Earlier on the morning of Tuesday, 26th May 2026, long before the academic gowns made their appearance and the university dignitaries began to file into the venue for the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation, something else was already taking place at the institution’s Ile-Ife campus. The day began at 6:00AM, as it always does on workdays, with the Holy Ghost Breakfast – or HGB, as the students have come to call it with the kind of resignation that suggests they have long stopped fighting the idea of praying before sunrise.
For two hours, from six to eight, this statutory programme does exactly what its name suggests: it feeds students spiritually before their bodies remember they are hungry. On this particular morning – the very morning of the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation – the message was delivered not live but via an audio-visual recording of Evang. Mike Bamiloye, projected by the media team. His voice filled the hall, speaking not about matriculation gowns or university collaborations but about the nature of Christ – which, one might argue, is a far more important preparation for a career in Christian drama than knowing how to walk in a straight procession line.
After the message, Evang. Yemi Adepoju led the prayers, and the room became the kind of noisy, earnest, slightly chaotic prayer session that every Nigerian Christian knows well: eyes closed, voices raised, and at least one person shouting “fire” somewhere in the back. Then Mr. Covenant Adebayo, the Registrar, stood up to make announcements – including last-minute instructions for the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation scheduled for 11:00AM. And that, dear reader, was how the day of history began – not with fanfare, but with a breakfast no one ate and prayers no one regretted.
By 11:00AM, the atmosphere had shifted from the raw intensity of morning intercession to something more polished, though thankfully not too polished. The Mount Zion Institute Matriculation – the first combined ceremony of its kind, covering the 2023/2024, 2024/2025, and 2025/2026 academic sessions – was about to commence. And here is where we must pause to appreciate the sheer Nigerianness of what transpired. Three academic sessions – three – were being matriculated together under one Mount Zion Institute Matriculation ceremony. In theory, this was efficiency. In practice, it meant that students who had been waiting for two or three years finally had a date to wear something other than their ZRT kits.
The relief on their faces was palpable. One could almost hear their collective thought: “Ah, so the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation is finally happening.” And happen it did. The venue filled with principal officers from Redeemer’s University: Professor Shadrach Olufemi Akindele, Vice-Chancellor, was represented (as is the custom of Vice-Chancellors, who, like African monarchs, cannot be expected to appear in person for every event, no matter how historic).
Professor Olumide Ekanade, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, was present in full academic regalia. Professor Babatunde Adedibu, Chairman of RUN Collaboration and Linkages, looked every bit the architect of a partnership that many said would never work. Dr. J.O. Fashola, Head of Department of CRS and Philosophy, and Dr. D.M. Babarinde, Head of Department of Theatre Arts, completed the impressive delegation from the university side – all there to witness the historic Mount Zion Institute Matriculation.
From Mount Zion Institute of Christian Drama, the leadership was equally well represented. Evang. (Dr.) Yemi Adepoju, Deputy Director, moved between groups with the quiet efficiency of a man who had been praying for this day since before some of the matriculating students were born. Professor Olalekan Jesuleye, Provost, stood with the academic bearing of someone who has spent a lifetime ensuring that Christian theatre is taught with rigour and not just enthusiasm – a quality that the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation now publicly celebrated.
And Mr. Covenant Adebayo, Registrar, was, as expected, the one holding the documents, checking the lists, and making sure that no student was accidentally sworn into the wrong session during the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation. The staff and well-wishers filled the remaining spaces – parents who had paid school fees through tears, pastors who had endorsed the vision when it was still small enough to be dismissed, and friends who had come mostly to take photographs and say, “God is good o.” Everyone understood that this Mount Zion Institute Matriculation was not merely an academic formality but a testimony.
Now, let us talk about the atmosphere. If you have never attended a Mount Zion Institute Matriculation where people openly praised God as if they were in a crusade, you have not attended an MZI event. The air was electric – not the dangerous type of electric that suggests faulty wiring, but the kind that makes your skin tingle because you know something significant is unfolding. Every prayer, every song, every speech seemed to circle back to one undeniable truth: the Lord Jesus Christ had made this Mount Zion Institute Matriculation possible, and no one was going to pretend otherwise. At several points, one could be forgiven for forgetting whether this was a university ceremony or a Sunday service. The answer, it seemed, was that the line between the two had been permanently erased. And honestly, no one complained.
The university professors did not shift uncomfortably in their gowns. The students did not check their watches. Even the Registrar – who, by professional obligation, is supposed to be the most stoic person in any academic gathering – was seen nodding in agreement when the praise reached its peak. That is the unique signature of a Mount Zion Institute Matriculation: worship is not an interruption; it is the main event.
What made the day particularly moving was the visible weight of fulfilment on the faces of those who had carried this vision for decades. Evang. (Dr.) Mike Bamiloye, the visioneer, was celebrated throughout the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation, though he was not physically present in the way one might expect. His voice had already been heard during the Holy Ghost Breakfast. His teachings had already laid the foundation. And his decades of sacrifice – the early mornings, the lean years, the moments when people asked, “Why drama?” – were finally being publicly validated by this Mount Zion Institute Matriculation. The ceremony was not merely an academic event; it was a public receipt for years of faith, stamped “Delivered.” One cannot help but think that somewhere, perhaps in a quiet corner of his heart, the visioneer allowed himself a small smile. Not the loud kind. Just the quiet satisfaction of a man who planted seeds and lived long enough to see the harvest – and then watched that harvest walk across a stage during a Mount Zion Institute Matriculation.
In true Nigerian fashion, the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation ended not with a whimper but with a series of blessings. God bless Mount Zion Institute of Christian Drama. God bless Nigeria. God bless Evang. (Dr.) Mike Bamiloye. The students filed out, now officially matriculated, their gowns already beginning to feel like a responsibility rather than just clothing. The parents wiped tears. The photographers packed up their equipment, exhausted from trying to capture a day that felt too large for any lens. And somewhere in the background, a staff member was heard muttering, “This is just the beginning o. Next year, the Mount Zion Institute Matriculation will be even bigger.” And that, perhaps, is the most Nigerian commentary of all: gratitude for what God has done, immediately followed by faith for what He will do next. The Mount Zion Institute Matriculation of 2026 was history. But if you ask anyone who was there, the best chapters are still being written.
