the work.

Do not sell your vote. Do not sell your future or the future of your children. Do not waste your vote. You do not need to collect anything in exchange for your vote.

I do not pray for Nigeria to be separated. We all need one another. The Hausa need the Igbo, and the Igbo need the Yoruba. We should learn from countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where diverse peoples have built nations together.

If those in leadership do what is necessary and provide the right direction, I believe everything will be fine.

What is your vision for the future of your ministry?

If the Lord tarries, my vision is to win more souls for Christ because I believe God sent me into this world for a purpose, and I must fulfil that purpose.

When I finally return to Him, I do not want to appear before God with one, five or ten talents and little to show for what He entrusted to me. I want to be able to say, “Lord, this is what I have done with what You gave me.”

Then I want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

My prayer is simply: “Thank You, Lord, for how far You have brought me and for all You have helped me to accomplish.”

I want to leave a legacy of prayer, the Word of God and sound teaching.

We are called prayer intercessors, so let us practise what our name is. I want people to know God first, and then miracles will follow.

Above all, I want my life and ministry to demonstrate that God can use and empower the unqualified.

Faithful is He that called me; He empowered the unqualified.

Finally, what advice would you give young women entering ministry?

Let them seek God and know Him first. They should study the Word of God and not build their ministry around miracles.

They should be focused, purposeful and unwilling to compromise. They should not box themselves into denominational barriers but follow the leading of God.