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From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Hundreds of Igala sons and daughters gathered on Sunday under the auspices of All Saints Igala Catholic Community of Nigeria (ASICON), Kaduna State chapter to celebrate their two sons who were recently ordained Priests by the Kaduna Archdiocese.
Realising that the journey to priesthood was usually difficult, the ASICON members decided to thank God for granting their children; Rev. Fr. Solomon Onoja and Rev. Samson Ilemona Achimugu to serve in His vineyard.
The two Priests, Onoja and Achimugu were ordained Catholic Priests on July 14 and July 29, 2022 respectively.
Some few years ago Igala sons were ordained Priests in the Archdiocese, bringing the number of Catholic Priests of Igala extraction to almost 20 Priests in the Archdiocese.
Igala people are the majority tribe of Kogi State, from the East Senatorial district of the State.
Speaking at the event shortly after a homily by Rev. Father Onoja, the Kaduna State chapter Chairman of ASICON, Brother Simon Idakwo noted with satisfaction that, “We give glory to God that the two Priests have since resumed work in their respective places of assignment and it is our prayers that the good Lord who has been accompanying you on this journey of faith, will successfully lead you all to do His Will so that at the end of your journey here on earth, you will receive the eternal reward promised to His worthy and faithful servants.
“Last year, we gathered here to celebrate the ordination of Rev. Father Pius Obenda and today we are here again for similar celebration.
“At that celebration, our son and the homilist on that occasion, Rev. Father Philip Daniel Ayegba advised that “Igala che Manyo” (Igala people do not engage in what will bring public disgrace to them).
“With this at the back of our mind, it becomes pertinent to organise reception for our newly ordained servants of God to drum this into their ears so that they will never be found wanting in their places of assignments.
“It is our duty to continue to encourage you no matter the stiffness of the road. As we share in this joyous celebration, we also rejoice with our brothers of Sokoto Diocese where two of the three Priests ordained on August 25, 2022 are our sons.
“This is a giant stride and I can categorically state that we have woken up from our slumbers. We are willing to support the course of priesthood and very soon ASICON Kaduna will draw up their programme to accommodate Seminarians in the Archdiocese in order to keep the work of evangelization. going.
“As new Priests, challenges are enormous. You must be up and doing in your primary assignments so that you will not have problems with the supervising Priests.
“You should be modest since there is no hurry in life. Nowadays, some Priests behave as if they are on payrolls and this exposes them to dangers.
“Please, you should be very careful as we keep praying for you so that God will see you will see you through in all your endeavours”.
Earlier, one of the celebrants, Rev. Father Onoja in his homily advised his kinsmen to always remain humble in the journey of life, saying that humility superceded every virtue in life, “and I can tell you that humility is number one, number two and number three in whatever we do in life because with humility God will always exalt us”.
