Ex-auto mechanic who resigned to serve as church messenger has been gifted a four-bedroom bungalow by a Nigerian cleric and presiding pastor of Salvation Ministries, David Ibiyeomie.
“He has seen billions (of naira) passed through his hands, he has never taken a dime, never stolen where every other person stole he was exempted, ” Mr Ibiyeomie said, while presenting the house documents to Henry Eremosele at the 27th anniversary of the church in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State state capital, on Saturday.
It is not clear how long Mr Eremosele has served Mr Ibiyeomie but the televangelist said he has never stolen before despite several tests.
How they met
“There is an award which the person who will get it will be surprised and would shed tears of joy,” Mr Ibiyeomie said, in a speech, which was intermittently interrupted by applause from the joyous congregants.
The service that was streamed live on Facebook
Recounting how he met him, Mr Ibiyeomie said he heard a pastor years back speaking about a “mechanic” in Port Harcourt” who brings “change” and he demanded to see him.
“I said mechanics are not known for honesty. How can a mechanic say whatever you give to him he will never take your money? I said I don’t know. I don’t think it’s true; I said call him.
“Everybody testified that that is his nature: ‘If you give him any money he will bring you back the least change’.
“And I talked to him, ‘you’re a mechanic, how much do you make in a month?’ He said so, so amount. I said okay resign from being a mechanic. Come and be doing simple messenger work for us.
“’Buy everything for us since you have integrity’. And we have tested him everywhere. He has stood on his integrity impeccably,” he said.
According to the cleric, Mr Eremosele, who is not educated, is a junior staff member and lives in a rented house, the basis the church decided to buy him an apartment for his honesty.
“He’s living in a rented house somewhere because he is junior staff so we decided as a commission to buy him a four-bedroom bungalow,” he said amidst cheers video clip of the new house was shown on the screen.
The video shows a rectangular shape building with a security house, with flowers and lawn beautifully paved with interlocking stones and a small hut.
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“I want Henry Eremosele to come out. It’s a four-bedroom bungalow. The documents are all here signed,” Mr Ibiyeomie said amidst cheers from the congregants.
Mr Eremosele kneeling before Mr Ibiyeomie, with a handshake and documents handed to him, the pastor said “whatever made you. Keep it up. This is just the beginning. God bless you. Faithfulness reward.”
Mr Ibiyeomie also presented awards to pastors and other faithfuls including two oldest members he said were part of the people that started with the church 27 years ago.