PICTURED: Church service for Achebe ongoing at Abuja airport •Exclusive photo of casket in national colours •Obi, Anyim lead dignitaries

Posted by Mazi Odera | 21 May 2013 | 5,391 times

A church service is in progress for late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.

It is being presided over by Bishop Owen Nwokoro, Bishop of Niger Diocese of the Anglican Church.

Dignitaries at the church service include Governor Peter Obi of Achebe’s home state, Anambra, and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim Pius, both of whom led the team that received Achebe’s body on its arrival from the United States, where the famed writer of Things Fall Apart died March 31, aged 82.

Achebe’s body arrived around 5:30 a.m. aboard a British Airways flight. After the church service it will be flown straight to Enugu, capital of old Eastern Region, from where it will be taken to the neighbouring Anambra State. The legendary writer will be buried this Friday in his hometown, Ogidi.

•Photo shows Achebe’s body at the church service, with Governor Obi and Senator Anyim among dignitaries at the service.

Source: News Express