By Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Members of the Christian Pentecostal Mission (CPM) refused to bury their heads in mourning but sang and danced while bidding final goodbye to the founder of the church, Rev. Obiora Ezekiel, who passed on in 2021.
He was buried on March 25 at the church’s headquarters in Lagos.
A thanksgiving service in his honour that started by 8am saw many dignitaries in attendance, including the CEO of Emzor Pharmaceutical, Stella Okoli, and national president, Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Wale Oke, among others.
The thanksgiving programme coincided with Mother’s Day. The women, dressed in blue and purple wrappers and gowns marched to the altar for prayers.
The wife of the deceased, Mummy Ezekiel, as she is fondly called by the church members, even though she was mourning her husband, thanked God for the life that the servant of God lived.
Oke praised the members of the church for a well-coordinated burial given to Ezekiel. He remarked that it was the first time the PFN was wrapping its flag round the casket of any member. He explained that Ezekiel was one of the founding fathers of Pentecostal Fellowship churches in Nigeria and also a one-time president of PFN.
His sermon was titled “If you see somebody, who is ungrateful, you see somebody who is evil.”
During the consecration, he gave the example of Abraham and Isaac, saying that it was through Isaac that the covenant of God was fulfilled, not through Ishmael. He later prayed for the church and members to cooperate with the late founder’s wife to fulfil God’s plan concerning the church.
The daughter of the late founder, Ogechi, described her father as a hardworking man who served God and humanity with passion.
She added that her late father was not born with a silver spoon, but worked for all he had: “He was a man of integrity. He was time-conscious in everything he did. He was a man of empathy, unlike some ministers of God who want to trample on other.”
She stated that she would miss her father and promised to emulate his legacies.
She encouraged mothers to do their best by instilling good morals in their children so they would become responsible Nigerians that everyone would be proud of.