Akalites bade Dera Ugwuala tearful goodbye.
2 min read
The remains of Engineer Chukwudera Ugwuala a promising young Akalite who lived and died in the United States a couple of weeks ago have been buried precisely on Friday December 16, 2022 in his Ugbele Okwu native home in Umuaka Municipal Council Njaba LGA Imo State. On the early hours of Friday December 16, many Ugbele youths, Christian bodies and others have got themselves ready for the burial. Although each of them in the same morning, looked so sad and tired due to the shock the death of Dera had thrown them into. Against all the odds they faced, a good number of them still managed and made their way to Aladimma Hospital mortuary Owerri to escort the corpse home.
When the motorcade arrived Ugbele land, the youths of Ugbele-Aka practically took charge of everything. They controlled the traffic, sang songs and provided protection to the undertakers until they arrived the family compound. On citing their violent arrival to the family compound of the Ugwualas, Mr Dona Ijeoma, the anchor of the event called on the youths to take things easy and behave with maturity as Dera was never a stubborn or violent fellow. To the surprise of all, the appeal did not fall on deaf ears. Normalcy returned as the undertakers kept the corpse for lying in state. The anchor of the burial ceremony announced again the order of homage. First it was the Ugwuala family, led by Dr Uche Ugwuala who paid their last respect followed by Akuzuruahu family members and others.
Due to the early death of Chukwudera which occurred when no one expected it, the family and the MC made sure everything went as planned without delay. One of the plans by the family was to hold the requiem Mass in the family compound instead of dragging people to the church service and drag them back at the heat of the sun. The family waved this segment aside and made sure the requiem Mass was celebrated in the family compound.
Shortly afterwards, the Mass began and in about an hour’s time, it came to an end and the officiating priest said graveside prayers thereby signaling the end of an era for the amiable Engineer Chukwudera Ugwuala.
