Nnewi Bishop Dies, Resurrects After 3 Days - Says Professor Emma David Okafoagu

By Sunday Agbo, Phil Okose & Damian Duruiheoma Bishop Bridget Eagle Okafoagu, wife of the Archbishop of New Covenant of God’s Mission, Akaboukwu in Uruagu, Nnewi who died recently at Nnewi community hospital, Anambra state has resurrected after three days, Orient Daily has learnt. Testimony of the miraculous feat was shared by Professor Emma David Okafoagu, archbishop of the church who organised a special thanksgiving and ordination service for his resurrected wife penultimate Sunday at Nnewi. “Today is a great day for me. I am using this occasion to dedicate my second journey in the ministry. My wife coming back to life also means me coming to life and it is for a purpose. We have passed the first phrase of our ministration of over 40 years of active ministry”, Okafoagu declared during the thanksgiving service. According to him, Bishop Mrs. Okafoagu suddenly fell sick and she was rushed to a private hospital (Ejiofor) in Nnewi. Things took a dramatic twist and she died but instead of making arrangements for her burial, the clergyman decided to seek divine solution after the orthodox medical efforts to save her life failed. The archbishop recalled the dramatic events that led to his wife’s death and subsequent resurrection in an exclusive interview with Orient Daily. Hear him: “I just came in and saw that she was not feeling well in the parlour and before I and my son could take her into my vehicle to rush her to hospital, we discovered that there was no life in her again. But, I summoned faith and believed that she was not dead and we drove her to hospital and called the consultant doctor to attend to her. “At the hospital, she was revived and she started vomiting. In the process, she stained my clothes and that of the doctor. After that incident, she gave up again and the doctor called me and said there was no hope in reviving her again. I was watching the doctor as he was talking because he knows me very well. And after saying all those medical terminologies to explain that my wife has gone, he turned round and said, ‘but, archbishop, you can pray and something miraculous can still happen in this case’. “It was at that point that I decided to call my sons living in Lagos and told them to come back. They took evening flight back to Nnewi and joined a team of my pastors; all of us went into prayers and on the third day, she suddenly turned and started looking around. “I called the doctor on phone and he said it was not true that she woke up. When the doctor came and saw her awake, he asked her if she knew who he was and she responded, ‘yes, you are doctor Ejiofor’. When the doctor asked her where she had been for the past three days, she replied that she didn’t know where she was”. When Orient Daily asked him what motivated him to refuse the doctor’s death report on his wife’s death, the clergyman disclosed that reviving dead people was not knew to his ministry. He recalled previous instances where God used him to resurrect people from death. “I was in that church some years ago and they brought a dead boy of seven years old. I directed that they should not bury the corpse. First of all, I chased the parents and other members of the family that were crying or mourning his death away from the church and went into prayers. After praying for three days, the boy came back to life. That boy is now grown up and is currently a welder in Nnewi. “There was also the case of a three-year-old boy who died and the parents brought his corpse to our church for final blessing. I refused to accept that he was dead. Again, I went into prayers for three days and the boy eventually resurrected. He is today residing in Abuja. According to him, “I refused such deaths because in our ministry – New Covenant of God’s Mission – we believe in our church that those who have covenant with God and because of promises of God in Jeremiah 31:31; Jeremiah 33: 1-8; the books of Corinthians and Psalm. I believe that those who are strong in that covenant, that according to the word of God, even if they are dead, they will live again. Bishop Okafoagu also recalled another incident that happened with his wife 16 years earlier. According to him, “my wife was sick and I took her to the Dr. Dozie Ikedife’s hospital at Nnewi and her sickness became worse and after seven days, the doctor called me and said that he learnt that I resurrect people who are dead; that my wife was dead that I should come and carry her corpse.” “When I came to carry her, Ikedife insisted that I will pay N150,000 which I refused; and as we were dragging it, one contractor called Enoch saw us and called our traditional ruler, Igwe, Kenneth Orizu III. He resolved the dispute over the payment. I settled him before he allowed me to take her home and decided to take her case to God in prayers. And after about three weeks, she was healed and all her body started functioning well again. “Our Igwe and Ikedife who witnessed this case are still alive and even came to the recent ceremony of her resurrection”, he adds. Okafoagu explained further that the miraculous resurrection of his wife was just a small thing compared to other amazing miracles that God had done through him and his ministry in the past forty-five years of his ministry. “I can never give up on things that I know God can do, even when it seems impossible to ordinary people. My God can never give up. God has done many wonders through me during my 45 years of first missionary journey. That is why I have decided to launch my second missionary journey during the thanksgiving service because I believe my God is alive always and is always ready to answer the prayers of those who believe in him. Narrating what happened to her, Mrs. Okafoagu said: “I breathed my last at Ejiofor Hospital, Nnewi. My husband said the doctor told him that he (the doctor) had done all he could do to get me revived without success. My husband said the death certificate was not acceptable to him even though he said I was about being prepared to be deposited in the morgue. “My husband said he told the doctor that he had just told him the reality on ground. He began to telephone Heaven with his petition to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost,” she narrated. She said when she came back to life she was able to recognise people around her as a proof that she was fully back to the land of the living. Asked where she saw herself for the whole of the three days she passed on, Bishop (Mrs.) Okafoagu said she never found herself in any new environment or conscious of anything. She used the opportunity to call for people’s repentance and acceptance of Christ as their Lord and personal saviour. Bishop Okafoagu was full of gratitude to God “for giving me more years to live on earth.” Commenting on the miracle, General Bishop Obiora said what happened to Bishop (Mrs.) Okafoagu was a demonstration that Jesus remained the same forever. He said that every believer should work hard to convert more souls for Christ, saying that there was nothing Jesus could not do in the life of those who believe in Him. He called for total repentance of those who had not received Jesus Christ. Dignitaries who attended the special thanksgiving service included Igwe Kenneth Orizu III, the traditional ruler of Nnewi, Bishop Paul Nwachukwu, Founder, Grace of God Mission, Bishop Innocent Erimujor, Bishop Ossy Dominics (National Evangelical Mission), Bishop Titus Orji, General overseer of the Life of Faith Gospel Assembly, Anambra state and General Bishop Emma Obiorah as well as Prophet Chris Ikechukwu of ‘Die by fire’ Mission. In his reaction to the miraculous resurrection, Bishop Obiora declared that what transpired in the case of Bishop (Mrs.) Okafoagu was a demonstration that Jesus Christ remained the same forever and is ever ready to come to the aid of those who earnestly seek His help. He stressed that “every believer should work hard to convert more soul for Christ.”