Anambra State commissioner for housing and urban development, Hon Paully Ifechukwu Onyeka at the weekend celebrated his 25th marriage anniversary.
Onyeka, an intimate friend of the Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo also renewed his marital vow with his heartthrob, Mrs Jacy Ngozi Onyeka.
The ceremony which held at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, GRA, Awka was opened with a Holy Mass, presided over by the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Reverend Dr Paulinus Ezeokafor.
Delivering his homily, Ezeokafor said:
“Even siblings born of same parents most times encounter problem in cohabiting, not to talk of people who are total strangers coming together as husband and wife.
“For them to call us here today, it shows that there is peace in their home, and we pray that such peace will never cease.
“We urge young couples to emulate these ones who for 25 years now have continued to abide by their love.”
The Bishop added that there are few ingredients that are needed to ensure peace in a home. He listed a few of them as; patience, tolerance and love for each among others.
He said the thing that excites him lately is attending functions of people who are celebrating. “I have said I will not miss invitations to celebrations, especially like this one, which is the 25th marriage anniversary of our brother, Paully Ifechukwu Onyeka and his wife, Jacy. We must merry with those who merry.”
The commissioner who spoke after the thanksgiving said: “We are here to thank God for our marriage. Ours is a very practical family, and even when we were packaging this event, we agreed to make it a low key event.
“Even when we invited the governor, we told him to come as our longstanding family friend, not as a governor. We have remained a humble family all these years. In all these years, we have never had any reason for anger that brought external people, her family or mine, to come and mediate for us.
“Not even to the church have I come to complain, or to any priest. Instead, she has brought me lots of blessings. Not as if we do not disagree. We disagree everyday, but at the end we also agree.
“The unique thing is that all the people we started 25 years ago, all their families have been intact, except for one person who we lost to death. We are happy that you made out time to celebrate with us. The governor would have been here, but he went to Olumbanasa, a community in Anambra State that had almost been neglected before now. We are happy he went, because we are happy about the practical governance which he is providing in Anambra.”
He thanked the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis for the papal blessings he granted on his family, during the anniversary, and pledged commitment to continue to propagate the Catholic faith.
Though the commissioner advocated for a low key event, the celebration was attended by several government functionaries, friends of the commissioner and his associates.
A guest, Mrs Nkemdili Ezeugwu said in an interview: “I’m not surprised that many people attended. The commissioner is a good man and I have known him even when he was not a commissioner. So, his good deeds today are not because he is a commissioner.”
