A pastor who was in the news for refusing to wed a couple who arrived late for their wedding in his church two weeks ago is dead.
Essa Ogorry, Founder and Lead Pastor of Fulfilling-Word Foundation Church based in Rivers State, died on Tuesday at the age of 55 after an undisclosed illness, according to sources in his church.
Ogorry died exactly a year after his wife, Tonyemieba, passed on. The departed couple left a 17-year-old child.
The source close to Ogorry said, “My pastor has gone on to be with the Lord. He had health issues even before the wedding saga. We took him to the hospital and he had to come from Lagos to attend the wedding.
“He tried to preach the Sunday after the wedding but he was not in his normal strength. He went back to the hospital and he gave up yesterday (Tuesday) morning.”
“He celebrated his 55th birthday on February 9, last week. He lost his wife last year, on February 16, 2020, the same date.”
Delving into the viral wedding issue, the source said the pastor made the groom and the bride sign a document that the he had the right not to join them together as husband and wife if they came late on the wedding day.
The source said the late pastor who was a perfectionist and a disciplinarian consequently went ahead to cancel the wedding when the couple came late on February 6, 2021. The source added that it was not the first time a wedding would be cancelled.
In previous cases, the preacher usually joined the intending couple later after entreaties. However, the February 6 incident was different as the groom allegedly rained insults on the pastor.
“He came that day and waited for five minutes. Before the day, he did interviews with the intending couple and he told them not to allow him look bad in the face of the congregation because the kind of thing had happened before when intending couple come so late and all the members will be waiting for them.
“For that reason, there is a document that every to-be couple used to sign that pastor has the right to cancel their wedding if they are late. The to-be couple in question signed it. They came more than five minutes late, they came over 15 minutes late and pastor had already gone into his office.
“The bride came to pastor and pleaded. Pastor considered going on with the wedding but the groom and his family rained insults on him. Then, an uproar ensued and pastor left the church.”
