The Breeding Bishop’s Wife’s Shoe (1)
By Osondu Anyalechi [oanyalechi@yahoo.co.uk]
Saturday, February 06, 2010

In far away Ajalli Community in Anambra State, last week, I regretted not being a Bishop. This highly revered ecclesiastical office is a cynosure of public admiration in whatever way you look at it: the authority he welds, the respect bestowed upon him, his intimidating cassock. But do not be carried away by William Shakespeare’s assertion that the ‘cowl does not make the monk’. Yes, spiritually but it does physically.

Much more, when one of them, in a mere passing comment during his message, narrated how his wife lost her shoe to the mud and that singular loss attracted hundreds of thousands of Naira! That was during the funeral service of Madam Grace Mgbo Nwankwo on January 28. It all started with Edith Ebenezer of the Sun newspaper, who informed me that the mother of Nwomi, my beloved sister, had passed on. After the reflex sigh that greets bad news, I decided to attend the funeral, ready to ‘demolish’ all obstacles that might frustrate me. And I did.

My journey to Ajalli on January 27 was eventful. Our bus, carrying only about ten passengers, was almost the last to leave Maza–Maza. I ministered to the passengers. At the former toll-gate, a large crowd joined us, paying less than 50% our fare. We left with harsh announcements bordering on switching off our phones, restriction of mobility and penalties to be meted out. That was strangely followed by the Word of God, coming from the same conductor, but with a mellowed voice. It was sound and the subsequent ministration that followed while we were standing up was powerful, joyous and glorious.

I have never witnessed the same in a bus, not even in the Benue Links. I wished that the money they collected from those who entered at the toll-gate would reach the bus owner! Recalling that Nwomi, on arrival from Texas, had told me that Bishop Sam Chukwuka would give the message during the funeral service, I was filled with excitement and started praying for it. Many of us in the Scripture Union, who repented during the early seventies, suffered persecution from our various Church denominations. The poor manner we managed our zeal and the spiritual blindness of some of the Church authorities lent credence to it. While some of us left for the Gospel and Pentecostal Churches, Bro. Sam Chukwuka was one of those who back, waiting patiently for a change.

That change has come. As a patient dog eats the fattest flesh, not bone, some of those who remained like him and even some of those that left and later returned to the fold, are today Bishops. The Priest that ministered during the wake-keep was carried away by the euphoria of Mama’s antecedents. Would I really blame him? That was a woman that died at 91 who never read with eye glasses; was never admitted at any hospital and the day she passed on, she spared her family the burden of bathing her as she did that ahead of time. A mother of seven, after her husband’s death, she milked herself to give the children the best education. Nwomi, her first daughter, qualified in England as a chartered Accountant and Ijeoma, her last daughter, earned a PhD, yet Mama remained humble, simple and a lover of God.

She would have been a Medical Doctor, Pharmacist, Qualified Accountant, Engineer…had she gone to Queen’s College, Yaba, where she gained admission over 70 years ago, apparently, the best candidate from the then Eastern Region. But she never mourned that financial constraint for a day as she switched over to Nursing and Midwifery. That her Nursing registration number is 60 speaks volumes. That profession took her to various parts of the country. A woman I asked for guidance to her house described her as ‘the mother of all people’. So good… so accommodating… and so kind that expectant mothers who were benefiting from her largesse of ‘Payable whenable’ for medical bill, refused to ‘retire’ her even when the Government and old age had for long done so!

No wonder her funeral service was full of the clergy and laity that Thursday morning. Bishop Sam Chukwuka explained that his choice by the family for the message had to do with his long relationship with Rev. Julius Edah, Nwomi’s fire-brand-apostolic husband and also with Prof. A.O. Nwoka, Bishop of Niger West, Lizzy’s husband. Lizzy is the second daughter and Mama’s teammate in her profession. Though the Bishop appreciated Mama’s uncommon gift in soccer, a girl, during her school days, that made her school First Eleven team, competing with boys, he said he did not come to sing her praises. He stressed that nothing, not even the number of Bishops during a funeral, could change the fate of the dead. Unlike Mark Anthony, who said the same during Julius Caesar’s funeral, and yet he preoccupied himself praising him, the Bishop’s message was on Jesus.

To be continued.
For Further comment, contact:
Osondu Anyalechi: 0802-3002-471;
anyalechiosondu@yahoo.com