56 Bishops witness burial of Rev Pa JMJ Emesin, Father of Igbo Pentecostal Movement, as Igbo Mandate Congress Commends Massive Turnout

More than fifty six Bishops mostly from the Anglican and Pentecostal Blocks attended the burial of Rev Pa JMJ Emesin, Father of Igbo Pentecostal Movement at Aguleri yesterday. The massive turnout of sympathizers created some issues especially with crowd controls even as the officiating clerics unanimously asked God to engrace whosoever will take over the baton as the leader of the Pentecostal movement in Igbo land to follow after the pious footsteps of Pa Emesin.

The Governor of Anambra State and the Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria, South East respectively, Chief Willie Obiano and Archbishop Professor David Ebelechukwu, , though unavoidably absent, to attend to urgent security matters, sent high powered delegation. Eze Chukwuemeka Eri, Traditional Ruler of the Nri Kingdoms and custodian of Igbo-Jewish heritage and ancestry, was present with his chiefs to pay homage to the sage. Pa Emesin died at the age of eighty five.

Bishops who thronged the burial stadium include Rt Rev Johnson Ekwe., Anglican Bishop of Niger West Diocese, Rt. Rev.Ralph Okeke ( Anglican Bishop of Ihiala Diocese), Bishop Paul Nwachukwu, (General Superintendent , Grace of God Mission), Bishop OC Dominic (National Evangelical Mission), Bishop Godwin Ezenwafor (Royal Family Church), Archbishop A.A Nwodka (Throne Cathedral), Bishop Tony Okeke, Bishop Emma Obiora Bishop Goddy Nnaji, Bishop Tim Obidike, Bishop Raph Ndife (PFN Chairman, Anambra State), Archbishop Mojo, Apostle Dr PCJ Macjossy (General Coordinator , General Assembly of all Igbo Christian Organizations and Ministers, GAAICOM), Pastor Emma Okonkwo (Truth and Life Charismatic Gospel Mission) among others.

Speaking with the Director General of Igbo Mandate Congress IMC, Rev Obinna Akukwe on the demised cleric, many of the Bishops believed that it will be difficult to replace Pa Emesin. Apostle Macjossy told Rev Akukwe and IMC leaders that the shoes of Pa Emesin can only be filled by a saintly personality, and called for revival outbreak again as it was in the seventies. Rev Akukwe described the estimated over seventy thousand persons who attended the burial as the highest ever in any such event in the South East, and describes the unity across all denominations as spiritually significant of the new wave of revival.

Until his death on the 7^thof December, , Rev Dr Emesin trained about eighty percent of notable gospel ministers from the South East before and after the civil war and his input was instrumental to the famous Pentecostal Revival which broke out in Igbo lands in the early seventies when preaching with Bible was a taboo in the area. Rev Dr Emesin was the rallying point of the young generation of vibrant, tongue talking young men and women who abandoned the world and sought for Jesus as though there will be rapture the next day.

Rev Dr Emesin inculcated into them a sense of abandonment of self to Christ, and stood by them when the orthodox Catholic and Anglican Missions fought the revivalist movements. A highly educated personality, Pa Emerson got further training in the United States of America where he also established some mission stations before returning back to Nigeria after a few years.

It is hoped that the burial of Pa JMJ Emesin willl ignite another penteostal revival in line with the challenges of contemporary times.