Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Archbishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of the Niger, Anglican Communion, and Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Revd Alexander Ibezim, has narrated a chilling story how God saved him and his family from the hands of suspected hired assassins.
Archbishop Ibezim, at a brief ceremony in Bishop’s Court, Awka, the Anambra State capital, to mark his 58th birthday, told his relatives and friends including about four bishops that suspected hired assassins sneaked into his compound, hid in a chapel attached to his house and waited for the opportunity to strike.
The prelate, who did not give full details of the ugly incidence, narrated that the suspects stayed in the chapel some days before God exposed them.
“Last year, before I was elected the Archbishop of the province, I was attacked in this compound. Some people came; they stayed in that chapel for some days, waiting to kill themselves.
“But today God has given us another year. It is not by power or by might but by the Spirit of God. So, the will of man cannot prevail in my life but the will of the Almighty God.
“So, God who spared our lives knows why He spared our lives. If they had succeeded, number one, I will never be the Archbishop. Number two, Satan will take over.
“This is because whoever wants to kill somebody in order to takeover is a Satan. And when Satan rules a place, all the people will be in bondage.
“So, it is a testimony that we are sharing. God saved us from hired assassins, from wicked people, from unfriendly friends.”
Ibezim, whose residence is walled off in a much larger compound which equally has a gate, wondered how the suspects beat all the tight security points at the two gates to gain entrance into his house.
“We have security men in this compound; up to four of them were armed in this compound and yet they did that. The God of heaven who spared my life will continue to spare my life because God called me. Nobody called me.
“I have no apology to any individual because God said in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 that before you were formed in your mother’s womb I have determined what you will be.”
The prelate advised his domestic staff not to be used by agents of darkness to perpetrate evil against the anointed man of God and his family.
“I use this opportunity to plead with our domestic workers. Please, if you are working, you are working for the kingdom, not me. They say you are working here in the Archbishop’s Palace, know that you’re serving God.
“Don’t betray us please. Don’t kill us. Don’t allow people to use you to kill us because you have not created us. You see, the people who wanted to kill us last year, they thought they were the ones that created us.