Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo; presidential candidate of Labour Party, Peter Obi; governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno; several former governors and other eminent Nigerians from across party lines were among sympathisers that graced the funeral of the late Prelate Emeritus of the Methodist Church, Dr. Sunday Mbang, who was interred yesterday.
Speaking at the event held at late Mbang’s home parish, Methodist Cathedral, Eket local government area, Governor Eno extolled the virtues of the late Mbang, describing him as an embodiment of Christian virtues, icon of national unity, love, morality and tolerance.
The governor who led dignitaries to bid farewell to the late prelate, said he was a man of deep faith who saw the ennobling ideals in other faiths, lived the aspiration of Nigeria and showed himself as a great patriot who considered character and principles of those who came in contact with him, over the limiting impulses of geography.
He expressed condolences of the government and people of the state to the family and entire Methodist community, even as he reminisced on the life and times of the departed prelate as a man of goodwill.
Chief Obasanjo, affirming the series of tributes in honour of the late prelate, recalled his days as president and how close he got to be with Mbang then as head of the Methodist Church and national president of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), despite the cleric’s frankness in speaking his mind to power.
He credited the ecumenical centre built during his tenure at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to the late Mbang’s purposefulness and consistency which compelled him to lead a fund raising effort to build the centre.
Delivering a homily culled from Ecclesiastes 44:1-15, the General Secretary, World Methodist Council, Bishop Ivan Abraham, said the legacies and adorable exit of the prelate should place on the minds of the living the question of what they would be remembered for upon their exit from earth and what awaits them in eternity, stressing that death is not the end for those that trust in the Lord, but a transition to be with the creator.
The paramount ruler of Eket local government area, Edidem E. C. D. Abia, described the late Sunday Mbang as a great example in faith, courage and integrity, as well as a worthy ambassador that would be greatly missed, not just by Eket people, but Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and the world body of Christians.