Pastor dies hours before a burial service he was supposed to officiate

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.