Confraternity of Christian Mothers Festac Celebrates with Mrs Muo

Confraternity of Christian Mothers Festac Celebrates  with Mrs. Muo

Obeying the Biblical admonition to Christians to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, members of the  Confraternity of  Christian Mothers, CCM from the Catholic Church of Visitation, Festac Town, Lagos on June 25, 2022, trooped out in their numbers to rejoice and felicitate with one of their own, Mrs Ann Muo at the wedding of her daughter, Augusta Ifeoma Muo.

The holy matrimony took place at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos.

The gaily dressed and vivacious CCM mothers proved to be their sister's keeper as they gave amble moral support to one of their own ensuring that the wedding was one of  the best organised social events in the recent time.

The bride's mother herself brought colour and distinction to bear on her daughter day of glory as her company, Spanset cakes & events ensured that everybody went home with a pack of cakes( different Flavours).

Founded in France over 150 years ago, the Confraternity of Christian Mothers was founded by lay women to discuss their struggles in raising their children and to pray for each other in a culture that had become increasingly opposed to Catholic values. 

CCM members who graced the wedding include Mother Esther Okereke, president Emeritus, Mother Vivian Obi, Ex Vice President,  

Mother Modesta Iguh president, Mother Adaku Agughasi, Vice President, Mother Ann Okorafor Treasurer.

Others include, Mother  Chioma Ekeh Provost, Mother Uche Emetarom, Financial Secretary 2, Mother Chinyere Chinedu, Provost 2, Mother Adaku, Ezeugo welfare.

Also in attendance were Mother Chinyere Aniaku member, Mother Uwandu Mabel, member, Mother Bibian Okeke, member, Mother Maryqueen Obelle, member, Mother Adaku Uzoukwu member, Mother Ifeoma Chukwueze, member, Mother Virginia Ogbatue member, Mother Rose Uchendu exco and Mother Onyeneke exco. Other notable guests @ the event include Chief Ingram Osigwe(EnyiOha) Chief Kevin Onyebara, Dr Obinna Okpara, Madam Blessed and Princess Ifeoma Agu. 

Indeed, Saturday, June 25th, 2022 will be a historic day for the families of Fidelis(Adizue) and Mrs Ann Muo and Chief John (Snr) and Mrs Fumilayo Adollo as their children, Augusta Ifeoma and John Jemin Jnr consummated their love at the Cathedral of Christ, Marina, Lagos.

The groom, an indigene ofJakpa, Warri North local government area, Delta State,  is a US-based Engineer while the bride who hails from Nnokwa, Idemili south of Anambra state, owns one of the latest boutiques in LEKKI phase 1, Lagos.

The rites of joining Ifeoma and John as husband and wife had begun a week earlier with a lavish but multi-cultural traditional wedding that witnessed a rich and enchanting blend of Igbo, Itsekiri and Yoruba cultures.

This was expected as the groom is Itsekiri with a Yoruba mother while the bride is Igbo from Anambra state.

The traditional wedding had in attendance Captains of Industry, politicians, professionals etc.

The galaxy of guests from virtually all parts of Nigeria gave the traditional wedding the colour of a pan-Nigerian event.

All Nigerian dishes which were served further added glamour to the wedding.

The colourful Itsekiri dance troupe ushered the groom amidst cheers.

The groom's mother, a Yoruba, added rich Yoruba panache to the event with breath-taking Yoruba eulogy and dance steps. 

Guests at the traditional wedding included a former Senator representing Lagos East senatorial district and current MD/CEO of the  Federal Housing Authority, Sen.Gbenga Ashafa among other notables.

The classy traditional wedding foretold the quintessentially glamourous church wedding that took place on June 25.

The reception which was held at The Bell Campbell Event Centre, Campbell Street, Lagos, witnessed pomp, pageantry and colour.

It attracted the high and mighty in the society with exotic dishes and wines made available to all guests.

***

Story by Chief Ingram Osigwe.

Ajayi Crowther Bicentennial Celebrations

Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c. 1809 - 31 December 1891}, the first Black Anglican bishop, was a Yoruba, one of the oldest and most advanced tribes in the region that comprises today's Nigeria. As a teenager, Ajayi, or Adjai, became something of an entrepreneur, raising poultry and produce. His fledgling enterprise was cut short when, in 1822, he - along with other members of his family - were abducted by Muslims, taken to the coast, sold to Portuguese slave traders, and put aboard the misnamed Esperanza Feliz, bound for America. The third day out, a British ship captured the Esperanza and freed its human cargo. Ajayi was then taken to Freetown, Sierra Leone and placed in a missionary school. As he later wrote, "about the third year of my liberation from the slavery of man, I was convinced of another worse slavery, that of sin and Satan. It pleased the Lord to open my heart." Baptized in Africa on December 11, 1825, he was given the name of an English clergyman, Samuel Crowther, one of the first members of the Church Missionary Society,.

It then pleased the Lord to send Crowther to England, specifically to Islington, where he studied at St Mary's Parochial School, then located on Liverpool Road. Returning to Sierra Leone in 1827, he enrolled as the first student at the newly established Fourah Bay College. So rapid was his progress that he soon became an assistant teacher, then a schoolmaster. In Church Missionary Society reports of the time, he was frequently described as a faithful and efficient promoter of missionary efforts. Crowther was particularly concerned about the effect of trafficking in whiskey and the slave trade, which - though formerly abolished in 1838 - continued in the interior of the continent. He returned to Islington in 1842, where he trained at the Church Missionary Society's college (see illustration #50). The next year, he was ordained at St Mary's, then returned to Africa.

In 1851, Crowther returned to England for a meeting with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to discuss the slave situation. His eloquence resulted in a British expedition to the Niger, which Crowther joined, and which helped mark the end of the African slave trade. Among other accomplishments, Crowther was proficient in languages, which aided him immensely in his Evangelical work. He was the chief translator of the Bible into the Yoruba language, and composed both a Yoruba grammar and dictionary.

In 1864, he was called once again to England, this time for a singular honor - to be ordained a bishop of the Anglican Church. His promoters, anxious that he obtain a university degree before being consecrated, cited his several publications as proof of his knowledge. With almost universal consent, he received his degree. Then, on June 29, 1864, in Canterbury Cathedral, he was consecrated Bishop of the Niger. Among those in attendance was the former captain of the British ship that had rescued him from bondage forty-two years earlier.

Upon his return to Nigeria, Crowther continued his work with humility and devotion. Old ways still remained, however, and his work - as had been the case with Philip Quaque before him - was often met with frustration and defeat. Still, he carried on, until his death at Lagos on January 9, 1892. He had fought the good fight for some sixty years. Among all men associated with St Mary's, Samuel Ajayi Crowther deserves to be remembered.

See the "Ajayi Crowther Bicentennial Celebrations"