WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PROPHET IN THE PERSON OF A PROPHET PART 2

WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PROPHET IN THE PERSON OF A PROPHET (PART 2) THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE MEETING BETWEEN THE SON OF MAN, APOSTLE PETER ODOEMENA WITH SELECTED ELDERS OF THE BRIDE OF CHRIST AND THE ELDERS OF  IKWUAGWU’S FAMILY IN UMUGUMA, IMO STATE ON TUESDAY, 10^TH MARCH, 2015

 “Truth has no substitute” ©BRIDE OF CHRIST MINISTRY WORLD-WIDE

1

MEMORY LANE

You see, again in 2014, he started calling that he wants to go for an aptitude test for employment in Abuja. I called him by his name and reminded him that I gave him a period of four good years. You must be alive before you can plan what you will do tomorrow.

2.           I called the mother to find out from her whether she approved of the trip. She told me that she had spoken to him the much she could and that he insisted on going to Abuja. I commanded him saying, “Do not go anywhere.”

3.           I also told him that there is something that is facing him which he cannot see. I instructed Sister Ogoo to prevail on this boy not to go out. I told her that danger is still looming; until we pacify the land; the land is hot.

4.           If you read the Bible from Genesis to Leviticus, you will find out that there comes a time when the land suddenly becomes hot. God will summon the priests to tell them what to do for the land to be cool again.

5.           In the olden days, there are certain things that will happen in a family which the elders have not experienced before. They will gather as elders of that family to investigate the matter. When they search for the cause of that strange occurrence, they will find it out. I told them to be patient with me. So it was.

6.           I showed them a sign that if he travels to Abuja that day and comes back from that trip alive, let them know that I am not of God. I asked him to sit down and that if he kills himself, he has not killed any other person but himself.

7.           I spoke to them and said, “I show you a sign. What will happen in your house today, will show you whether I proceeded from God or from the devil.”  I will still be in my house when you will call me.

8.           At exactly 3pm, the inhabitants of their street were all gathered in the house of Sister Ogochukwu. Right in front of their house, by the entrance, there stood a coconut tree.

9.           Deacon Sam, is it a lie? Nobody set fire anywhere around. There was no knock-out. There was not even any strike of a match stick.

10.        All of a sudden the coconut tree caught fire and the fire was blazing wild to the extent that the coconut heads were falling to the ground.

11.        Many people were witnesses to this strange event that took place in broad day light, in the afternoon. They were so surprised. More so, there was neither a flash of lightning nor thunderstorm.

12.        I am saying this lest the people in your family will say that nobody told them and so that as soon as Ogochukwu and her children come back, you verify all these truths from them.

13.        That was when I started asking them whether they came down from the moon. Do you not have a family where you came from?

14.        MR. GEOFFREY (THE SON OF ELDER IKWUAGWU) SPEAKS: I have never heard of these things. 

15.        There are many things which you have not heard. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was my speech in our Fellowship. All that heard it were just praising God. What I said in the Fellowship cannot be a secret. Anything said at the village square cannot be said to be a secret. There is no secrecy there.

16.        This last one; If not for that hand of God, that was why I asked her this question, “Where will your corpse be buried? Will it be taken to Awgu or will be taken to Umuguma? Let us also remember to talk about death anytime we are discussing about life.”

17.        There is nothing that has ever been brought out from a house that is greater than a casket. Every traveler must go home one day. If he does not go home while still alive, he will go home in death. Everybody has his or her own destination. All my advice and counseling were to no avail.

18.        She was the person that called me and said, “Daddy, please save me I am dying.” I enquired about what could be happening to her on a bright afternoon like that.

19.        She then told me that she went to urinate in the water-system toilet that was very neat. She said she flushed the toilet again to prevent the stale water there from splashing back on her.

20.        Though the toilet was very clean and neat she still disinfected it with some drops of Dettol^®, she now sat to urinate and as she was urinating, all of a sudden she saw a full grown male lizard with a read head. She immediately jumped up and screamed.

21.        This one did not happen in her yard, but this time, it was right in her office and as a confidential secretary, she does not share that office with anybody.

22.        Thus, there is no possibility of anybody coming in there to put anything like that. More so, her office leads directly to the toilet which also has a padlock on it.

23.        So, there was no human being she could suspect to have been the one that would do this type of thing. She immediately called me even as she noticed that she had started bleeding as if she was menstruating. I told her what she would do to that lizard and she did all.

24.        Then I told her to relax. That bleeding stopped as a result of prayers. All the doctors were stranded as to how to handle it and they ended up referring her out.

25.        It continued for three months and nothing was given to her to take. And I told her that there had been enough warning signs because warnings must go forth before destruction.

26.        When you are warned severally; he that is often rebuked and he hardens his heart must meet with sudden destruction and the person will not escape it. But before then, you had been given warning signs. What were you waiting for then?

27.        This was the situation of things as at the time the news came to me that Papa Davidson Ikwuagwu has died and I told her that the thing that will take them home has come at last. The thing that will take you people home has come.

28.        That was why I told you to consider how possible it will be that the oldest man in the family will be buried with Sister Ogoo and all her children will be in Nsukka.  Will they attend the burial as members of the Church?

29.        I told Deacon Sam that the time has finally come for him to bear the consequences of his recklessness. I told him that if I were a member of your in-law’s family, that he will be amazed at the way I will treat him.

30.        The sermon I delivered on the day of the wedding; I was lucky. Professor Aniekwe, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Enugu state was there with his wife, Dr. Mrs. Aniekwe.

31.        They went home with the recordings and they are the relation of Diana from Awgu; high profile people. They heard My Voice, where I indicted Deacon Sam.

32.        I challenged you before the whole world. I accused you.  I accused you, because I knew your wife Ethel. The family where she was married is the family of Bishop Ebenezer.

33.        Our Bishop who is alive till now. That family is in Irete. I told you that I know the number of children she had before her husband died.

34.        She was not driven away by her husband’s relations. You went ahead and married her. When she died, you went and married Columbus’ widow, Faith; two sisters and you claimed it is traditional.

35.        I told you to also marry Ogochukwu who is a widow, since you are an expert in marrying widows. Go ahead and marry her also. Brethren, did I not say it? Did we not also read it to you?

36.        You should go ahead and marry her so that we will have our rest, for you are the cause of all these troubles. If he had taken my counsels, the war would have ended long long time ago.

37.        That is why I rested it on him. Do your children know their maternal siblings? I know my maternal siblings and I visit them. If my mother dies today, none of my maternal siblings will demand apology from me and none of them can fine me, because I have been maintaining good relationship with them from the beginning.

38.        There is no way my mother will die and I will bury her single-handedly. My brothers and sisters and all my relations will be involved just like it was in the management of my father all the while when he was sick.

39.        They also partook in his burial when he died. Is it a lie? Were you not witnesses? Did you not see the man from my father’s maternal home that came from Umuahia then? That is how to maintain a relationship.

40.        A child is supposed to know his or her maternal home. The child belongs to both his maternal and paternal relations. You cannot evade them from their maternal home. It is an abomination.

41.        Take all your children and go to Umuguma. Ogochukwu, of all the children you have, none of them belongs to you. They are all Ikwuagwu’s children.

42.        There was a text Dr. Sam Ikwuagwu wrote to his brother Chibuzor. Chibuzor called me over the phone to tell me about it and I instructed him to come to me with his phone.

43.        When he now came to me, I gave him my phone so that he can transfer the text message to my phone. He transferred it to my phone and I used the computer to extract the message and also printed it out.

44.         I read it in the Fellowship and also shared the printout to the Local Assemblies with a word to all that this letter will speak. That was what I said, that this letter will speak and I kept quiet, because the letter was in line with the action we had already taken.

45.        In that text message, he warned Chibuizor saying, “You and your mother. Be warned! Know that you belong to Ikwuagwu’s family in Umuguma. You are not natives of Nsukka. It is absolutely wrong for you and your mother to give your senior sister in marriage without the knowledge of the people at home.”

46.        I told My Brethren to behold the matter at stake. Has My Word come out? Has My Word come out? I showed it to Deacon Sam and told him that Dr. sam Ikwuagwu has reacted and he is right.

47.         I went further to tell him that if it were in my family, by the time we finish with you, you will not even have the utterance to speak again.

48.        In my family, I am not the eldest, but I am one of the great minds in my kindred and even in my community. If there is a roll call and my name is not mentioned, then the enemy was in charge of that roll call.

49.        You cannot tell Me that I will be alive with other elders like Chima and Kelvin in my family and somebody will come and disperse our children. The people we had trained and positioned. Then my in-law will now come and take them away.

50.        And you did not go to any other place but to our children whom we have been looking for over the years. The greatest help you would have rendered to us, if you were really a good in-law, was to help us bring all of them home.

51.        That is the service you will render to us and then we will hold you in very high esteem. It is not in comforting them in evil so that they will harden up against their own family.

52.        Tell the people the truth. Even if they will not believe you. Tomorrow, they will know that you have spoken the truth.

53.        If you lie to someone so that the person will love you, whenever the person finds out that you deceived him, he will hate you. But the person who hates you because you told him the truth, whenever he finds out you told the truth, such a person will love you.

54.        It is your attitude that led Ogochukwu to hate Me. You were insinuating that I was the one who was preventing Oluchi from getting married, because I said that nothing will ever make me support the payment of dowry for the marriage of Oluchi in Nsukka. It must be in Umuguma, in the family of her father.

55.        Was that not why I became the enemy? But today, Sister Ogochukwu cannot do anything without Me. She had already called me that she is coming for thanksgiving.

56.        That she never imagined that in her life that she and her children will ever be allowed into the family home of Ikwuagwu.

57.        That her brother in-law had called her to tell her where she should construct a toilet and a bathroom. I asked her a question, “Are you now happy? So, I am no more your enemy.” I am no more her enemy. I am now a good man.

58.        That was why I ordered her to be well prepared for the upcoming responsibility. I asked her to come back with her children and cook, like others, as stakeholders in the burial ceremony of the family head.

59.        I told her to get ready to entertain her people from Awgu and also her in-laws from Isiukwuato. Everybody MUST participate in the entertainment of the guests.

60.        There is nothing like attending the burial with the Church. We are coming as a Household of God. But if you want to show us that you love us, also include our own share of the entertainment you are preparing. That is the traditional way of doing things.

61.        Deacon Sam! You are involved too. You are a stakeholder in Ikwuagwu’s family. You have married two of their daughters and they all had children for you, who are alive and living with you. You are indebted to this family.

62.        Concerning your people from Avu, you also have a relationship with them. This relationship goes from paternal to maternal and from maternal to paternal. It is very important that we know the truth. Amen.

2

I AM A MAN OF TRANSPARENT-HONESTY

Now, the totality of all we have been saying is this. Concerning our visit here today, all that I have said here today will be done exactly as I have spoken. If you look at me very well and it is possible for you to see the thoughts of the heart, you will see my heart.

2.           I AM NOT SAYING IT IN SECRET. I AM A MAN OF TRANSPARENT-HONESTY AND THROUGHOUT MY CIVIL SERVICE TO THE FEDERATION FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS, I NEVER RECEIVED A SINGLE QUERY, EITHER WRITTEN OR ORAL BECAUSE I HELD MY INTEGRITY SO HIGHLY, BEYOND QUESTION EVEN TILL TODAY.

3.           What is important to me is my Name. I am from a reputable family. Once you mention ODOEMENA, it is a very well know family name even from Okpuala. My father administered my community and was also a judge at the customary court for forty-eight years.

4.           His corpse was the first that was taken into the court chamber for a valedictory session. Brethren, is it not true? You can even confirm from the testimony of my townspeople.

5.           No matter the personality of the dead man, his corpse does not go beyond the village square. When the elders gather they will give them a go ahead to continue with the burial rites. The casket is never opened.

6.           When it got to my father’s turn, they ordered that his corpse be brought into the court. That was not all. They carried his corpse themselves into the court and with their own hands, they opened the casket.

7.           They looked at him appreciatively for quite some time, blessed him in turns and then covered the casket and asked me to carry him away to continue with the burial rites.

8.           They all trouped behind me back to our family compound. They were testifying that he was the judge of the customary court for forty-eight years without taking any form of bribe or subverting justice.

9.           He was an active judge until his retirement at the age of ninety-two. Ten years after his retirement, he now died.

10.        And I inherited it from my father. He said that the dog does not back at any man who was not told the truth. Finish!

11.        We have come and we have come for no other reason but in accordance with our belief and the way we use to do it. It did not start with anybody and it will not end with anybody.

12.        Any group where a person subscribes to and he lives a dedicated life to the course of that group, if he dies, it is the responsibility of that same group to bury him.

13.        If the person in question is such that is not a trust worthy member of the group, the group will also tell the family of the deceased that they would not be a part of his burial.

14.         We have looked at the thing starting from the time Papa Ikwuagwu subscribed to this Faith. I do not even know when he enlisted into this Faith. I saw him just like I saw every other person, because every Local Assembly is independent.

15.        If anything brings us together in a meeting like this, we will see ourselves again. We know the person involved is our member.

16.        From the day I knew him, (Papa Ikwuagwu) when he enlisted into the Faith, until he was called home by God; I have never heard any evil report concerning him. No! Rather, he is known for words of encouragement to our Brethren.

17.        I also heard testimonies of how he goes to Fellowship in Obosima using his bicycle. This was the reason I ordered our Brethren never to allow him go to farm again. Rather, go and farm his land for him. When his sickness became too much I ordered Deacon Sam to help out immediately.

18.        “Even if any of his children is looking after him, go there still to help out in one way or the other, including bathing him and washing his cloths to make sure that he is neat and his environment neat at all times.”

19.        I saw him last about seven years ago. I was with him and as at that day and he was hale and hearty. By then, I had stopped him from going to Fellowship. His participation was very much restricted and regimented because of age.

20.        Up till this very moment there has never been an evil report we heard concerning him and we do not have any single reason why we should not give him his last respect.

21.        Moreso, among our Elders, who is your presiding Elder? I am not among the Elders of the Faith. These ones here today are just representatives.

22.        Whenever they meet as Elders, as they normally do, he is their chairman. He presides in the meetings. So, we hold him in very high esteem. He is not the type of person that will die and we will begin to speak grammar.

23.        We heard of his demise as a rumour. I in particular. That was why when we heard he had died, I asked Bishop Isaac to go with one of our brothers to the family of our Elder to confirm whether it was true that he died.

24.        They went there and reported that they met with her first daughter who confirmed the story to be true. I said Ok. I also inquired about his corpse and I was equally told that his corpse had been deposited in the mortuary.

25.        I also enquired whether the mortuary is a standard mortuary or a substandard makeshift mortuary, because my Brethren know what we believe, that we do not determine the date of burial for the children or the relations of the dead person.

26.        They are the people to decide when they will bury their dead relation. This is our belief on that.  The family also determines whether the corpse will be in the mortuary for one year of two years, because some families can decide to keep the corpse in the mortuary so as to have time and arrange certain things. We allow that.

27.        If the family wants the burial within a short period, we also allow that. That is our belief on that. Be it as it may, when we got the report we now decided to come. We sent a message to propose when we intend to visit and you replied us telling us when to visit you.

28.        We accepted your own date and came as agreed. We came here and found out that things were not cordial. The situation here was strange. I still kept quiet. I said that I kept quiet. I scrutinized the situation with the experience of an elder.

29.        I told my Brethren that we should go and meet any elderly man in the kindred who is available. We went to see him. That is Papa Vin.

30.        That was when he spoke in the manner and tone he did to Deacon Sam and also left him with an Igbo adage, “How do you expect the second child in a family to run when the first is yet to walk.” He enquired whether we are Igbo people and we said yes. 

31.        He told us to drop whatever we have brought anywhere we like. I then asked him whether we will drop it for the wind.  I asked him to call Dr. Sam Ikwuagwu to tell him that I am here. He now called Dr. Sam ikwuagwu on the phone. He asked us to go that they will send message across to us. We left.

32.        When I got home I summoned the meeting of Elders and I addressed them briefing them on our experiences in the trip we made to Umuguma, all that we said and the reply we got. I told our Elders, from the tone of their voice, they were sounding an alarm which we did not understand.

33.        Inquiries were made during that visit to Umuguma because we did not understand what was going on. There is another Igbo adage which says that enquiry shows that the hearer did not understand what was said.

34.        But be it as it may, respect is reciprocal. If I tell you that I was not angry, I am a liar. Why I was angry was because we were tagged evil when nobody had heard from us. An idea is not bad before it is voiced out.

35.        The person you should be angry with is that person with whom you have discussed and agreed with and who acted contrary to your agreement and not one who you have never seen with your eyes; one you do not know whether he is black or white.

36.        I went back again with the consolation that every man is entitled to his opinion. If I come to a house to baby-sit and that baby dies, the next thing for me to do is to pack my bag and go back home.

37.        If there is anything I will plead with someone to help him do, it is not to help the person in the burial of his dead relation.

38.        I will even feel much better if you tell me that Papa will be taken to the hospital rather than coming for his burial. If they agree, we will partner with them to help in the burial. If not we will go our way. There is no family that is not capable of burying their dead.

39.        After all the number of people in a family is equal to the number of graves in that family. Every additional child is an addition of a grave. Finish!

40.        Thus, let us maintain our position. If they reconcile within themselves and invite us again, that will be good, but if they do not invite us, no problem.

41.        But my conscience will remain guilty till eternity if I do not support giving Papa Davidson Ikwuagwu a befitting burial as it was accorded to my father who sojourned together with him in the faith; and others

42.        Elder Mike Nwanga! Was it not in Abomege in Ebonyi state that we went? The entire community was astonished and was asking whether that was how we normally do it. Then it got to this one; I have benefitted and other have benefitted too.

43.        Then on getting to Papa Ikuagwu’s turn, he will be denied of that right; I told Brethren that my conscience will never see peace. I instructed that I should given his brother’s phone number.

44.        I have that of Dr. Sam. I ordered that nobody should call or visit there again. I told them to leave the whole matter to me, that I will liaise with them.

45.        They should tell me whatever their grievances are because I do not know them and they do not know me. What is the basis of our stance? Absolutely nothing. But if I say that I do not know that there is a problem, I am a liar. And if that problem is amicably resolved, they will call me.

46.        The problem has been resolve and Dr. Sam called me to tell me that there is peace. He thanked me with a pure heart that his children are back. They are now returnees: lost, but found.

47.        He is supposed to thank me for I helped him to gain six human beings he had lost. Six human beings who were lost! And they all came home alive; all grown-up. They did not return in a bad state. They all came back as graduates.

48.        There was no way their mother would have trained them single handedly. How much is her salary, to start with? This is the type of thing we do for ourselves in the Faith because we have a provision for the training of our youths in our midst, in our Fellowship.

49.        We must support you because we do not know whose turn it will be tomorrow. Tomorrow is unpredictable. Treat whosoever you see while moving up in life, well, for you do not know whether he will be the one to take care of your problems later. That is the way we do it.

50.        We trained a lot of people and in different disciplines, for we do not know where we will work tomorrow.

51.        Afterall, the secret of how I got my civil service job was revealed during the interview. The man who interviewed me was someone whose life was preserved in my village during the Nigerian-Biafran war.

52.        Immediately he heard that I am from Uvuru in Mbaise, he noted it. He later called me told me what he experienced during the war. He mentioned a family which happened to be in my village. That was how I was marked number one. That was how I started civil service.

53.        Have you seen how the favour that was done to a person during the war could help another person? The person that did that favour was already dead but the beneficiary still remembers it.

54.        The payback time now coincided with when I came for interview. I am saying that you should keep your path open, because the world is a small village.

55.        Thus, our coming here is beautiful and does not require any other lengthy discussion. What I have just laid down is the journey so far as we know it from the beginning.

56.        Why I am giving this documentary and evidences is to convince every Tom, Dick and Harry that the impression people have about us is not what we are.

57.        We are not a secret society. We are not a cult. There is nothing evil that I have seen in our midst. If I see such, I will dissociate myself from it and the government cannot tolerate me even one bit. It is impossible!

58.        It cannot be a secret cult and still be worldwide, open and acceptable in the website, whereby you can access everything from anywhere you are.

59.        There is no secret operation we undertake. Nothing-nothing! Why then are people skeptical about us? Why not try us. I cannot conclude that every woman is a harlot simply because I saw a harlot in a hotel. There are harlots. We also have responsible mothers. I must act like a sane person.

60.        Thus, do not throw away the original because of the counterfeit you have, for there can never be a counterfeit without an original.

61.        When you pick up a stone with the right hand, do you throw it with the same right hand? My people say that it is a good thing to find oneself on a mighty tree. Today, we are on a very mighty tree. Amen.

3

OBLIGATIONS (1)

Papa Davidson wrote a note to me some time ago. I also made photocopies and distributed it to all. That was one of the reasons why I came visiting him seven years ago. I asked, “Papa, what propelled you to write this thing?”

2.           He told me that he studied his family and found out that everybody has what he or she believes and that he has his own belief too. He told me that he does not want anything that will bring trouble anytime he is called home by his maker.

3.           He now decided to document it in writing so that whenever he dies, he should be buried by members of his faith since every other person is in his own group.

4.           I asked him whether that was what he really wanted and he said yes. I asked him again whether he had made all his children to know about this and he also said yes.

5.           I further enquired whether his second in command in the family of Ikwuagwu has a copy and he said yes. I asked to also know whether he gave it to his own brothers and sisters.

6.           He also said that he did and that he gave it to a lot of people. I then said, “Ok. Thank you sir. You have done what you are supposed to do in that regards, but stay a little longer with us.”

7.           I kept it to myself. We have a copy of that letter. So in whatever we do in this Faith, if we do not get authority from the family;

8.           That is why I always say it that whatever we are going to do and whenever we are to do it, you people should give us some person(s) that can be trusted to represent your interest, since I know that Dr. Sam Ikwuagwu is a medical practitioner and he is very much busy in his office.

9.           This is because we cannot coordinate whatever that is happening from far places. What we want is the delegation of functions so that everyone will undertake the one assigned to him or her.

10.        These drinks we have here is just the way we normally do it. To the family of Papa Davidson Ikwuagwu, we have not come to sympathize with you. All we are telling you is that whatever happened to you also happened to us.

11.        The experience you are having in this situation is the same we are having. It is our collective responsibility. We give God the whole glory for he never died prematurely.

12.        I calculated 102 years from the last date he gave to me when he was ordained an Elder in the Faith of Christ. He lived and died at the age of 102 years. We also give God the glory that all his children and relations are alive to accord him a befitting burial.

13.        My people will always say that one that is buried by his child(ren) has been crowned a king. A man that is buried by his child is a crowned king.

14.        We have come to let you people know that you are not going to undertake the responsibility of the burial alone. We have a share in it.

15.        We will also tell you the extent of our own responsibility, so that you will know what is left to be done. We had already set that one aside.

16.        I am repeating it for the benefit of those who have not heard about it before. I have told you (Papa Vin and Mr. Geoffrey Ikwuagwu) before through the phone and when we met physically; I had a meeting with the entire congregation on Sunday in Onitsha with all these people you see in my entourage here.

17.        Brethren, I told you our responsibilities and also enquired whether I exceeded in any way. My reason for saying it is that I am of age in our Faith and from my experiences, I know very well all that we do in all situations even if you wake me from sleep demanding them.

18.        Number 1. When our member dies, just like Papa Davidson who has slept in death, we pay the mortuary bill for the first one month. Even if the family wants his corpse to remain there for one year, we pay the bills for the first one month.

19.        The provision of the casket is our responsibility to the tune of thirty thousand naira (N30,000.00). The reason why we pegged it at thirty thousand naira is that a family may decided to import the casket which they will use to bury their dead relation. They are free.

20.        If they import the casket, we will still give them the thirty thousand naira to help offset other bills. That is the way we do it.

21.        Even if we are to purchase the casket, we normally like one of the children or relation of the dead person to go with us so as to see the casket and even help us measure the width of the door in their house through which we will carry the casket.

22.        This is because we could just go and buy the casket ourselves and it would not go through the door of their house. So, it is our responsibility to provide the casket.

23.        It is our responsibility to provide the ambulance with which to bring the corpse home. We will beautify according our faith, the room where the corpse will be displayed.

24.        We decorate it ourselves and beautify it to our taste. There has never been a place we have decorated in time past where the people rejected it.

25.        Instead they will say that the casket is good enough for keeping cloths but who will be courageous enough to use a casket for such a purpose.

26.        When we decorate the place where we display corpse, it seems as if we should not dismantle it again. The decorations turn out more beautiful than our bedrooms.

27.        We regard death as a thing of play especially when the deceased died at the right age. We do not even see it as death. Rather, it is a transition. It is a thing of joy. If I stay alive for ninety years, have I not stayed enough? Not to talk of 102 years.

28.        Thus, we have undertaken the bills for the casket, mortuary for one month, ambulance and banners. We have never contested the issue of poster with anybody before.

29.        The thing there is that if you say we should not print the posters, you go ahead and print. Thereafter, we will pay for the job. The printing of posters is our responsibility.

30.        The printing of the brochure is our responsibility. There is no way we will bury our Elder of repute without the children, relations and in-laws writing some tributes about their departed one.

31.        It is done everywhere. We that are of the same Faith with him will also write our own tribute and also put the order of service for the burial in the brochure. 

32.        The people who will participate in the burial ceremony will go home with one copy each. We pay for it and we also print it. We have also started doing it already. With the papers you have provided to us, we have already started doing it. 

33.        There is a very serious omission and I will make it known to you here. We will correct it here and we will also go back today with the corrections. It will not take up to ten minutes to construct it.

34.        All these things that I have mentioned so far are our responsibilities towards the burial. It is our responsibility to provide two banners. Because his house is just along the road, one of the banners will be displayed at the market square and the second one will be displayed at the entrance so that anyone that is coming in will be properly guided.

35.        A drum will also be placed so that people who are coming in will know that there is something going on here and also to alert drivers and motorcycle riders to slow down because his house is just along the road.

36.        The placement of these signs will serve to tell the people that there is a burial ceremony going on here and also to prevent any road traffic accident.

37.        Another set of people that will benefit from the sign are those people that will be coming from outside. Once they see the banner that will be displayed at a reasonably height, and also the photograph, the person will know that this is where we are. This is our responsibility.

38.        Let us go back to music. When it comes to music, seeing that you people belong to different denominations and associations, and as it was when my father was buried and in all the places where we have gone for burial of our member, we liberalize families the same way we liberalized the Faith.

39.        Every child born to the Ikwuagwu family has every right to invite the members of his own group and also invite the musical group of their church. If the person belongs to an age-grade, he has the right to invite them with their musical outfit to grace the occasion. The ceremony will be going on with everyone doing his/her own thing in his/her own way.

40.        So, we are not regulating anybody. If you want to invite a live band you are very free to do that. If your choice is a traditional type of music, you are also very free to invite them. Everybody is free to exercise his right of choice. You are the people to entertain them.

41.        On our own, we are coming with our own musical group. We will also hire PA system from this community which will be supplying us with music and the microphones we will use in addressing the entire world that will be there. That is the only thing he will do for us.

42.        Talk of music, we were using live band before, but we found out the pranks they were playing and we had to ban the use of live bands for burials. They are supposed to be playing the music from their own canopy, but they will leave their canopy and fix their eyes on picking money.

43.        The money that is being sprayed on the bereaved will all be picked and pocketed by the members of the live band.

44.        Another one is that they will find out the names of all prominent personalities who attended the burial and they will be calling their names one by one, inducing them to give out money. It turned out a very unacceptable distraction and so, we stopped it.

45.        Now, we only use it for wedding ceremonies. When someone is wedding, we will encourage the person to invite any band of his choice to entertain the guests. But when we are going for a burial, we hire a musical troupe, just like we will do in this burial we are planning;

46.        The same musical troupe that played when my father was buried is the same troupe we have hired to play for us here. We have already concluded that one. The troupe is coming from Egbema. There is no type of traditional music that we do not dance to. The only thing we do not do is masquerade.

47.        The other troupe is coming all the way from Egbema. Why we like that one is that since we know that we coming to this compound, and we also know our brother here, Geoffrey and his brothers and sisters, Geoffrey will be in front leading this musical troupe and then others will follow behind him. The troupe will then lead him round the area so that people will know that it is a burial ceremony.

48.        We cannot undertake to bring a musical group that will tie us to one place. When we are having a burial ceremony, we move about freely with the person who is directly bereaved so that all will see him. He will be acknowledged by anybody who is concerned.

49.        It does not stop you from renting a live band or any other type of musical group of your choice. Everybody is free.

50.        Concerning our entertainment, we do not restrict food to our members only. Anybody that does that is a foolish person. The only thing you will do for us here is what I will tell you now. We buy the food and condiments within the limits of our capacity. They will be brought down here before that day.

51.        All the drinks which we are going to use for the burial will be kept in safety in a place where you will provide for us. You will also provide us with the person who will be in charge of these things.

52.        On the eve of the burial, which is Thursday, because we are going to bury him on Friday, the people who will cook the food will arrive in the afternoon.

53.        We have people who will cook and also have the people that will help in serving it when the time comes. Nobody knows who is who.

54.        So, we are cooking everything in this very compound, because a burial ceremony is done in the family of the bereaved. They will cook everything including rice, soups, Garri. Everything we will eat must be cooked here.

55.        So, what you are going to provide for us here are firewood, water and the big Aluminium pots. You will provide us with about four big Aluminium pots. I thank God that Sister Ogoo is also coming down. She is one of those that will cook the food.

56.        So, when they come, they will be assisted by the women and youth of this family. We do not discriminate. We do not reject anybody who has volunteered him or herself to assist us. No, no, no, no, no!

57.        Anybody who removes him or herself has taken a personal decision. We do not exclude anybody from assisting us. The people we exclude are troublesome people. Anybody who is troublesome will be a threat to both the family and the community.

58.        We can only report such a fellow to the youth of the community who will hand the person over to the police or the vigilante. That is the way we do it. We are not trouble makers. There has never been any place we visited and we were described as trouble makers. We do not do it.

59.        So, food and drinks is general. The Ikwuagwu family will cook their own food, because our own food might not be the type your people will like. We cook the type of food we call “Central Food” on our own.

60.        These people in my entourage are the few that have the chance and were selected to represent us here and they are the same set of people that represented us the first time. Only two people out of the first set of representatives are absent today; Bishop Isaac Igwe’s wife and your wife.

61.        The people here were the same set of people that were here that day. No other person. Look at the people. Nobody was left behind and nobody was added. So, they are the people that will give the report when we go back.

62.        When it comes to this food we are talking about, everybody trusts us. We are in the whole 36 states of the federation. There is no way we will command all of them to start coming down here. They will all come on a representative basis.

63.        Our Brethren from Jos, Kaduna, Nassarawa, Kano, all of them will select two, three or four people that will represent them in this burial. These also include our Brethren from Esem and Zonkwua. We are everywhere. If they agree they can hire a single vehicle.

64.        It is just like our Brethren that will be coming from Abuja. They are coming in the vehicle of the Ministry of Interior, because the able Minister is my own colleague. We were all in service together, that is Abba Muro.

65.        There is no place we have visited without his giving us police protection. He assigns the Ministry of Interior motor to us for our trips. Brethren, is it a lie?

66.        So, those our Brethren are coming with their own, even our Brethren from Jos. Some are coming from Rivers state. The Brethren from this side will be coming with their own. That will be done according to their internal arrangement.

67.        There are people who will be here compulsorily in a greater number, though it will not be all. The five states of the South East which include Ebonyi (Abakiliki), Enugu, Anambra, Abia and Imo; we are not forgetting Bayelsa, Cross-River ad Akwa-Ibom. Good!

68.        We are expecting them to come in a greater number. When they go back, it will be their responsibility to nominate those that will be attending. They may choose to have five or ten delegates from each of the Local Assemblies who will attend the burial ceremony.

69.        We make sure that we satisfy everybody. So, due to the fact that they are coming from different tribes and languages and you do not know who is who unless we tell you.

70.        If we tell you that our Faith is worldwide and we do not have everything it takes to be worldwide, will you agree? It is just like we are sitting down here. I can call Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the president of Nigeria.

71.        We were classmates at the Faith Tabernacle, Ngor-Okpuala. We all passed out in 1977. We use to sit together in class and we taunt him with the name Ọkpọle.

72.        We were players and that was even the thing that brought in James Peters, for he was one of our players also. So, he is my old boy, alongside Mike Okiro.

73.        Mike Okiro was our senior prefect in those days. The former Inspector General of Police (IGP). He was also in the Police Service Commission. We coordinate very well.

74.        As I am here with you, our letters have all gone out to the whole armed forces. All our letters have gone forth to let them know who we are about to bury, where we are going and what we intend to do, so that in the case of any eventuality, they will know what to do. That is how we do it. All the security ordinances must be on the alert. We write ahead of time.

75.         In terms of security, we do not visit anybody and still undertake our own security. It is just as we are seated here now and I will be scared of you people.

76.        Why will I be scared of you, when I know that Fajuyi, Fajuyi was hosting Aguiyi Ironsi when they came to arrest Aguiyi Ironsi. He bluntly resisted the arrest of his guest.

77.        He vowed never to allow them to arrest his friend and kill him before his eyes. He went further to say that whoever that will arrest Aguiyi Ironsi will first of all kill him (Fajuyi). Murtala Mohammed and Danjuma, killed Fajuyi and then arrested Aguiyi Ironsi. It is on record. 1966. We still remember it.

78.        If your host wants to secure you he will secure you. So, we are emptying ourselves into your hands. Security is in your hands, the people of Umuguma and in the hands of all your Youth.

79.        You will keep up the security until the whole world that will attend the burial from different tribes have all left. If anything funny happens, Umuguma will be in the news. If it turns out good, Umuguma is in the news.

80.        Let us take for example; My people invited me to confer a chieftaincy title on me after the burial of my father.

81.        Their reason is that I have raised the name of my Little community Umukohie to be known in the history of Nigeria by pulling people from the whole states of the federation who jointly gave him a state burial.

82.        Something that has never happened in Mbaise since the history of Mbaise. Traditional rulers died and nobody accorded them that respect. My Dad who was a poor man now died and the whole Nigeria gathered for his burial.

83.        Uniformed men took half of the space, which made people to ask whether his son is a commissioner of Police. We told them that he is not but all are under my charge and they are still there.

84.        Why I am saying this is that the youth of this community must be here working for one week to ensure that there will be no car theft or loss of any motorcycle, Keke or bicycle.

85.        This is because if any vehicle is lost, people will not even mention our name. They will rather blame it on the people of Umunguma. The crime must have been committed by one person, but it has brought a bad name to the entire community.

86.        Whoever gets home after the ceremony will testify according to his/her own experience. Through the Faith of Christ, we have entered places where we would not have ordinarily entered and we have come to the conclusion that all human being are one.

87.        I do not forget my experience in Dadin-Kowa in Langtang South. You went with me. Bro Ben, you also went with me. You were with me when I went to Langtang South, Didin-Kowa, the remotest part of the place, in the hinterland where they have nomads. Yes!

88.        You went with me also. Mosquitoes feasted on us for four days. That was the place I tasted Fura D’nunu for the first time, because wherever I go, I adapt to their food and also because I was an infantry. It means nothing to me.

89.        So, why I am emphasizing on this security is that we have our internal organogram which we do not disclose because every security arrangement is classified as top secret.

90.        I will not come here to tell you my internal security contingents that are in my entourage. If I do it, I am a stupid man. That way, you will know that I am not a well trained soldier. If I do it, I am not a trained soldier.

91.         We have our own internal organogram, internal machinery which we operate in our outings. So we are not scared of any obstacle.

92.        We are not scared of any obstacle, but it will be a challenge to the youth of Umuguma if anybody will look down on them to the extent of coming to a burial ceremony to come and steal from the visitors.

93.        Is that person immortal? The youth can never allow such a fellow to escape from this compound. That is the area we need the youth very well.

94.        To that effect, there is an arrangement which we normally make and we will repeat it here. We will print vehicle permits.

95.        After printing them, we will send them across to you here. It is now your responsibility to hand it over to the Vigilante. The Vigilante will then open what we call Security Register.

96.        Anybody who will participate in the work must have his name entered in the Register along with his address and phone number so that the identity of those deployed to work will be well known. When the work is completed, they will also sign off.

97.        This vehicle permit which we distribute will be duly stamped before we hand them over such that there is no possibility of impersonation, because we put a seal on it.

98.        The idea is such that for every motorcyclist who is to keep his motorcycle in the custody of the Vigilante, he will sign the register and collect his own vehicle permit.

99.        Whenever he is coming to carry his motor cycle he will submit the same permit and then sign off. This is the same procedure for motor cars.

100.     They will barricade to two ends of the venue so that when a vehicle comes to that point, the will raise the barricade to let the vehicle in and it will be the same for any outgoing vehicles. That is the way we do it.

101.     This is to ensure the security of the vehicles of the people who will come from far places. When I am talking about Umuguma, I am talking about the whole Igbo land, the whole of Imo state.

102.     If there is any evil occurrence, it will be credited to Imo state. People from the North will not say that they went to Umuguma. Rather, they will tell you that they went to Imo state. “We went to Owerri, Imo state.”

103.     Somebody who comes from Lagos does not know any details. It is the same with someone from Ibadan. All they know is Imo state.

104.     For that is what they will try to tell people. The security is in the hands of all of you that are here and in the hands of all the members of your community. Amen.

4

OBLIGATIONS (2)

The last lap is like the first. Is it a lie? This last lap is left for you. The last lap is the responsibility you have in getting a comfortable ground for the ceremony, because this compound cannot accommodate anything reasonable.

2.           You will also get a convenient parking lot that will accommodate cars, motorcycles and any other type of vehicle so that the security personnel will effectively keep watch over them.

3.           This ground for the ceremony will be the place where the canopies will be mounted. Another responsibility of the people who reside here is to find the spot where you will dig the grave on the day before the burial.

4.           We will carry out our own responsibility and you will do well to do yours. The provision of canopies is entirely your responsibility. Provision of seats is your responsibility. This is because a visitor does not provide the seat he will sit in the house of his host. It is your responsibility.

5.           The provision of firewood and water is your responsibility. You will help us hire big Aluminium pots and we are going to refund you the cost of hiring the big Aluninuim pots unless you will ask us not to pay.

6.           Another thing is cooler for storing cooked food. Hire many coolers for us.  Do not bother yourselves with plates and spoons.

7.           We use take-away food packages and we provide them in quantity enough to serve food. So it will be the responsibility of the people who will cook the food in your compound here to also package the food properly.

8.           If you do these things for us, you have done everything. We will not add any other burden of responsibility to you for this burial.

9.           Then concerning your people, there is no community that does not have an antidote for drunkenness. Different people call it different names.

10.        Please ensure that all the necessary rites and homage that are due to all the stakeholders to this burial are fulfilled by your family before the burial date.

11.        Listen to me as I repeat what I said. If you know all those things that will annoy the members of his maternal family who are stakeholders and also his kindred who will cry that they have been shortchanged in one way or the order: If you know that which will prevent a smooth burial ceremony when we shall arrive, take care of all of them before we arrive for the burial.

12.        ELDER VIN SPEAKS: All those things have been fulfilled.

13.        Very good! The door is open for us. Nothing is left then. Brethren we will have a successful outing. These things we kept here are according to our tradition. It is not regimented.

14.        We brought them to tell you that we have heard and we have also come. Oga Geoffrey! If we keep discussing and relishing it like good food, we may forget this particular thing, for a stitch in time saves nine.

15.        When the papers you sent were brought to me on Sunday, I went through them and I saw a very serious omission. I want a good writer that will write what we shall dictate here.

16.        It is a serious omission. The address of your family was not given to us. I then called Deacon Sam and he told me that we were asked to write it. I then wondered what we were going to write. Every family has an address.

17.        The write-up should be the demise of Pa Davidson Ikwuagwu. You know he has a lineage. He also has a kindred. The families of. It will not be the family of Davidson Ikwuagwu alone. Do you understand what I am saying?

18.        So, I will dictate what you are going to write here now. You know there is something about English language. When I speak in English, it will also be translated into Igbo language.

19.        If the meaning is accepted, they can approve it. Wherever I make a statement, they will supply the information that will compliment the statement.

20.        With total submission to God for a life well spent… have written it? Oh! There is no good writer or anybody that can write shorthand here. I remember those good old days. If you are employed by the whites as a clerk, you must be good in shorthand. Read it!

21.        With total submission to God for a life well spent. Now correct it again. We will keep correcting it. With total submission to the will of God for a life well spent, the entire families of… FAMILIES, NOT FAMILY.

22.        The families of Ikwuagwu or was there somebody before Ikwuagwu whose name is the umbrella name of the entire kindred.

23.        They answered, Yes! Nwankwo Okorocha.

24.        Good! The families of… was his title Chief or Nze? The families of Ikwuagwu-Okorocha of Umunzeke, Umudeeru, Umuome, Umuguma in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo state announce… Read it for us.

25.        With total submission to the will of God, the entire families of Ikwuagwu-Okorocha of Umunzeke, Umudeeru, Umuome, Umuguma in Owerri West Local Government Area, announce the death of their beloved father, brother, uncle, grandfather, whose death occurred on so so and so date.

26.        Do not worry. We are making a draft. He is well known to us. …whose death occurred on 1st February, 2015 after a brief illness. He is survived by… Name 1,2,3,4,5,6 and so on, if they want it that way. He is survived by..

27.        We will like to write at least the names of five. …and many other sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters and things like that. Or do we say, survived by so so and so; children and so so and so; grand children. We are not economizing papers. Put all the names. A gold fish has no hiding place. Give us the names we will include here.

28.        Number 1: Geoffrey Ikwuagwu. What you have to do is to list out the names for us so that we can go with them. Please come and work with your brother so that you will supply us with names.

29.        Please listen to me. Wait! Sit down! Just give us names. Later we will put them together. We will put the whole thing together. We know how to arrange it. Have you written them down?

30.        Now column 3: Burial arrangements: Burial arrangements. That is number 3. Burial arrangements. Underline. Oga Geoffrey! Come here so that we can conclude what we are writing.

31.        Burial arrangements. Will you people have wake-keep though wake keep is now forbidden in my place and in many other places. And we do not undertake wake-keep in our Faith due to its inherent troubles.

32.        Date is 20th. Time: precisely 7am, his body leaves Uzondu Mortuary for his residence. Is it not this one here. His residence: Ikwuagwu’s compound.

33.        Take note. Lying in-state in his own compound from 8.30am till 10am. Interment follows immediately after the funeral service in his compound by Bride of Christ Ministry Worldwide. Signed:

34.        Supply us with the name of the head of the family. Wait! I hope you know that every nation has its own language. Every nation has its own language. Is it not so? When my father died. Listen to me. When one king goes, another king takes the throne.

35.        My father’s name was Peter Odoemena. His own mother was different. The person who was second in the hierarchy of age is Kelvin Odoemena from a different mother also. My paternal grandmother is dead. My father was the head of the family when he was alive. I am his first son.

36.        According to our tradition, there is no way Uncle Kelvin Odoemena will be alive and I will assume the position of the head of the family as long as it is all Odoemena.

37.        But if it were his other brother whose name is Onwulari, he cannot sign for Odoemena. I will be the one to sign for Odoemena family. Do you understand what I am saying?

38.        The person who will sign it must be Ikwuagwu. I have not mentioned anybody’s name, but it must be Ikwuagwu. For the family.

39.        AN ELDER FROM IKWUAGWU FAMILY SPEAKS: Geoffrey will sign it.

40.        Write it down there. Geoffrey Ikwuagwu: For the Family.

41.        Please let us read this little draft here so that we can work with it when we go back. Please wait so that we can read the draft. This is a draft.

42.        It is now left for us to typeset it the way it is supposed to be; also putting his age, name and date where they are supposed to be and then give the background the colour of our choice.

43.        Read what you have written down so that we will know whether there is any omission there. With total submission to the will of God for a life well spent, the entire families of Ikwuagwu-Okorocha of Umunzeke, Umudeeru, Umuome, Umuguma in Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State, announce the death of their beloved Father, Brother, Uncle, Grandfather, Elder Davidson…

44.        You people call him D.O., D.O. what does that “O” stand for? Obichere. Obichere. Did he go by any title name? Just D.O. it is good now. We will inscribe it under his full name, D.O.

45.        Do you understand what is being read here. Listen to me. Both his picture and his poster will be posted on the website and you can browse and see it live with your handset just two days after his burial.

46.        The whole world will know what happened here. The sermon that was preached during his burial and his picture will be seen by the whole world in the website.

47.        Whether you are in Russia or America, you will see it. That is how we do it. Nothing is hidden in our midst. That is why you will hold it against me that I have committed a crime. Yes!

48.        …whose death occurred on 1st February, 2015 after a brief illness. He is survived by ….. you are not giving us five names only. He is survived by… Then you supply us with all the names. Bring those names. Give us names so as to put them there. Listen! We are doing this thing for posterity.

49.        He is survived by: Geoffrey Ikwuagwu. If he has any son in-law, you also include the name. When you write the name you put the relationship in bracket. For his children we either put son or daughter in bracket. For his in-laws, you will put son in-law.

50.        Is that tribute? Bring it now. If that thing is tribute, give it to us. Ok. Carry on with your corrections, but be sure that we are going to go with the tributes today. Yes! Burial arrangements. 

51.        Burial arrangements: Friday, 20th March, 2015; 7am His body leaves Uzondu mortuary on the 20th of March, 2015 for his residence at Ikwuagwu’s compound.

52.        Lying in state in his own compound from 8.30am till 10am. Interment follows immediately after the funeral service in his compound by the Bride of Christ Ministry Worldwide. Finish! Signed: Mr. Geoffrey Ikwuagwu: FOR THE FAMILY.

53.        By the grace of God, we will deliver the posters and the Brochure to you one week to the burial so that you can distribute and also paste the posters. We are working on them. Once they are ready, we will send them across to you so that you can put up the posters.

54.        We will also deliver 100 invitation cards to you. The invitation cards are for your guests and it will even help you (Geoffrey) in your work place among your colleagues, so that they will know that you did not come home to play. We will sketch a road map on the back of the invitation card to guide those who will come.

55.        We will write the appreciation for you and still put your name there. So, I take it as if it is my father that died. So, that appreciation you are going to give to the whole world is what we will put on the outer back cover of the brochure and still put your name there as the one who is thanking all that helped in one way or the order in ensuring the successful burial of your late father. So, take note of what we are saying here.

56.        DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: Please, there is something I want to suggest. From the little ones from us, apart from the children, the two brothers, the eldest of the family are included and two women are included. Not just these two people, they are all children. Then I told my brother six but he said five.

57.        No! We said all. By all, we mean; hear me now. His sons in-law, his nephews, his cousins, his brothers but there must be a bracket. For example, Emmanuel Ugorji (Son in-law). That is the way it is done.

58.        Get all and get their designations. Give them to us. Is his wife alive? We are talking about his daughters in-law. Mr. Geoffrey! Give us the names of your wife and that of your brothers’ who are married. They all make up the super-family.

59.        This is a journey that is made only once. If we are coming here again, it is no more for this particular person. We might be talking of another person. It is so wherever we go. Death is something for which we keep relics for a memorial.

60.        So while you continue with that, do we have any other business? Have we forgotten anything? Elders! I am asking you a question. Is there any area we have forgotten? A tree does not make a forest. If anyone has anything to say, the person can now tell us.

61.        Papa Vin Ikwuagwu! I know you are very busy with work over there. We are also here. Come so that we can arrange things.

62.        DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: first of all, Man of God, excuse me. There a question I want to ask.

63.        You are free.

64.        ELDER VIN SPEAKS: That very day of the burial; you have seen how small this compound is and this is the same place we have for the grave and we are also expecting a lot of people to come for the burial.

65.        Will the guests remain at the ceremony ground, which is an open field all through or will some people be brought here during the service while the rest will be at the open field?

66.        A very good question. Please I want all of you to give us rapt attention this way for we are about to answer a very important question. Elder Ugoala!

67.        ELDER UGOALA ANSWERS: My Lord!

68.        My house is directly opposite the village square in Mbaise. My father also lived opposite the village square. In my family compound, once you come out of the gate, you are on the village square and major road. My compound is just like this you own.

69.        Opposite my house is the village square. Where was my father’s casket displayed?

70.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: It was displayed at the village square.

71.        Where did we conduct his funeral service?

72.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: The same place.

73.        Where did we dance and every other thing?

74.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: The same place.

75.        When it was time to inter him, where did we carry him to inter?

76.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: He was carried into the compound.

77.        Is it just the compound? Where was he actually buried?

78.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: Inside his own bedroom.

79.        Did everybody in that field go to his burial place?

80.        THE ELDERS OF THE BRIDAL FAITH ANSWER: No Sir.

81.        Elder Vin, have we answered it?

82.        ELDER VIN SPEAKS: It is against our tradition.

83.        Wait let me say something. If it is against your tradition, it is the living that lays the dead to rest. Our own tradition is not against that of my father’s burial place because there was nothing we were hiding in my father’s house, because he was a man of the people. I am also a man of the people.

84.        The casket was brought out and put under the shade of a canopy like this. The whole world of sympathizers, relations, friends and well wishers, including the innumerable police officers were there to partake of the funeral service which was marked by the singing of reviving songs that were accompanied by the clapping of hands.

85.        At the end of the service, his colleagues, the Elders were invited and the casket bearers immediately carried the corpse. The undertakers will carry the corpse to the funeral service and also bring it back for the interment.

86.        The work of the youth of Umuguma in this regard is to dig the grave and to help receive the corpse when it is lowered into the grave.

87.        This is because it is a very bad thing for the youth in a compound where we have come for a burial to refuse to accept the corpse. It is the responsibility of the youth in that compound to dig the grave and also receive the corpse when it is lowered into the grave for burial proper and then cover the grave.

88.        So, there is no other thing that will be done than to give all that would want to see the corpse the opportunity to do so and afterwards, the casket will be closed and taken to a table under a canopy at the centre of the venue of the funeral service. Amen.

5

TRIBUTE

Now, at the end of the funeral service, only a handful of people will accompany the children with songs to bury the corpse. Finish! That is the way we do it. If this way does not conform to your own customs and traditions, it is left for you.

2.           Do not indulge in a secret discussion. Let everybody know what is transpiring. There is nothing that is directed to me. Say it openly.

3.           AN ELDER SPEAKS: How can we put canopy the other place where we will receive people. I do not think that it will be convenient for us to take the casket to that place.

4.           DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: I do not understand with you. What he intended to say is that we are going to make arrangement and take permission from the Catholic Church. We do not know whether they will permit us to have the funeral service and ceremony in that place.

5.           I thought there is a primary school somewhere here?

6.           DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: Yes! But it belongs to the catholic church. I do not know whether they will permit us.

7.           Is that the place we will do the reception?

8.           DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: We do not know whether they will allow us.

9.           With your presence? I do not look down on anyone of you here. They will agree. Somebody is Lord over the man in charge of the forest. Umuguma was already here before the church came here. Umuguma was in existence before the church arrived here.

10.        What I am saying is that if it were in the good old days, if a proper investigation is carried out, you may find out the Ikwuagwu family might be the direct descendants of the progenitor and owner of the whole land. Let me hold my peace.

11.        My people is there any other thing that is left undone? Elder Vin! This Papa! Go ahead!

12.        DR SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: what I wanted to say to thank you people anyway. Man of God. No wonder you have been insisting that I must be around. I am very very happy that I stayed, because number 1 is something concerning Chibuzor.

13.        All that you said, this is my first time of hearing them. So, I do not know. Will we now settle for failure now as our target even after several attempts to achieve success?

14.        That is the end of that one. You have already achieved it. You have achieved your aim. Whatever be the reason for running away, at the end, the person must come home. I think I told you that.

15.        DR SAM IKWUAGWU STILL SPEAKING: I still want to ask something concerning the accident.

16.        Listen. My people have an adage which says that it is not good for you to destroy your own handiwork by yourself. There was a story we were told in the Bible. Joseph dreamt when he was in the land of Egypt. God used him as a saviour and that was why he was sent first.

17.        He dreamt and found out that there was a great famine that is about to befall the land. He did not know what to do. So, he related the dream to Pharaoh.

18.        After considering the dream, Pharaoh commended him and said that there was no other person capable of collecting and storing the food that will sustain the people throughout the period of the famine but Joseph.

19.        The person who had this dream will be given this responsibility. If a man wakes up and tell you about the dream he had in the night, will you go about trying to investigate whether the dream is true or false? He that demands to hear the story of the earth, is he living in the sky?

20.        In the olden days, whenever a viper is sighted, elders are gathered to have a second look at it and then take a decision, lest in a hurry to kill a snake you kill a woman thinking that it is a real viper, not knowing that all things that creep like a viper are not vipers.

21.        You see as I am standing here now. If I tell you that I am standing on something that is bad, I am a liar. I do not speak where Jehovah has not spoken, because if I speak when He has not spoken, I will be a liar.

22.        If I pick a tick from the body of a dog, I will also show it to the dog. If I do not show it to the dog, the dog will feel that I purposely pinched it.

23.        What I am talking about now is the death of Papa Davidson and his death has brought with it a great blessing to this family and just as the death of Jesus Christ brought blessing to the world, his death has brought blessings to all the members of Ikwuagwu’s family.

24.        This is because if his death did not occur, those in exile would not have come back. And if any member of the Ikwuagwu’s family who said his heart was at peace with the condition of things, and that he eats satisfactorily and sleeps very well, when this woman and her children had not returned back home, such a person is a liar. That person is lying.

25.        I know why I am saying this. When we must have dispersed after the burial, we will still make out time to meet for the other issue because we need to bury the hatchet and continue in peace. So, let us continue with the business of today for which cause we have gathered here.

26.        He does not have a hand in what is happening. Was he the cause of the mysterious snake? You are a medical doctor of repute. If you were told that a snake would be killed, its head cut off and the body put in a tin filled with formalin and tightly sealed and when it was brought all the way to the family where the person who killed it was born to show the elders and it was found to have disappeared, will you believe?

27.        When it was time for the same man to be buried, that same snake that was formally killed and which had mysteriously disappeared before, now reappeared again and chased the people that had gathered for the burial of the same man it had bitten before.

28.        In our own day and before our own eyes, we are the people who heard about these things. Will I come from Umukohie, Uvuru to this place to contest with you for your palm trees and landed property? Will I inherit your native compound?

29.        What we are saying is that even if I join hands in causing trouble in this family, I do not know whether any of my daughters will be married to this family. If Chibuzor shows interest in any of my daughters and they agree to marry, he will go ahead and marry her. I mean this same compound. So, it is better we work towards cooling the land.

30.        As for problem, there is a problem and you people know where it is. You people know where the problem is. Wait, let us bury Papa. After the burial of Papa, everybody will go back. Afterwards, we will come back again to solve the outstanding problem. I salute you all.

31.        Dr Sam Ikwuagwu Speaks: Thank you very much. On the second one. On behalf of all the members of Ikwuagwu family, we are very grateful that you are according our uncle, you are going to give him last respect according to your Church. We thank you very very much and may you continue.

32.        Thank you sir! Papa Vin! We have placed some drinks here and you have also placed your own. Everybody is at liberty to choose what he wants. My friend! Come! The man on the motorcycle! Come closer please.

33.        Come! Mark My face. When I come to a community, I see myself as a citizen of that community. A man hosts his fellow man within the limits of his capacity.

34.        Are you hearing what I am saying? You cannot be sucking a lump when you have real breasts to suck. If there is any adage you have heard from Me and you do not understand it, when I am gone, ask your elders.

35.        What we have been talking and doing here all the while are all for your own good. We are working according to plans. If you say anything contrary, I will run away. There is no way I can run as fast as catching a lion alive. That is what we are saying.

36.        Give us drinks. Put this one down. Please if you know your choice, go for it. Put these things down. Get an opener. Start from the one offered to us as cola. If your brand is not here, you could pick from there.

37.        Bishop Isaac! Is this oil palm wine or raffia palm wine? Do you people have raffia palm wine? Give drinks to the guests. Take these ones and give to the guests.

38.        Bishop Isaac! So you have this type of raffia palm wine, yet you always come to Onitsha empty-handed. So, when you want to come to Onitsha the road to Mbaise will be closed. Bring this type of wine for me. It is good for my body.

39.        Bishop Okoh! Please do your best. Capture it. When you capture it, you will use the computer functions to extract the face and then give it a better background. Yes! That is the beauty now. If there is anything you do not understand, call Me so that I can explain it to you.

40.        Come! Dan Chukwuemeka! Any day you come to Onitsha empty-handed again you will have problems with me. Papa! There are enough drinks here. We have more of palm wine here. This our Igbo-tapped palm wine is better for the body but it is scarce.

41.        Please! Hold your drinks! There was a question I asked the Elders in Onitsha. Those that are sharing things should please hold it there. There was a question I asked in Onitsha which the two of you did not answer. It is not as if you did not know the answer, but we were carried away by other issues we were discussing.

42.        I told you that there is a way things are done. Take for instance the case of Papa Ikwuagwu who has died. As soon as his corpse enters this compound, we will give him a twenty-one gun salute. As his body is lowered into the grave, we will also bid him fare well with another twenty-one gun salute.

43.        But for someone who died when his father is still alive, we will not do that, because nothing good has happened to the father who lost his son that would have buried him. We bury the person but we do not fire gun shots.

44.        In some funeral poster I have read in the past, some people will specify it that gun shots are not allowed and masquerades are not allowed. We are not coming with any masquerade, but I believe that Papa Ikwuagwu is worthy to be buried with the firing of gun salute. He is worthy to be honoured with gun salute during his burial.

45.        If it is against your tradition, we would want you to tell us. If not, we are calling on the committee we set up for the burial. Bishop Isaac! Check what we penciled down in that regards. We have told you the youth you will liaise with.

46.        See Chinonso and his elder brothers and the rest of them. They are the people that will take you round all the places you will do your purchases. They are the people to sign surety for us wherever we will buy drinks. I have told you that everything will be purchased here. Anyone that is difficult to source should be purchased from Owerri.

47.        But they know the people here. This is to make it easy for us to return the empties and every other thing. The person who will sell the drinks to us can even come here on that day of the burial so as to collect his empty bottles as quickly as they are made available.

48.        They are the ones to lead you to mobilize the operator of the P.A. system. You will give them money to go and mobilize those that will provide the gun shots. That service is never imported from another community.

49.        I hope it is not against your tradition. When the corpse in being brought into the compound and he is peacefully laid in-state, the sign that will alert the people that he has come back to his house is that twenty-one gun salute, because he is an Elder. If he is not up to the level of an Elder, we will bury the person right away.

50.        When the Elder is lowered into the grave, we will fire another twenty-one gun salute. That is the way we do it. The gun shot is our responsibility.

51.        There is another question you did not answer that day. You actually threw it back to me. You told me that in your in-law’s place in Mbaise that it is the tradition but here in Umuguma, it is not the tradition. I asked a question. Wait let me say it.

52.        My question is this, “If it is observed here as it is done in my own community, a family that is indebted to the community for not providing a cow to be slaughtered as a burial rites for a dead relation of theirs, we cannot bring a live cow into this compound if there are people from this compound who died before and were buried without the traditional slaughtering of cow as is required by the custom.

53.        We believe in tradition and we also respect the tradition. God himself did not destroy tradition. If this type of thing is observed in your community and there are people who died before now who are also entitled to this rite but it has not been done, please tell us.

54.        This is because, to the best of our knowledge of Igbo tradition, what is recognized as a four-legged animal must have a head and complete for legs. Once you bring in the head and four of its legs, you have brought the complete animal into that compound.

55.        If you tell us, it will help us to slaughter the cow at the same location where it was purchased so that we will bring back the meat as we want to use for cooking. This is to make sure that the head and the four legs do not enter into this compound. Spirits do not die. It is the flesh that dies.

56.        DR. SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: It is done everywhere. What I want to ask is this. Is this tradition not restricted to a particular person in a family?

57.        If you ask me a question, I will answer you. Let me tell you something. Hold on, let me explain myself very well. Let me sit down so that you will understand me. Understand what I am saying.

58.        I told you what happened in my own father’s case. I told you that story because before my father died, he told me that he knows that as soon as he dies, the matter will arise.

59.        My kinsmen came to me and told me the situation of things and told me not to circumvent it. They told me the number of people for whom the fulfillment of this rite is outstanding and that theirs must be fulfilled before that of my father.

60.        I told them that there was no way I could undertake the burial of my father without a cow. And I also told them that I will not be qualified to accept it if my in-laws and friends pay me condolence visit with a live cow or give me a rope and an envelope. Anybody who gives you a rope and money has given you a cow.

61.         There is no way I will accept it. I am someone that knows a lot of personalities and I have a lot of friends too. It will be a shameful thing for me to reject the condolence gift of a cow for the reason that I am indebted to my community in the fulfillment of the burial rites of my relation that died before my father.

62.        My father as at that time was the sixth in the line-up just in the Odoemena family. I mean the descendants of Odoemena alone. The family is a very big family.

63.        The progenitor was Odoemena Onyeodi who married two wives. These include his father Onyeodi, and his brother who begat Onyeodi, my great grandfather and to my grandfather. This was the prevailing circumstance as presented by my father as at that time in my family. He also encouraged me to fulfill all if I had the means to do it.

64.        As soon as I fired a gun shot when my father died, my kinsmen came to me to find out whether I know about the situation of things and the implications, concerning burial in our family.

65.        Before they could finish, I told them that my father already intimated me before he died. They all agreed that he did well and that it shows that he was a man of right judgment.

66.        I told them to be patient with me for the corpse will stay for a long time in the mortuary. Prominent people in my family could not do it because they love money more than their fathers.

67.        It is a cause of death and has killed many of them who partook in the eating at burials without knowing about what we are saying.

68.        It got to a point where my kinsmen will attend a burial ceremony and will avoid eating or drinking there. They could not try it because a cow was involved. Everybody was sad about this development but nobody was ready to remedy the situation.

69.        My father died and I kept his corpse in the mortuary and started from the first until I fulfilled the rites for the outstanding people. I gave the responsibility to the most senior elder in the family for he knew my father and all the people who are entitled to this thing.

70.        I supplied him with what was needed and he finished all. My kinsmen were overjoyed. I fired another round of gun shots and they gathered again and the date for my father’s burial was fixed.

71.        I fixed the date I wanted but they gave me reasons why it should not be on that date. They also asked me to tell my Brethren to shift the date of the burial. I called my Brethren and we rescheduled the date.

72.        So, why I told you this thing is that on the day he was buried, I was not indebted in anyway. He was buried on a Friday and the following day being a Saturday, the whole of Ama-Asaa community gathered including five traditional rulers and they honoured me in that gathering with a wrapper tied to my waist. Then they killed the cow I presented to them.

73.        Was it not what happened? I was given a sword and a wrapper tied to my waist, an honour only bestowed on great achievers. I was also given a goat in acknowledgement of what I did. I am an Ogbuefi.

74.        By that singular act, I and all the members of the entire family were now qualified to eat and drink at burial ceremonies because there was no indebtedness anymore.

75.        My in-law here said that that it is what Mbaise people are known for. I told him that there is no problem, but if there is any tradition like this that he should tell us on time. Thank you.

76.        DR. SAM IKWUAGWU SPEAKS: Please my question is this. There were two people who died sometime ago, man and wife. No cow was killed for them. When Elder Davidson’s father died, no cow was killed for him.

77.        Do not go further. Bishop Isaac! Umuguma is not far from Obosima. I have been to Umuguma, Ohuba and Awasi. Their customs and traditions are the same. When I was talking to you I made mention of certain specific things. I told you all that transpired.

78.         I fought in the war from here to Ohuba and to Ekeke na Nwuba and the rest. I was in 87 infantry battalion; from there to 42 under Major Iheanacho and then to 21 infantry Brigade under Brigadier Okeke. Thank you very much! Brigadier Okeke.

79.        I was a Major alongside Major Nweke. We were co-opted into the full force from the Boys’ Company. I was the one that created 8th battalion under Major Onu who was killed at Amaimo. I then handed it over to Muoseme.

80.        Help me tell your people that the personality talking to them has clocked 60 years. They might be thinking that I am a young man. My small stature overmasks my age. I have clocked 60 good years. I am not a kid. That is why when I am speaking to you and I find out that you do not understand me, I will know your age.

81.        Bishop Isaac! When we went to the house of Bishop Columbus, did this same matter arise? You remember what their elders said. The chairman of the Obosima Improvement Union came and confided in us.

82.        Sir! Sit down. I am not taking your turn. Let that matter be for now. That issue is for your family. We will undertake ours. No no no no no! Do not go further. Do not go further. Do you understand what I said?

83.        There was a hymn we use to sing. As at that time, Papa Vin, you were still a small kid. Papa Vin was a kid when we use to sing it. Wait! Let me talk. Wait! Let me talk. Wait! Let me sing it for you. (The Lord sing it to the admiration of all present)

84.        Do you know that Papa Davidson is here? Papa Davidson is here, live. The song gives him so much joy. This is the type of thing he wants. A jolly good fellow who does not like trouble. This is the type of gathering he likes, where everyone is happy. And then he will be singing. Papa Vin! We are together.

85.        You still came back to you speech again. I thought I asked you to leave that matter for now. No! Do not go further. We have understood what you were saying. We spoke about that for a reason. The effect of every action comes after the action. Do you understand what I just said now?

86.        The reason why I said it is that we are at liberty. Any law that is against strangers is a law made for the strangers. And any law that is against citizens is a law made for the citizen. Do you understand me?

87.        What am I saying? It is in your powers to decide the way you want to do these things. On our path, we do not have any problems. We are not under any law. We have explained our own responsibilities towards the burial. There is no way we will cook without fish and meat. The source of our meat does not matter.

88.        Listen to me. The share of a dead man in any funeral is to be properly buried. We cannot die out of fear. The share of a man that killed a lion is just that salute he gets from people as one that has killed a lion.

89.        The totality of everything is this. If a cow (whether the Fulani or lour local breed) or even a horse is provided and displayed during the burial, it is a beautiful thing.

90.        The credit comes to this family. Your father’s maternal relations have one leg, while Umuguma people will get one leg also. Umuguma people also gets the neck.

91.        Joyfully, we mourn our dead and departed Elder to the Glory of God, The Father. Finish! Is there any other thing? Afterwards, we will all go back to our different localities and keep on doing the will of God. Amen.

92.        My people, I think there was something I told you. It is not over until it is over. It is well that ends well. Amen.

6

WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PROPHET IN THE PERSON OF A PROPHET…

Papa Vin! Why I call you is this. Bro Leo! Sit down. All that we started, we must also conclude. Our relationship must be cordial. The desire of the dog is in its tail. If it comes to you, it will wag its tail for you.

2.           I am charging you now to take your position as one of the Elders, as a traditional ruler, a custodian of customs and traditions and salute everybody on our behalf.

3.           There is only one person in the Faith of Christ who is older than Elder Ikwuagwu. He is Papa Abu. Papa Abu is in Kaduna and he is 112 years this year. His son is the Nigerian Ambassador to Vietnam. Abu Awaje.

4.           I have told you before. His son was also a director in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He is also in our Faith. His name is Elder Abu Awaje. All of them will be here. He will be here representing his father. 112 years.

5.           Apostle Ojiakor! There a Message we came here with. FACING THE FACTS OF OUR FAITH. This Message was preached on 29^th of October, 2005 on the day He was ordained an Elder, Page 9, verse 26.

6.           “Another person is Papa Davidson Ikwuagwu from the Household of God at Obosima. He is the oldest man in this Faith. Apart from Papa Abu from Nsen, the next person is Papa Ikwuagwu.

7.           Papa Ikwuagwu is about 100 years plus. The first fruit of the Household of God at Obosima and has remained very faithful, encouraging the Brethren, encouraging even Myself.

8.           He was a lay reader in the Anglican communion, a retired chartered accountant, a learned man of many professions. He had many children.

9.           When the tide was against him, the whole of Umuguma, Papa stood still and maintained his faith. When the mother of Sister Faith died, hell was let loose against us, Papa Ikwuagwu never denied us. He took side with us.

10.        This man used to shuttle Umuguma to Obosima. Reports reaching me confirmed that until age could not allow him, he remained the number one person that use to be in fellowship, distance notwithstanding.

11.        The distance between Umuguma and Obosima could be likened to that from Awka Road, Onitsha to Afor Nkpor. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Take this letter to him. He is another person.”

12.        Take this letter to him. Did we include him because of you? Verifiable evidences. We have witnesses for everything we do. We do not make friends anyhow. Have you seen when the Voice went forth? 2005! His records with the Bridal Faith.

13.        I told you over the telephone. Your father was a very good man. A very very good man. He was very much encouraging. He was a big encouragement.

14.        When hell was let loose on my side, he travelled all the way to Onitsha. We gave him the pulpit to encourage us. His legs could not carry him. We gave him a sit to sit down.

15.        He then called me, “Son of Man! God is with you. That people find it difficult to believe you, do not be discouraged. The Lord who called you will see you through till the end.” I can never forget these statements that he made to me.

16.        But I am talking to you as one that has seen many days. I am no longer a child. I will trace this Faith to God. God spoke to me and to me alone. “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK YE IN IT.”

17.        I do not forget it and that was why I preached the Message, THIS IS THE WAY, WALK YE IN IT”. Go and look for that Message, you will see that all these statements featured there. All credited to Papa Ikwuagwu. Encouraging words.

18.        No successful Man of God ever works alone. It has always been a team work. Do not ever let this family lack people. Wherever you speak concerning these matters, quote me. Keep quoting me.

19.        My number is this: 08037845410 Write it down. It is only for those that are interested. If you are interested, take My number. My title everywhere I go is Oje Mba enwe iro (a traveler without enemy).

20.        When you are confronted by insurmountable situations, call me. No matter where you are and it happens that way, call me because I am a worthy Ambassador that stands respected by His nation.

21.        That is, 08037845410. Apostle Peter Odoemena, THE SMOKING FIREWOOD. This one is strange. I know that when I called you, you were wondering who gave you my number. I am Dr. Sam. Who is calling me. Doctor, I am the one calling you.

22.        My name is a household name worldwide. My number is called by everybody. Were you not here when I switched off my phone. I switched it off because I am respecting this meeting.

23.        There is no day my phone can be silent. If my workmen do not call me, my staff will call me. The whole world call my phone. When my workmen or staff call me, I know. When my Brethren call me, I know. When I receive foreign calls, I also know.

24.        So, may God help us. Everything will work out fine. I want our Brethren to come and enjoy themselves because the people that will come here to cook (both male and female) will give you a sign of what to expect.

25.        So please help us. Tell your family members to accept anybody that may be posted to them. Also provide a store for us. These things are important to us. We cannot operate from the bush.

26.        Our own youth will be here to wire light points to all the places where they will be needed in the compound, especially in the night to help security operations of the Vigilante.

27.        As for the security personnel and what they will take, we are more than able to fulfill their expectations.

28.        AN ELDER IN THE BRIDE GAVE A VOTE OF THANKS: We salute you for your kind gestures. Geoffrey! Geoffrey! Come over here. We are grateful that we travelled long distances to be here and in the absence of our Elder, you received us.

29.        So we ask that you keep it up. Amen! You have dropped your old nature and we are now in a new record. And the new record will continue.

30.        Amen!Until eternity! Because it does not take a millennium to create a relationship. This in My own reasoning. We cannot come here today and run away tomorrow. We have become a part of this family. Anywhere I see this young man I will recognize the person.

31.        Does he know where the wind of life will blow him? Does he know whether I will be the one to give him a job? Who knows whether I will be the one to write a recommendation letter for him as the Commissioner in the Federal character Commission when he is through with his education? Does anyone know?

32.        The world is a stage. We play our roles and go. Others will come. But when you are on the scene and you do nothing, you may not have the opportunity again.

33.        AN ELDER IN THE BRIDE CONTINUES WITH THE VOTE OF THANKS: We have to go now. Our Leader does not require any other introduction. You are the people who will introduce him to Umuguma because seeing is believing. Thank you all.

34.        There is something the Bible said. Dr Sam Ikwuagwu! You know it also. And I believe that there is truth in it, not just because the Bible said it, but because it agrees with the Spirit in me. I know there is truth in it.

35.        WHEN YOU RECEIVE A MAN THAT IS SENT TO YOU BY ANYBODY, YOU HAVE RECEIVED HE THAT SENT HIM. IF YOU REJECT HIM, YOU HAVE REJECTED HE THAT SENT MAN. NUMBER 2. WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PROPHET IN THE PERSON OF A PROPHET, YOU MUST RECEIVE A PROPHET’S REWARD.

36.        It is a MUST for the Word of God cannot be broken and God will remain guilty until he performs His Word. For in Him, all His promises are yea and Amen. That is settled. You are a wonderful people. Amen.