How Henry Oguike journeyed to eternity.
2 min read
Friday October 29, 2021 was a real bad day in the history of Umuaka because it was on this fateful day that the remains of Attorney Henry Oguike, a South African based high profile Akalite, philanthropist and legal practitioner was buried in his new country home in Umuezikoha Uba Umuaka. Attorney Henry Oguike built an edifice death never allowed him to set his eyes on.
In the early hours of this day in question, the Apams Funeral Services firm had arrived in the compound of Henry Oguike’s country home to fine-tune the funeral arrangements and its role. After spending some minutes in the compound, Apams immediately took off to the mortuary in Owerri to convey the very important corpse to Umuaka. When the body eventually arrived in Uba, the motorcade first went to the ancestral home of the Oguikes and paid tribute to his father, Sir Mathew Oguike. After the brief stop, the corpse was taken to the new abode of Attorney Henry Oguike; an edifice a passer-by described as “an architectural master piece.” It was in this place that the lying in state took place. Before the lying in state, the Apams undertakers first took his body to his bedroom before he was dressed for lying in state in his sitting room.
When this was done, the master of ceremonies announced that the immediate family members, that is the Oguikes, would be the first to pay their last respect, followed by Umuduruori, Umuezikoha etc. This did not last long as people complied and few minute to10 am, the motorcade took off for the requiem Mass at St Mary’s Catholic Church.
During the church service, the officiating priest spoke about life, eternity and the type of love Oguike displayed to people around him when he was alive. He appealed to people to always remember eternity and make sure they make peace with the Lord before death occurs.
Few minutes after the sermon which was straight to the point, the requiem Mass came to an end and the priests etc again moved to the Oguike’s country home for the proper burial to take place.
When the people had all arrived at the compound, Christian fathers, members of several organizations including Catholic Women’s Organization and youth bodies were all seated and waiting. After a brief graveside sermon, the body of the late Sir Henry Oguike, a well known philanthropist was lowered to the grave. Church elders, family members and some other relations were called to pour sand to the grave to bade him goodbye one after the other.
What a tragic end for an illustrious son.
