𝙎𝙏. 𝙋𝙀𝙏𝙀𝙍'𝙎 𝙊𝙆𝙍𝙄𝙆𝘼: 100 𝙔𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙎 𝙊𝙇𝘿 𝙂𝙊𝘿'𝙎 𝙎𝙊𝙇𝙄𝘿 𝙍𝙊𝘾𝙆
By 𝐾𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝐴. 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛
In 1918, 29th of June, to be certain, the then Bishop of the Niger Delta Pastorate church, Rt. Revd. James Johnson visited Okrika and made a prophetic pronouncement. During his episcopal sermon, the cleric quoted Matthew 16 verses 18:
"𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑃𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝐼 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ"
He further elucidated by declaring that St. Peter's Okrika would become the leading church in Niger Delta. This must have sounded like a pulpit joke, but six years after, the people of Okrika, under the leadership of the revered Chief Oju Daniel Kalio, started the building of an expansive and state-of-the-art church.
The famous architectural beauty was built from 1924 to 1928 and later dedicated in 1929. A century later, the gates of hell have not and can not prevail against it. From
what the people of Okrika referred to as 𝙊𝙠𝙥𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙠𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙘𝙝𝙞 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙞, St. Peter's divinely metamorphosed to a full fledged Cathedral. The Church measured approximately 124 feet by 60 feet, with a tower 64 feet high. The foundation stone of St. Peter’s was laid by the then Governor of Southern Province of Nigeria, Col. H.C Moorehouse on the 5th of July, 1924.
The Church, St. Peter's Okrika is an all-around fortress. A reliable rock upon which God solidly built on. Aside from being a super magnificent evangelical edifice, it is durable evidence of Wakirike peoples' devotion to God. The Church, which later became a Cathedral in 2003, is of symbolic importance to every Christian in Wakirike as it is the foundation of our Christianity.
For a hundred years and counting, St. Peter's Church shields the people from Satan's unbearable damnation. It's an efficacious house of prayer and counselling.
The church commands so much respect that during the crisis periods in Okrika, any opponent who finds his way into the building is safe. No matter the gravity of your offence or how heartless the villain is, he's bound to retrieve at the entrance of St. Peter's. Today, every Anglican church in Wakirike enjoys this uncommon grace.
Fast forward to the year 2023, the premier church in Wakirike had birthed sixty-nine churches referring only to those under the Okrika Diocese (Anglican Communion).
It is worthy to note that the building of St. Peter's Okrika led to the establishment of the iconic citadel, Okrika Grammar School (OGS). The developmental history of Okrika will be vague and incomplete without mentioning St. Peter's Okrika. God is still building upon His solid rock (St. Peter's), and the gates of hell can never prevail.
Kendrick A. Christian
