By EMOTIONS ran high on Tuesday as family members and friends broke into tears at the burial of Temitope Enitan Fatunmbi, one of the victims who fell to the bullets of kidnappers near Dominion University, along Lagos-Ibadan expressway 12 days ago.
The grieving wife
The burial ceremony took place at the RCCG, Messiah’s Praise Sanctuary, Redemption City along the same expressway.
A cleric, Pastor Bola Soyinka, in the exhortation entitled “One Glorious Morning,” said that though death was seen by all men as an end, God saw it as a bend to eternal life, glory and bliss.
Quoting first Thessalonians chapter four, verses 13 to 18, the cleric enjoined the gathering to comfort one another with the words in the passage
The slain being laid to rest PHOTOS: NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
“Where God is in the life of His child, it is not the end but a bend. We meet to part, but we part to meet, where we shall never part again,” he encouraged further.
Admitting that hearts were heavy due to the unexpected termination of Fatunmbi’s life, Pastor Soyinka enjoined family and friends to comfort one another, as a day, which he described as glorious morning, would come according to the Scriptures.
“Our beloved brother, Temitope Fatunmbi has left us now, but I tell you, it is not the end for as many as have surrendered their lives to Christ. That is why it is not goodbye, but goodnight,” the pastor added.
He encouraged the gathering to live for Christ, as the departed soul would be seen again.
Pastor Sola Owoeye prayed for the widow, Taiwo, and the deceased’s two children, Tiwatope and Oluwakorede, for divine sustenance at the time of grief.
The widow, who was still grief-stricken and weeping uncontrollably throughout the funeral service, broke into fresh tears as Fatunmbi’s body was being lowered into the grave at the Redemption City’s burial site.
At the wake on Monday evening, several tributes were paid to late Fatunmbi by his family members, friends, old school mates and colleagues.
The deceased’s daughter, Tiwatope, cried uncontrollably to the point that she had to be taken out and be comforted.
Nigerian Tribune learnt that the deceased, his wife and two children were on their way from Lagos to Ibadan when kidnappers jumped on the road from a spot they hid in and started shooting sporadically at vehicles approaching.
Fatunmbi, who was said to be driving a Toyota RAV 4, was hit at the right side of his back by two pellets which penetrated his wife’s side and grazed the son’s hand.
Though he tried to manoeuvre to safety from the kidnappers, he was said to have lost so much blood in the process.
He reportedly became weak, thereby losing control of the vehicle which veered into the bush and somersaulted.
He died shortly after as a result of his bullet injuries, it was further learnt.
Born on May 23, 1982, late Fatunmbi had once worked at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and was a Programme Officer at IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative in Lagos, Nigeria, before his untimely death.
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