Copyright tribuneonlineng
The legacy of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo resonated profoundly at the laying of the foundation for the Ikenne Church House, located at the Dideolu Estate in Oniru, Lagos on Friday. The land on which the building is being erected was donated to the Anglican Church by the late sage, Chief Awolowo. The ceremony, a poignant tribute to Chief Awolowo’s lasting generosity, was graced by his daughter, Ambassador (Dr) Olatokunbo Awolowo-Dosumu, who expressed immense gratitude for the development of the land. “I feel gratified. I feel a sense of praise and glory to God Almighty that I can witness the development of this land,” said Ambassador Awolowo-Dosumu, the Chairman of African Newspapers of Nigeria Plc. She emphasised her happiness in seeing the fruition of her father’s gift, noting that the purpose for which the land was given is finally being realised. The new Church House, once completed, will generate income for the church, fulfilling the original intent of the donation. In a powerful call to action, she urged Nigerians in a position to follow suit. “We need to do the same because we can not out-give God,” she declared. Earlier, during his sermon, The Most Reverend (Dr) Michael Olusina Fape, the Bishop of Remo Anglican Diocese and Archbishop of Lagos Province, spoke on the theme of divine grace, stating that success is not by power or might, but by the spirit of God. “We can not gather like this and not give thanks to God for what he has done for us,” he said. Archbishop Fape specifically thanked Chief Awolowo for his kind gesture in providing the landed property, which he said had been instrumental in the Diocese’s ability to undertake other projects. “By the grace of Christ, if we consider what God has done for us at the Diocese of Remo in the past six years, it would not have been possible for us to build other houses having got the land through the kind gesture of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo,” the cleric stated. He praised Chief Awolowo as an individual whose voice and legacy continue to live on from generation to generation. “We thank God that we cannot build on nothing; we are building on something, and that something we are building is on this land,” he said, describing the donation as a gift for which the church would be eternally grateful.
