-Church Shuns Mourning of Major Financier, Herbert Wigwe For Revelry
Death is the clearest mirror of perfidy. It reveals the spread and tincture of its toxins. Only after a man’s death would he know the true value of his human relationships. But then, he’d be sadly on the other side.
So, it was for Herbert Wigwe, whose friends and worship house, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), City of David, deserted immediately after his demise.
Like the infamous disciple, Judas Iscariot’s first cousins, Wigwe’s Christian brethren at the RCCGhastily beat a retreat from mourning Wigwe, on to the dance floor. They could not even wait till he is buried and settled into the darkness of the grave before they throw caution to the wind and show their real nature.
It was shocking to see prominent members of the RCCG comprising family members, church elders, friends of late Wigwe troop to the dance floor in celebration of the wife of the pastor, Dr. Siju Iluyomade, as she celebrated her 60th birthday, yesterday.
Pastor Siju Iluyomade who broke all tenets of modesty and brought superfluity to walk on all four
Being the church where Wigwe worshipped before his death, not a few people expected the church to mourn him, for at least, a considerable period but the RCCG authorities clearly had a different opinion about this thus they rallied around Siju as she threw a colourful party, more or less a carnival, to celebrate her diamond anniversary.
The party had in attendance both Lagos and Nigeria’s high society, celebrities and celebutantes.
A viral video of the party shows prominent afrobeats musician, Flavour, singing the praises of the celebrant as she danced amid a bevy of fellow dancers and guests on the dance floor.
No sooner was the video posted than it incited a flurry of comments online as netizens split both sides of the divide, supported and condemned the pageantry, respectively.
While some argued that Siju had a right to celebrate her birthday irrespective of Wigwe’s death, some other commentators argued that Siju and RCCG’s actions showed their lack of empathy and zero emotional intelligence.
Before his death, Wigwe was a staunch and very generous member of the church where Siju’s husband pastored; the RCCG, based in Victoria Island, Lagos.
It was an open secret that the late Wigwe deployed his goodwill and resources generously towards the advancement of God’s work at the City of David parish thus the church experienced phenomenal growth – thanks to Wigwe.
The late Wigwe was one of the biggest tithe payers in the City of David parish because of his vast wealth and net worth. Being a bank owner, his tithe runs into millions of naira and it was also due to his generous contributions that the City of David has the best and finest church buildings among RCCG parishes.
Wigwe was the chairman of the building committee when the church was constructing the parish.
He pulled all stops from donating his money to rallying his wife, Chizoba, who died with him, to donate too.
And when the City of David ran out of funds to continue the project, it was Wigwe who used his influence to facilitate a loan from Access Bank for the construction to go ahead.
Without his intervention, the project would have been an abandoned elephant project.
He went as far as paying for two office spaces for Access Bank at the church building, and he paid a five-year rent for the two office spaces. This was done when the project was still an undeveloped project.
Just before he died, two weeks ago, The City of David parish could not service the loan that Access Bank gave them, and the bank was breathing on their necks to pay up.
It was still the same Wigwe who bailed them out by giving them a bail out of N1 billion naira in interest-free loans, which they are expected to pay back to him this year. Unfortunately, he died before they could pay back the loan.
It is also noteworthy that the late Wigwe was one of the biggest donors to the celebrant, Siju’s NGO, the Arise Women Conference. Thanks to generous donations by Wigwe, the conference evolved to be an annual conference that attracts Nigerian women all over the country.
Pastor of the City of David VI Parish, Idowu Iluyomade, attested to the good works of late Wigwe at its 8.a.m. Sunrise Service on February 11, a day after Wigwe’s death in a helicopter crash along with his wife and son in the US.
Pastor Iluyomade highlighted that Wigwe was a source of blessings to the church, embodying a life dedicated to service and generosity.
According to him, “When we were building makoko that school for the indigent people where we feed for free, we clothe them for free, we did it in partnership with Herbert Wigwe Foundation. He has a heart for the things that matter unto God.”
Considering Wigwe’s unwavering support and benevolence to the church, many argued that it was offensive and inappropriate of Pastor Iluyomade’s wife, Siju, to throw a lavish party a week after his death.
Both the celebrant and the entire parish ought to have shown greater respect to such a man, whose tithe and benevolence sustained them all while he was alive.
