As a mark of sustaining the legacy, Akwa Ibom Government has pledged to partner in the running of the late Archbishop Elijah Akpan Mboho’s orphanage, GoodNews Community Humanity.
Governor Umo Eno made the announcement during the funeral service of Archbishop Mboho held at the international Headquarters of Goodnews Community International, popularly known as Gospel Village, Midim Waterside in Abak Local Government Area on Friday.
The Governor directed the State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare and Office the First Lady to work out modalities of partnering the GoodNews Community to administer the orphanage, describing it as the late Archbishop Mboho’s signature humanitarian project.
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Eno said the gesture was as a testament to the late clergyman’s selflessness in serving humanity, assuring of his administration’s readiness to sustain the legacy.
“I know that if Papa was to wake up today his major concern will be what would be the next meal for these children. He lived for them. He gave up everything for them. So I would love to join in preserving that legacy.
“Today, I am directing that the Ministry of Women Affairs and the first lady should work together as we adopt that orphanage as part of Government orphanages. We will not allow the children to be hopeless. So we take them and as long as I remain Governor, we will partner with this institution to take care of the orphanage to sustain the home,” he reasoned.
In a message of condolence on behalf of the government and people of the State, Governor Eno described the late clergyman as a quintessential man of God who exhibited great Christian virtues by which many lives were touched.
He described the deceased as a bastion of charity, and lauded his support for the less privileged, affirming that the many products of his free education are testimonies to his large-heartedness.
“Our late father was an exceptional and compassionate spiritual leader. He neither harboured nor devised evil against anyone. He was the epitome of kindness and compassion. Stories and testimonies here are about the lives he changed, the destiny of thousands he altered for good.
“For decades, the church he founded, the GoodNews Community International Incorporated was and is still a beacon of charity for the hopeless and abandoned children, the less privileged and a glittering Community where hope has replaced the darkness allies of hopelessness and destitution,” he stated.
Delivering a homily on the theme “What Makes a Man Great” taken from Genesis 12:2, the President of New Covenant Christian Ministries, Archbishop Joseph Alexander, likened the late Elijah Mboho’s life of selfless service to God and humanity and his rise to greatness to that of Abraham, the father of faith.
The Clergyman asserted that greatness does come from extolling tribal and ethnic factor against one another but comes from honouring God, seeking to please home and loving people as guaranteed access to greatness.
Alexander, therefore, admonished the people to eschew arrogance, submit themselves to God and be a blessing to humanity, stressing that God is moved by the value one adds to humanity and rewards with commensurate greatness.
