A non-serving Senator from Ebonyi, Chief Anthony Agbo, on Tuesday donated his duplex to the Catholic Church, Abakaliki in the state.
Handing over the building worth millions of naira and its documents to Arch. Bishop Michael Okoro, Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki Diocese, the donor said it was in fulfilment of a promise he made to God “over a pressing need” in 1994.
“I begged God for a favour in 1994 with a promise to give my first property to Him in return; when I completed this building seven years ago, I decided to redeem my promise.
“Human frailties debarred me from handing it over to the Church since its completion, as I have felt restless since then,” he said.
He said that he decided to give an additional N2 million to the church to complete whatever remained in the building such as painting and decoration.
“The devil has been using this issue of non-completion to debar me from fulfilling this promise since seven years and this made me to give the money to the church.
“As an individual who is vulnerable to various frailties, I feel that this move would make God see my little way of recognising and appreciating His mercies on me since childhood.”
Okoro, in his response, thanked the donor for the gift and urged Christians to develop the habit of fulfilling their promises to God and fellow humans.
“When he intimated me of his desire to hand over this building to us seven years ago, it felt like a dream because of the difficulty involved in redeeming such pledge.
“Since that time, when the promise was not yet fulfilled, I begged not to torture him mentally over the inability but allow his wish to be done on the issue.
“Now that it has been fulfilled, I feel awed because I realise the degree of sacrifice and steadfastness of faith involved in such action,” he said.
He called on Christians to mend their ways in preparation to meet God when he called them to eternity.
Mrs Julie Okoh, a woman leader at Ohaukwu Local Government Area where the ex-senator hails from, commended him for the donation and called on other individuals to emulate him.
“One does not need to be rich or poor to make offerings to God, as the most significant aspect of this donation is the difficult decision to part with such monumental and costly gift,” he said.
A Holy Mass, celebrated by the bishop, preceded the donation of the building.
The property has facilities such as water, spacious car parks, lush and greenish fields.
