Posted by By JOE EFFIONG, Uyo on
Which is the largest church in Akwa Ibom State? The Apostolic? catholic? Qua Iboe? Winners Chapel? NNPC mega station morning assembly?
Which is the largest church in Akwa Ibom State? The Apostolic? catholic? Qua Iboe? Winners Chapel? NNPC mega station morning assembly?
This may sound incredible, but it's true. The largest church in Akwa Ibom, nay Uyo, is the 'NNPC mega station morning assembly." Though it is yet to be officially recognized by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) or registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Mega Station Morning Assembly or whatever official name should be given to it has, in the past two months, grown in leaps and bounds that if its pastor were to start collecting offering and tithe, he would not only drive the latest Hummer Jeep, but the proceeds would also have been used to build another mega station in the state.
The Sun correspondent was surprised to see the presumably too-busy okada riders remove their hats last Tuesday morning, and bowed their heads in prayers before the pumps attendants were allowed to start dispensing the products.
Apparently trying to confirm whether it was an accident, The Sun almost kept vigil the next day and when the gates were opened by 7.20am for the okada riders, the exercise was repeated, this time with even a brief sermon.
The pastor in-charge, who later identified himself as Pastor Aniefiok Ekpenyong, asked them to surrender themselves to God and always do the right thing in the discharge of their duties.
'Now that you are buying petrol at N65 per litre, don't go out and swear by the engine of your motorcycle that you bought it at N130 so, that you could charge your passengers double," he said.
Though the okada people appeared not to have liked that line of sermon, they nevertheless, did not hesitate when Pastor Ekpeyong asked them to remove their caps before he could pray with them. Almost every okada rider, known as alalok or ala-ete in Akwa Ibom, wears cap.
The three to five-minute devotion over, with the cyclists clapping jubilantly, the sales began and the pastor walked away.
When The Sun correspondent accosted the pastor to find out the rationale for the morning devotion, he explained that it was to help fuel seekers, some of whom spent the night by the station, to start the day in prayers.
'We can't start any day here without prayers. This place was opened in prayers and even then one of the inaugural managers passed away. So, we have to pray. Even the alalok have confessed that each time they pray their business that day would move smoothly," Ekpenyong said.
Apart from conducting the morning devotion, Ekpenyong says he does what every other staff in the mega station does. ' I also make sales after the devotion."
An average Akwa Ibom person is a good churchgoer. Therefore, making atonement to the Holy Spirit or even to the premium motor spirit - petrol - is not a bad idea. Maybe, that is what has helped the state, in that it has not suffered any pipeline vandalisation fire disaster even as an oil producing state.