Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde on Friday joined Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo; former governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel; a former Military Administrator of Ondo and Oyo, Major General Oladayo Popoola (rtd); his Deputy, Bayo Lawal, and many other top government functionaries, to bid Madam Elizabeth Oke, late mum of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, bye in Ibadan.
The remains of the late Oke’s mum were laid to rest at Kasumu Village, Egbeda local government area of Oyo state where the dignitaries paid glowing tributes to the deceased who was said to have lived a very fulfilled life before passing on at 97 years of age.
In his remarks, Governor Makinde said the occasion was not to mourn but to celebrate the virtuous life the deceased lived, going by the children she raised.
According to him, “This is not time to mourn; it is time to celebrate a life well spent; it is time to celebrate Mama. So I’m glad that I’m here to be part of this celebration. Even those people who don’t know our late mother, merely seeing Mama’s children, will all agree that Mama lived a fulfilled life.
“She was a fruitful woman; she had an impact on her environment. I’m also from across the expressway. Our village and this village were once in one local government before it was cut into two, and then we talked in Ona Ara local government which is the other side of the expressway.
“So we used to be one and the same people. So I know a little bit about this place and the impact Mama has made. so I’m happy to be here today to be one of the people celebrating a life well spent by Mama.
“We are grateful to God for the life well spent by Mama. It is God’s blessing that Mama got, and we are grateful Mama didn’t use herself anyhow. She stayed in this environment and she became everything in life and she gloriously returned to this environment.
“So, on behalf of my elder brother, the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom state, the Ondo State governor, represented by his Commissioner for Commerce, Industry and Corporative, Pastor Olusegun Aiyedun, and the government and people of Oyo state, I want to congratulate all of us that we are witnessing today, which is the celebration of a life well spent by Mama, and my prayer is that all of us will surpass our old aged parents”, Makinde said.
Appreciating his guests, Bishop Oke, the Presiding Bishop of the Sword of Spirit Ministries, recounted how he left the village in 1973 how God has used different people to help his life sojourn and how the virtues learnt from his mother had helped shape his life.
He thanked Governor Makinde for his various support to the villages and town through road infrastructure that had helped open up the village to become a big town.
In his short sermon at the James Oke Memorial Anglican Church, the Bishop of Ibadan North Anglican Diocese, Dr Williams Aladekugbe, lauded the worthy virtues of the deceased, noting that each individual will bear responsibilities for their actions, inactions, and the privileges they have received while on earth.
According to the Bishop, regardless of status or circumstance, the world’s unrest serves as a reminder of life’s impermanence, while noting that death, for believers, is not the end but a transition to a realm of eternal bliss prepared by Christ himself. He said: “Death, is far from being a conclusion, but marks the beginning of a glorious resurrect for the believers”.
Others in attendance were the National President of Christians Association of Nigeria (CAN), Archbishop Daniel Okoh; Bishop David Oyedepo of Winners Chapel; National Vice President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), John Praise; Oyo CAN Chairman, Apostle Joshua Akinyemiju; Oyo PFN Chairman, Reverend Samson Ajetomobi; Primate Emeritus Sunday Akinmakinde, Evangelist Bola Are, among others.
