Ediémou Blin Jacob

Ediémou Blin Jacob came from Grand-Bassam in southeastern Côte d'Ivoire. RTI reported that he was born around 1944; other reports gave his age at death as between 80 and 84. As a young man he was goalkeeper for USC Bassam, one of the leading Ivorian football clubs of the 1960s, and played in a final of the Coupe Konan Raphaël against ASEC Mimosas at the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny stadium in Abidjan.

He worked as an agent and then a controller in the Posts and Telecommunications service and served as an attaché de cabinet to Maurice Séri Gnoléba, the minister of commerce. In October 1975 he met Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa, founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, at Porto-Novo in Benin, and the following year committed himself more deeply to the church. In 1978 he left his professional career to devote himself fully to pastoral ministry.

After Oshoffa's death in 1985 the church entered a long period of disagreement over succession and recognition of its leaders. Ediémou Blin Jacob defended his legitimacy while calling for a common authority to preserve unity. He rose through the church hierarchy, serving as second world vice president, and on 5 July 2014 he was invested as national pastor of the Celestial Church of Christ in Côte d'Ivoire at the mother parish of Saint-Raphaël in Vridi, Abidjan. He led that parish and the diocese of Côte d'Ivoire, and presided over the National Forum of Religious Confessions, taking part in initiatives for interfaith dialogue, peace and social cohesion.

His health declined in 2026 and he spent his convalescence at the Saint-Raphaël parish in Vridi. On 8 October 2026 he told journalists there that he was grateful for the support he had received, including from President Alassane Ouattara, and urged the rival currents of his church to reconcile, saying: "We must forget and we must forgive." On 13 October religious leaders visited his home in Port-Bouët Vridi to pray for him. He died during the night of Sunday 18 to Monday 19 October 2026 at the Clinique Farah in Marcory, Abidjan, after a long illness. His family and the Celestial Church of Christ of Côte d'Ivoire announced his death officially in a statement on 21 October 2026 and said funeral arrangements would follow.

Described by L'Avenir as the last living disciple of the church's founder, Ediémou Blin Jacob spent close to five decades in the Celestial Church of Christ and became one of its best known voices in Côte d'Ivoire. His family and church remembered him as a servant of God, a builder of peace and a tireless artisan of dialogue between confessions, and media across the country noted his role in promoting peace, reconciliation and social cohesion.