Cross River State Deputy Governor, Prof Ivara Esu, has extolled the virtues of Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), recalling how God used him to end cultism in the University of Calabar (UNICAL), during his tenure as the institution’s vice chancellor.
Prof Esu was the University of Calabar’s Vice Chancellor between January 2000 and August 2005.
He spoke at a welcome dinner organised in honour of the pioneer minister-in- charge of Cross River Province 4 of the RCCG, Pastor Emmanuel Chidi (PICP-CRP4) and his assistant, Pastor Victor Adebayo (APICP), yesterday in Calabar.
While applauding the sudden rise of the former House of David zone to a provincial headquarters, Esu also said RCCG remains as one of the most blessed and fastest growing church in Nigeria and perhaps, the world.
He said: “Let me, on behalf of the governor, Prof Ben Ayade, congratulate this church for the elevation from a zone to a province. I am glad to be here as one of those welcoming Pastor Chidi Emmanuel and his wife to this new province.
“Personally, I have benefited immensely from Pastor Adeboye. Some of you may not remember.
While I was the Vice Chancellor of UNICAL, I was VC at a very turbulent time with so much cultism and students were being shot right on campus, until God revealed to me that I should bring Pastor Adeboye to pray in UNICAL. When Pastor Adeboye came, I accompanied him and we first prayed at the gate and proceeded to my office to pray.
“From there, we went to the male students’ hostel in Malabor, and prayed, and thereafter we had a large service at the Abraham Ordia Stadium, and from that day, that was the end of violence and cultism in UNICAL.”
The former VC, who disclosed that UNICAL experienced paucity of funds during his administration, however, noted that he was able to execute the institution’s capital projects through divine intervention.