FOR his quiet mien and humble disposition, High Chief Olu Benson Lulu Briggs would have preferred a low key and modest celebration of his 87th birthday anniversary, but he must have also underestimated his own influence, importance and worth in the eye of thousands of his associates and admirers as they gathered to honour him in Port Harcourt, the capital city of Rivers State. His family had envisaged that the only way to put behind them the travails they had gone through in the past couple of months when he had an intractable health challenge that shook their faith to its very foundation was to have a thanksgiving ceremony.
That he is well loved and appreciated for his communal value and global impact was evident in how captains of industry, members of the diplomatic corps, top government functionaries, associates, friends from the geo-political zones of the country and beneficiaries of his philanthropy gathered at the Chapel of Glory International Worship Centre, Forces Road, venue of the special thanksgiving to mark his 87th birthday. Indeed, it is only High Chief OB Lulu Briggs that could have shut down business activities in the ever busy state capital on a day presumably believed to be the start of a working week.
Signs that the ceremony would be grand was evident as early as 9am on Monday, May 22, when gaily dressed women in colorful attires and head gear appeared at the venue, singing the praises of the legendary High Chief. Not long after, men garbed in the native Kalabari traditional robes, converged on the church venue in similar manner, chanting and paying tributes to the revered Kalabari monarch. By 11:20am, the hall was filled to capacity and the programme of the day began with the offering of prayers for the good health, long life and continued prosperity of the philanthropist.
While that was going on, the celebrant sauntered into the large chapel with his wife Chief (Mrs) Seinye Lulu Briggs, looking impressionable in a gold colored traditional outfit and a black hat. He had a broad smile, and acknowledged cheers from the congregation. His wife, who was also resplendent in a gold colored outfit with a blue head gear to match, was a delight to watch as she kept whispering into her husband’s ear.
After prayers were delivered, a session of lengthy praise worship commenced. Notable gospel artistes such as Bola Udom and Frank Edwards thrilled guests to awesome moments with their hit tracks. Then, came the moment the congregation had waited for— “The moment of tributes”, when some family members, friends and well wishers recalled fond moments with Chief Lulu Briggs. It was indeed an emotion laden moment for everyone as the family recounted, in vivid detail, their ordeal in the last couple of months when the man fondly called Opuda had a “serious” health challenge that necessitated his being flown abroad for medical attention.
Speaker after speaker offered a rare but frank view on the “trying” moment when the only person who kept hope alive was the celebrant’s wife, Chief (Mrs.) Seinye Lulu Briggs. Setting the tone for the expose was Chief Ibim Young Briggs, a nephew of the celebrant, who disclosed that the spiritual sagacity and confidence of the celebrant’s wife that he (Lulu Briggs) would not die abroad despite conflicting signals from the doctors was indeed the tonic that kept the celebrated oil magnate alive. Hear him: “If there is a modicum of belief in you as a Christian, you will agree with us that God came down and proved Himself at the Wellington Hospital that our father was taken to.
I greet you all with the message of laughter and joy today. God went before us, smoothened the rough edges that we never envisaged could come. The testimony of OB Lulu Briggs is to tell the world that if you anchor your faith in God, He will never let you down. “He had an emergency health challenge, and at 2am, we left Port Harcourt for London without knowing that God will reveal Himself better to us. The doctor here had managed his situation well before we left for London. At that time (2am), the airport terminal was closed but of course, it is only OB Lulu Briggs that can be granted access to fly at that time. “We got to London and we had everything under control; I went to the bathroom to freshen up and I got a distress call from his wife. I ran out of the bathroom in my boxers and we rushed him to the hospital. His physician looked at him and referred him to the emergency unit.
Satan had the idea of stealing him away but God had prepared the way. Satan tried to destabilise all arrangements but he couldn’t. God had cast him out of Wellington Hospital. Issues that should be simple were made complex. They were made complex, not because the doctor did not know what to do but because Satan was doing his own bit while God waded him off. “The magnitude of the wife’s (Seinye’s) faith kept us through it all.
The body you are seeing seated before you (referring to Chief Lulu Briggs) was at one point no more. God was directing our everyday and every hour. At some point in the London hospital, I called his name the way we do here, ‘Alabo, Alabo, but he did not answer; I couldn’t talk to his wife. I was scared. “I asked if he could breathe without the life support machine and the hospital officials said, ‘it is not possible’.
I had to surrender all to God. Days after, I walked in and asked the nurse the condition of his organs; they said, though, he is on life support machine, his organs are intact but he cannot breathe, but today God showed us that, with Him, all things are possible. “I cannot leave here without commending Opuda’s (OB Lulu Briggs’) wife. She is a wife, mother and grandmother. Words fail me to describe how God used her to revive our father. She was thinking for us all. I want the congregation to know that, in all of these, Sister Seinye was even admonishing us not to lose faith. She kept telling us, ‘you know how to pray; pray and keep hope alive’. Her faith strengthened us”.
Solate, the daughter of Chief Lulu Briggs, was also full of encomiums for the matriarch of the family. She noted that her mother also managed to stay healthy even when it was obvious that the stress of taking care of her father was affecting her own health too. “In between it all, our mother had to battle with ill-health too.
She would sneak out to see her own doctor too. She also had to come to Nigeria to attend to urgent issues too, but by the time she came back, Opuda’s (Lulu Briggs’) health had improved. He couldn’t talk for sometimes before then, but when our mother came back, the first thing she asked him was, ‘Did you miss me?’, and he replied, ‘too much!’ The congregation, however, heaved a sigh of relief with the humour that Francis Murray Bruce, a family friend of the Lulu Briggs, punctuated the sober atmosphere with, when he recounted his visit to the family in London during their travails. Bruce had the congregation reeling in laughter for the better part of the ceremony when he spoke of his encounter with the celebrant’s family in Wellington Hospital, London.
“The nurse came and said, ‘Hello, who is the wife of OB Lulu Briggs?’, Seinye identified herself and the nurse took Seinye to a corner and when they were done talking, we asked her what she was told that warranted her sober look, but she simply said, ‘it is well’, but I knew all what the nurse came to tell her was ‘it is finished’. I suddenly got up and screamed, ‘Chief, you no fit die oo, you don promise me contract, you no fit die like that o’. The entire congregation erupted in laughter. Bruce continued with his jibes when he again took on the wife of the celebrant again. “If you want to know a woman who genuinely loves her husband, then watch how she treats him whenever he is in a vulnerable or hapless state. This woman (Seinye) wants her husband to live at all cost.
When I heard the treatment gulps about £10, 000 every day, I exclaimed in the local parlance… ‘shoooo.. this money too much o’, she then told me, ‘Na him (Lulu Briggs) work for the money, na him get am. I go spend everything on am if na that one go keep am alive’. I was impressed and had to hold myself back from crying”. Apostle Zilly Aggrey also noted, with glee, an encounter with the family, when he went to the London hospital to visit the recuperating Lulu Briggs. The renowned clergy noted that the wife of the oil magnate had literally become a doctor in a bid to get her husband back to his feet.
“There was a particular medication that was prescribed for him but she realised that after taking the drug, he (Lulu Briggs) got weaker and his body became swollen; she complained to the doctors and they changed the medicine, and he regained his strength. She was very sensitive to the workings of his general well being. During that time also, you dare not come around her to say negative things about her husband’s health. She was always positive and when she is praying for Chief Lulu Briggs, she was always on another level of spirituality”. Expressing gratitude to all the guests, Dr (Mrs.) Seinye Lulu Briggs, noted that God has been very kind to the family. “God’s grace and mercy has brought laughter to my lips and joy to my heart. Terror looked at my face but God granted me grace to look beyond terror and I saw mercy smiling at me. I thank God for showing me so much love.
I thank everyone for being part of the joy God brought into my life. “I am the most beloved of Almighty God. He has a room for all of you. I experienced God’s everlasting love and faithfulness. Do you know how terrifying it could be getting ready to go to the intensive care unit (ICU), not knowing what news they will give to you? I was in that state of mind daily. As if that was not enough, I got a call from the powers-that-be, threatening to shut down Moni Pulo. I was threatened with famine because Moni Pulo is the geese that lay the golden egg. “While I was being persecuted, I also got a call from brethren that were praying for me. People were praying on our behalf, so I said to myself, ‘who should I believe?’. Was I to be scared by the phone call, or by the health of my husband or should I simply say yes and amen to all prayers and damn the devil? “When some people describe me as successful, I smile because of those God has given to me.”
