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Most Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo was raised in the Catholic faith and through it, was drawn to the priesthood. After secondary education in the Local Church Minor Seminary, he studied philosophy at the Regional Major Seminary of Ss. Peter and Paul which was affiliated to Nigeria’s premier university, the University of Ibadan until 1980. He then went to Rome, Italy to undertake theological studies. During the summer of 1983 he won a scholarship to do a summer Bible course at the Hebrew University in Hadassah, Jerusalem. In 1984, he received a Bachelor of Theology degree from the Pontifical Urban University in Rome.
On January 4, 1986, Rev. Adetoyese Badejo was ordained a priest in Osogbo, Nigeria.
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo was an associate pastor for seven years. During those years he held many positions of responsibilities inter-alia: Diocesan Vocations Director, Assistant Diocesan Communications Director and Chairman, Diocesan Communications Director. During these seven years of work he explored other areas of interest in music and Communication Sciences. He furthered his interest in 1989 by attending the International Catholic Union for the Press (UCIP) Summer University for journalists in Fribourg, Geneva. He returned to study in Rome where he received a Licentiate in Communication Sciences from the Silesians University in Rome as the best student in his faculty in 1995.
During his studies, from 1993-1994 he was the President of the Association of Nigerian Priests and Religious in Rome. On his return home 1996-2003 he was appointed the Secretary/Director of the Department of Communication of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria in Lagos. During this time he founded and was the First National Chaplain of the Catholic Artistes and Entertainers Association of Nigeria, (Film/Video) CAEAN from 2005-2006. After eight years on the national job, Fr. Emmanuel Badejo opted to return to work in his diocese, now Osogbo, that having been carved out of the old Oyo Diocese. He was appointed Administrator of St. Benedict Catholic Cathedral, Osogbo and became Vice President, Indigenous Clergy Association of Yorubaland over a period of two years. In 2006 he spent a Sabbatical year in the United States of America, returning to his country in April 2007 with the intention of writing a Doctoral thesis on the theme of Film and Spirituality.
However, on August 14th of that same year he was elected bishop of his old Diocese of Oyo. Then on October 20, 2007, he received his Episcopal Ordination and became Most Reverend Bishop Emmanuel Badejo.
In July 2009, Bishop Emmanuel Badejo was elected the only representative of the bishops from Africa to the G-8 Summit in Italy.
On November 20, 2009, His Excellency, Most Reverend Dr. Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo had his Pubic Assumption of Office after the retirement of His Excellency, Most Reverend Dr. Julius Babatunde Adelakun who had shepherded the new Diocese of Oyo for fourteen years when on April 30, 1995 he formally transferred his seat from Osogbo to Oyo after the creation of Osogbo Diocese where Most Reverend Dr. Gabriel ‘Leke Abegunrin is the local bishop.