… He Leaves With A Copy Of The Guardian, Cassette

ALEX-wt-Guardian-copyA COPY of The Guardian and a cassette were placed inside the casket of late Alex Uruemu Ibru as farewell trophies in a rare gesture symbolizing the immense role he played in the media industry.

The newspaper, with a bold headline, Adieu Alex, was conspicuously placed on his  chest and a cassette beside his head.

At about 1:58pm the remains of Dr. Ibru, the publisher of The Guardian Newspapers, arrived from the All Saints Anglican Church, where the church service was conducted.

A black Mercedes Benz hearse jeep conveyed the dark silver casket in which lay the remains of Alex-Ibru.

The hearse drove slowly into the Ecumenical Centre flanked by uniformed trumpeters donning milk-coloured shirts and black trousers.

A similar set of pallbearers with walking staffs and two women dressed in white blouse and dotted white and black wrapper led the procession.

The Ibru family members, led by Olorogun Oskar Ibru and the wife of the deceased, Mrs. Maiden Alex-Ibru followed the hearse in its slow but calculated stretch to the final resting place of Alex Ibru.

At the St. Peter’s Chapel, the pallbearers removed the casket from the hearse and carried it into the chapel, resplendent in immaculate white, where Alex-Ibru’s grave is housed.

There, the Primate of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Revd Nicholas Okoh, conducted the commitment to mother earth.

“Every man that is born of a woman has but a short time to live,” Okoh said.

After a session of prayers, the remains of Alex Ibru were lowered at about 2:13pm, amid wailings by his immediate family members, relatives, friends and sympathisers.