The Final Trip of Barry White Eriri.
2 min read
Chief (Barry White) Anthony Chima Eriri, a top community leader and dedicated Christian father was a man who had a date with destiny on March 24, 2023. On this day, Barry White a jovial man who was known all over Umuaka community as a man of peace was laid to rest after spending 67 eventful years on earth. According to Mr Chukwuweta Onuigbo popularly known as Derango, a bosom friend of the late Barry White, trouble started one early morning around 5 am when he received a distress call from Barry White. He rushed to see him and eventually drove him to a hospital. This trip to seek medical attention in a hospital from what Derango told Umuaka Times was his final trip. The man died on the process of seeking medical help.
Fast forward to March 24, 2023, the remains of Barry White were laid to rest in his ancestral home and family compound in Umuezikoha Uba Umuaka Njaba LGA Imo State. As early as 7 a:m of March 24, 2023, the ambulance vehicle had already arrived in Umuaka and proceeded to the mortuary of Umuaka Community Hospital where the lifeless body of Mr Barry White was deposited. Around 8:40 am, the ambulance in a motorcade had arrived in the Palace of HRH Eze Ojinnaka for the royal father to pay his last respect to the dead.
The royal father, HRH Eze Henry Ojinnaka was already seated with the members of Umuezikoha Council of Chiefs waiting for the arrival of one of them who just departed. The undertakers without any form of delay, carried the casket into the palace hall where the royal father prayed to God to receive the soul of the late Mr Barry White and waved him good bye. Off everybody took.
The next stopover was the family extension house where one of the children of Barry White built a house. The ceremony did not waste time as it lasted for about three minutes and the journey eventually took off to the Eriri main compound where a lying in state was organized and the Eriri family members took turn to pay their last respect before it got to all those who wanted to pay their respect also.
By 10 am, the requiem Mass at St Mary’s Catholic Church for the repose of the soul of Chief Eriri was set to begin. Sooner than expected, the Mass began as many Catholics and members of the Eriri family were seated already. The officiating priest took time and spoke about life and death. He extolled the virtues of Eriri and asked Catholics to pray to God to receive his soul in His Paradise. Around 10 minutes after midday, the church service came to an end and the real final journey to eternity began. About 40 minutes later, the body of Chief Anthony Chima Ehiri was interred after some religious ceremonies in the Eriri family compound in Uba. The internment signaled the sudden end of a trip that lasted for 67 years.
