Venerable
Stephen Eseteru Ogue, JP, 53, of St. John’s Anglican Church, Agbarho in Ughelli
North Local Government Area of Delta
State and author of several Christian books died at about 7.45 a.m. on Friday,
December 11, 2015, two hours before he
was supposed to officiate at a funeral service.
He
reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest and passed away at Lily Hospital, Deco
Road, Warri. His first daughter,
Oghenenyoreme Ogue, said he had been suffering from diabetes and high blood
pressure.
The
hearse conveying the remains of the
woman whose burial the paster was supposed to preside at, mourners,
including a large delegation of the church’s Women Guild as well as members of
the Anglican Fasting and Prayer Society, had gathered in front of the church
building as early as 9.25 a.m. for the service billed for 10.00 a.m.
Unaware
of the tragedy that had occurred, the mourners waited patiently for the
officiating ministers to receive the body but no pastor was in sight.
Meanwhile, other members of the church
and visitors kept trooping into the
church premises for the funeral service.
Worried
by the development, members of the mourning family began to
call the vicar’s phone but someone kept answering his asking them to exercise patient. The calls to
Reverend Friday Erutere, billed to assist the venerable at the funeral service,
were initially ignored until he answered
to similarly sue for patience, saying he was on his way to the church.
After
about 45 minutes after the burial ceremony was supposed to start, a Toyota car,
said to be owned by the vicar/archdeacon, hurried into the church premises and
made its way straight to the staff quarters ,to the relief of those waiting outside the church. Immediately, people
started regrouping around the hearse with the hope that the service would soon
begin. But that didn't happen.
Eventually,
60 minutes after the scheduled time of service, Erutere, accompanied by two
others, arrived at the West Door to officially receive the corpse and
proceeded with the funeral service.
After
the service started, people wondered where the original pastor was, because on
several occasions he had enjoined members of the Women’s Guild to be punctual
for that particular service and had promised to lead the church delegation to
Okpara Inland for the interment.
As
the mourners departed the church for Okpara Inland, venue of the interment,
there was no word about the sudden death of the vicar of the Agbarho church
where another Anglican canon, Rev. Benedict
Akpoguma, took over proceedings. Put simply, neither the mourners nor
well wishers, who had travelled from long distances, including Mr. John Salubi
of the NNPC, Dr. Francis Eghwubare of Delta State University, Mr. Joshua
Onoronimighwu of Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Victor Onogagamue of Delta State
Sports Commission, Barrister Joseph Ogedegbe, and a former NBA
Chairman of Ughelli Local Government, were briefed on the reason for the
funeral’s delay.
Only
the first daughter, Oghenenyoreme, could volunteer comments,although, she was
unable to explain the mystery behind the death of her father, as, according to her, they were trained to
submit to the will of God in all circumstances.
However,
the daughter said they had prayed together that morning in accordance with
family tradition, without any visible signs of danger, and the ebullient father
retired to the couch in the sitting room apparently to relax.
“After
a while, I noticed that daddy was no longer breathing normally and I raised the
alarm to draw my mum’s attention. She quickly called the driver and we carried
him to the car and drove straight to the hospital in Warri. That is all I can
tell you, because nobody told us anything about his state of health until the
bishop came later that day to break the sad news to us,” she tearfully
narrated.
Source:
Vanguard
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