The huge crowd that witnessed the burial were made of parishioners of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi thronged Adamgbe as early as 5am to participate in the service and also bid farewell to their dead members, mainly women and children.
The requiem service for the deacesd and final burial ceremony which were held in an open air service within the premises of the ill fated church was conducted by the Auxiliary Bishop of Makurdi Catholic Diocese, Most Reverend William Avenya.
The Bishop who was assisted by over 200 Catholic Priests and Reverend Sisters took his reading from the chapters of the Bible John 11 (44) where Jesus Christ raised Lazarous from the dead and urged Christians to hold firmly to the promises and dictates of Christ so as to resurrect with Christ on the last day.
While consoling the bereaved families, Bishop Avenya implored them to take solace in the fact that all humans would some day return to their creator.
He urged all Christians to live in peace and love their neighbors adding that the race for heaven could not be won by those who engage in evil in total negation of the dictates of the word of God.
“As Christians, we must learn to live in peace and love, knowing fully well that we shall some day go back to our creator with an account of how we lived our lives on earth”, the Bishop counseled.
Earlier in his funeral oration, Governor Gabriel Suswam said that Friday, April 20, 2012 would remain indelible in the memory of all Benue indigenes, as it had become a watershed in the history of the state.
Represented by his Deputy, Chief Steven Lawani, the Governor said “Today (yesterday) is a day we will always remember because it is a day we committed to mother earth 22 of our indigenes who lost their lives while in a Church service were they had gone to pray for the peace and development of our dear state”.
He recalled the global shock and disbelief that greeted the tragic collapse of the church and the death of worshippers at the Easter Eve service adding “We could not hold ourselves when the news got to us in Makurdi, and when we got here to see things for ourselves we could not hold back tears.”
Suswam urged the bereaved families to take solace in the fact that those who died in the disaster lost their lives on Easter day when the world was celebrating the victory of Christ over death. ”What this symbolizes is that though these people died, their death was onto glory”.
The Governor then announced that the Federal Government has undertaken to rebuild the collapsed church building and pledged that his administration would immediately embark on the provision of social amenities for the people of the community.
Suswam further said, “The Federal government has undertaken to reconstruct the church for the community and the state government would assist in that regard.
”This unfortunate incident has opened up this community to a lot of visitors and it has also drawn government’s attention to its lack of social amenities and I assure you that we are moving into this community immediately to address these challenges.”
In her condolence message on the occasion, the wife of Benue State Governor, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam who lamented the devastation urged the bereaved families to take solace in the fact that those who died in the tragedy did so in the house of God.
Mrs Suswam later donated food stuff and relief material to the bereaved families after meeting with the Catholic Women Organization, CWO, saying that the devastation had provided every Benue son and daughter a rallying point.
”This incident has provided a rallying point for Christians. And it has also elicited a massage of hope love and unity among the people. This incident has attracted attention from all socio-ethnic divisions across the state. It is time for us all to show love. Let there be unity among the various ethnic groups in our state”.
“This unfortunate incident has also provided a platform for political unity in our state, let us capitalize on this to also bury our political differences. We must come together to show love to everyone irrespective of religion or political inclination”, she said.
Meanwhile as the corpses of the 22 victims were lowered to their graves at about 1:45pm. Saturday Vanguard spoke to some of the bereaved who never ceased to weep and wail as the remains their loved ones were being laid to rest, just about 50 meters from the building were they met their untimely death.
Juliana Iortim who lost her daughter in- law and grand child in the tragedy said her late daughter in law left behind two other children. She said the death has cost her so much grief as she also lost her son not too long ago, pointing out that she had been left to cater for the surviving children without any source of income.
In their reaction, Raymond Terkimbi Ageshi and his wife, Priscilla, who also lost their two year old daughter in the disaster said the incident was still like a dream to them.
According to Agishi, his wife witnessed the death of theier child whom she said died instantly when part of the collapsing roof crashed on her.
He said his wife had not been eating regularly since then but added with consolations and persuasion by men of God, she was gradually overcoming the shock.
Mores, Mathias Igbatim, a 33 year old secondary school leaver, who said his mother died during the incident, said he could not believe his eyes when he arrived the church and saw her mother lying dead.
Igbatim said eyewitnesses told him that the roof of the church hit his late mother on her chest and head causing her instant death.
He said the death has caused him so much trauma even as he thanked both the state government and the Catholic Church for ensuring that the victims of the incident were accorded befitting burial.
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