Your Grace was such a holy man of God. May he have eternal rest his soul amen

TRIBUTE TO AN ECCLESIASTICAL COLOSSUS

Your Grace, we watched you grow within a family where the other children were relatively bigger than you, yet you were the most winsome. You spoke the least, Your Grace, yet your few words were an encasement of sagacity, revealing uncommon wisdom, discernment, and thoughtfulness.

As an adolescent, you, Your Grace, lived an exemplary life in a community where many young people succumbed to juvenile delinquency and substance abuse. Yet, with remarkable fortitude and singleness of purpose, you pursued your education assiduously in schools that were not religiously affiliation. Your Grace, your serene, unassuming, resilient, and gracious disposition distinguished you amidst the din and distractions of that age. Your Grace, you were a perennial source of motivation, inspiration, and wholesome influence to all who took the time to know and appreciate you.

None of us heard, nor did we ever envisage, that the gentle Akubeze would one day embrace the sacred priesthood. It was DIVINE! For when God's summons came, Your Grace, you responded with unwavering alacrity, relinquishing your earlier vocational aspirations in filial obedience to His sovereign will.

Your Grace, your serene and honourable departure mirrors the grace and humility by which you lived. True to your gentle nature, you departed quietly, unwilling to impose upon anyone, and astonished us at the moment we least anticipated. Though your passing occasioned profound consternation and grief among all who cherished you, as such moments inevitably do, it also bears the inscrutable mystery of Divine Providence.

It seems to have been a sacred arrangement between you and God.
Alone with your God !
Undoubtedly, it was a divine arrangement.

Your Grace, we shall forever treasure the memory of your life and gratefully commemorate the witness of your faithful departure.
And amid our sorrow, we shall derive consolation from the knowledge that, like our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Grace lived courageously in the service of others, ceaselessly doing good despite innumerable adversities. Those trials did not deter you. Rather, they steeled your resolve to labour with even greater zeal for the cause of justice, peace, and authentic human flourishing.

Your Grace, your unwavering commitment remains an inexhaustible wellspring of inspiration, and we eagerly await every opportunity to preserve, embody, and advance these noble ideals.

Your Grace, through your visionary stewardship, the Bishop's Court in Benin City underwent remarkable transformation and renovation. Beyond this, your beneficent works fostered justice, peace, and integral development throughout the Archdiocese of Benin. It remains our fervent supplication that the Church may continue to be blessed with shepherds fashioned after your sterling example in dioceses and ecclesial communities across the world.

The innumerable encomiums bestowed upon you during the celebration of your Twentieth Episcopal Ordination Anniversary on Wednesday, 22nd April 2026, bore compelling testimony to your indefatigable stewardship and the extraordinary milestones of your episcopal ministry. They stood as eloquent attestation to your unremitting dedication to the service of God and His Holy Church.

You Grace, to chronicle every office you occupied, every responsibility you discharged, and every noble enterprise you accomplished throughout your earthly pilgrimage would demand far more than the confines of this tribute permit. We therefore make particular reference to your remarkable compendium:
The Prophetic Voice of a Shepherd: Selected Homilies and Addresses (2021-2026).

Your Grace, your magnanimous decision to disseminate this compendium gratuitously is yet another enduring testament to your altruistic spirit. Such munificence is eminently worthy of admiration and emulation, particularly in an age increasingly characterised by acquisitive, materialism, and avarice.

Sacred Scripture assures us that there is an appointed day of recompense for every deed accomplished on earth. Confident in this immutable promise, we patiently await the glorious recompense that surely awaits you, Your Grace. Even in your passing, your life and legacy continue to inspire, console, and fortify us, Your Grace.

Indeed, all who knew you would readily concur that the words of 2 Timothy 4:7-8 fittingly encapsulate a life faithfully lived and gloriously fulfilled:

_"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."_
2 Timothy 4:7-8 (KJV)

Your Grace, having gone before us into the immediate presence of the Lord, we render heartfelt thanksgiving to Almighty God for the inestimable gift you were to the Church, to society, and to all who were privileged to know you. We equally thank you for a life lavishly expended in faithful and selfless service.

We pray that Almighty God, whom you served with unwavering fidelity and consummate devotion, may grant you eternal repose and perfect peace until, by His infinite mercy, we are reunited to part no more.

*Sleep in perfect peace!
Adieu, Your Grace!
From the Families of Late James Obinwa and Professor E. O. Uyovbisere