By Kemi Yesufu, Abuja
Many know wealthy investor Dr. Obiora Okonwkwo, as a successful businessman. There also are a lot of people, who know that the man who has investments in the telecoms, aviation and tourism sectors once contested for a seat in the Red Chambers. But many who have admired the Russian schooled multi-millionaire from afar hardly know that he is a man whose faith comes first. Not too many members of the Nigerian high society of which Okonkwo is a respected figure, know that he serves as the Political and Economy Adviser to the Catholic Arch-Bishop of Onitsha.
But the brilliant businessman’s love and commitment to his church was exposed when the top echelon of the Catholic Church gathered in Abuja for the first plenary meeting of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria on Monday, March 11. It was at the August gathering that Okonkwo formally handed over the magnificent edifice he built to the church. The dedication of the St. Gabriel Chapel was one of the high points of the meeting of Bishops.
Speaking on the chapel which drew the admiration visitors and parishioners, some of who took pictures on its frontage, Okonkwo said only God should take the glory. “Everything was done by God; I am just the physical hand he used to do the work”, he stated.
He opined that for anyone to successfully build a church for God, he/she must be chosen by him. “When it comes to building a church, it is based on the choice of God. You remember that in the bible, God loved David. But when he wanted to build the temple, God said, ‘no’, that he preferred that Solomon builds the temple. My advice for those, who want to build for God is that, they pray and if it is his will to use them as an instrument to build a place of worship, whenever He inspires them to do this, they should quickly answer the call”, he said.
When asked exactly how he received inspiration to construct and donate a chapel to the church, Okonkwo said: “God doesn’t have my phone number, so he didn’t call or send me as SMS. You know how inspiration comes. It’s beyond human interpretation”.
On how he feels over the joy expressed by those at Monday’s event and commendations that came his way, the business mogul said, “I feel humble, I feel honored, I feel good and privileged. It is definitely not of my making because I’m unworthy of this privilege. The whole edifice, the design, the construction… throughout the execution of the project, there was no incident. I cannot just say any other thing, than, it is God’s work which He did by himself and me as well as the workers here were just people use to fulfill his purpose”.
Okonkwo refused to give a figure for the value of the chapel he donated, insisting that, “God has the account; He is the one who provided the fund for the project. When you are building for God, you don’t count costs”.
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