As missionaries serving in the Port Harcourt Nigeria Mission, we were recently privileged to attend the funeral of Anthony Ozodimma Obinna at Aboh Mbaise, Nigeria. He died Aug. 25, 1995.
Brother Obinna, 67, a schoolmaster, was the first convert baptized during the initial visit to West Africa by Elders Rendell Mabey and Edwin Q. Cannon and their wives. They arrived in Lagos on Nov. 8, 1978, and Brother Obinna was baptized Nov. 21. Brother Obinna had been in contact with the Church for the previous eight years and had organized an unofficial group meeting in the Church's name. He was called as the first branch president in West Africa.At his funeral, it was said of him: "His teaching career spanned a period of four decades. He was a consummate teacher who approached his chosen profession with so much dedication and love that he was endeared to many of his pupils. The fact that his students became doctors, engineers, academics of repute and distinguished themselves in others areas of human endeavor is a testimony to the good foundation he laid for them."
Regarding his conversion to the Church, Brother Obinna wrote that in 1965 he had a dream in which he was taken to a beautiful building that was very sophisticated and intricate in its design. The dream reoccurred in 1969 and 1970. In 1970, while confined to his house during the Nigerian civil war, he happened to look through a March 1958 Reader's Digest that contained an article about the Church and a photo of the Salt Lake Temple. Seeing the photo, his "very being came alive" as he was certain this was the building in his dream.
He contacted the Missionary Department in Salt Lake City, Utah, but waited eight years for the first missionaries to come to Nigeria. Less than two weeks after their arrival, he and various family members were baptized. Most of the Obinna family are now members of the Church, and most attended the funeral services at the Aboh Mbaise Branch meetinghouse.
There was a huge congregation that filled the small chapel, with many people having to stand outside. The burial took place at the the Obinna family compound a few miles down the road. Following the funeral, an effective gun salute to honor Brother Obinna was given using a homemade mortar.
Having never been privileged to meet Brother Obinna, I was especially impressed with the spirit of the funeral. You could sense that he was one of the Lord's chosen and he had certainly done his part to fulfill his earthly commission in bringing the gospel to Nigeria and West Africa.