PROTOCOL
- We are gathered here, today, to bid farewell to an embodiment of Christian virtues, and icon of national unity, of love, of morality and of tolerance.
- Death, by its nature, is meant to deprive us of our joy and happiness and replace them with sorrow, and grief. It is meant to create a vacuum, and inflict on us such pain and anguish that may be difficult to bear.
- As painful and sad as we may feel at this moment, we are, however, not going to be draped in the garment of grief; we are not going to be seized by a paroxysm of anguish, we are rather going to celebrate this very embodiment of our national aspiration, a man of deep faith, who also saw the ennobling ideals in other faiths, a great patriot who considered character and principles of those who came in contact with him, over the limiting impulses of geography.
- Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here to bid farewell to a shepherded who stayed close to his flock even at a point of personal harm, a quintessential son and an ecclesiastical Ambassador of our dear State, the late Prelate Emeritus of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, the first Chairman of the World Methodists Council of African ancestry, an advocate of religious or inter-faith collaborations and tolerance , a proponent of good governance, who was not afraid to speak truth to power, the late Prelate Emeritus of the Methodist Church of Nigerian, Dr. Sunday Mbang, CON.
- The assemblage of prominent Nigerians across religious, political, social and professional lines, attest to his pan-Nigerian mind-set. He saw his calling as a clergy not just to win souls for Christ alone, but as an avenue to demand social justice and good governance and he went about this, without being confrontational but through the force of his personality and moral bonafides.
- As a long-serving President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN), he galvanized the Christian community to preach and practice love- love for the poor and the downtrodden and tolerance for other faiths. He did not allow the unfettered access he had with the people within the corroders of power or the boardroom of corporate world to mystify him, he rather demystified the power those opportunities had availed him.
- Today, Nigeria is a better place because he collaborated and worked with other religious leaders so the rainbow of colors on our national religious firmament would illuminate and beautify our diversity.
- Back home, our late Prelate was a voice of morality and reason. He loved his people and wanted the enthronement of good governance with Godly values.
- When religious leaders in the State came together to form an Association called : Fathers in Faith’ dedicated to supporting the peace and development in our State, he offered to be the moral force of the Association.
- When it pleased God to reveal me as the chosen successor to my political father and worthy predecessor, H.E. Mr. Udom Emmanuel, CON, he embraced me totally, prayed and supported me wholeheartedly, When I won, even on his sick bed, he was full of praise to God, for giving us such a massive victory. What a great father he was!
- It was the legendary British writer, Christian thinker and the man whose name, the State of Pennsylvania, in the United States is derived from: William Penn who wrote these aptly reflective lines that : they that love beyond the world cannot be separated by death. Death cannot kill what never dies”.
- Our Prelate Mbang, CON, cannot therefore, die. Death cannot kill or erase his huge contributions to the Body of Christ. Death cannot kill his love for this nation and especially our State, and our capacity to ARISE and be all that God had intended for us. Death cannot kill his deep spirit of altruism. Our Prelate will continue to live in our hearts, because he was a generational gift and what he represented will forever live in our memories for generations.
- May the soul of our departed Prelate Sunday Mbang, CON, rest in prefect peace. Ete, Esiereoo!