The late ex-beauty queen, Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo, is in a “better place,” the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has assured .
He tweeted this on Thursday in reaction to Ibidun Ighodalo’s death on Sunday, describing the news of the former Face of Lux as “really saddening”.
The 39-year-old popular event planner and wife of the founder and pastor of Trinity House church, Lagos, Ituah Ighodalo, died in her hotel room in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital on Sunday.
Trinity House, in apparent confirmation of her death, had posted a picture of burning candle preceded by two blank, black squares on its Twitter handle on Sunday.
Similar posts appeared on the church’s Instagram page’
A representative of the family had said in a terse statement on Sunday that the family of the deceased requested for privacy while mourning the death of the former Miss Lux winner.
“The Ighodalo and Olaleye Ajayi families are deeply saddened to announce the sudden loss of our beloved wife and daughter Mrs Ibidunni Ituah-Ighodalo who passed away in the early hours of today,” Asue Ighodalo said in a statement.
“As you will understand, this is a difficult time for our families and we will appreciate some privacy during this time. All information of burial proceedings will be provided in due course.”
Ibidunni was the founder of Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation (IIF), a non-profit organisation that raised awareness about infertility and provided grants for couples that require fertility treatments such as In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination.
She started the foundation after being told by doctors that she would not be able to get pregnant without being assisted.
“I made a covenant with God and told Him that I would leave it completely in His hands,” she said in a personal note posted to the Foundation’s website.
“In the interim, as we wait for our miracle, I would help couples going through the same challenges by providing spiritual, financial and psychological support.
“I was ready to do my part to get rid of the stigma attached to childlessness. I wanted people to instead see couples-in-waiting as blessed mothers and fathers of nations!”
The death of the former beauty queen in the early hours of Sunday morning in Port Harcourt, in the southeast of the country has caused shock and sadness in the country.
The cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to the family.
Ibidunni, was due to celebrate her 40th birthday next month, and had been traveling across the country to build isolation centers for coronavirus patients, her family said.
Apart from being the co-pastor of Trinity House church in Lagos, Nigeria, along with husband Ituah Ighodalo, she also ran upscale, luxury events services Elizabeth R, a leading event management company in the country.
Her husband described receiving the news of her death as “the call that shattered my life.”
“A lot of you know that I really shouldn’t be here,” he said during a funeral service he officiated on Sunday.
“At 2 o’ clock this morning, I received a call that shattered my life… Life is a deep mystery, there’s no human being, no matter how wise they are who can say they understand life… Let us accept the mystery of life. We don’t have any control of most things in life…” he said.
Many described how through the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation, Ibidunni provided grants for women to pay for IVF treatments and helped reduce the stigma around IVF in Nigeria.
She was open about her own struggles to conceive and shared in an interview that she had undergone 11 IVF procedures before adopting two children with her husband of 13 years.
She also talked about finally conceiving twins and suffering a miscarriage at three months.”It’s such a rollercoaster… It’s emotionally draining. It’s very expensive… I stopped living and I was just existing…,” she said in the interview with Arise Television.
“The last one I did worked. I had a set of twins but I had a miscarriage at three months. That was very traumatic, it’s one thing to not get pregnant and it’s another thing to eventually get pregnant … and you lose it.”
Her close friend, the famed Nigerian photographer, TY Bello told CNN she received a message from her friend on the night before she died where she talked about her birthday plans.
“Sweetie, it’s my 40th next month,” she wrote in the WhatsApp message.
“And I want to help 40 couples to have their babies… That’s all I want. No party. No surprise. Nothing. I just want to make 40 homes happy,” she continued in one of the last messages she wrote.
“I have known her since university, but very casually. We both went through infertility, that’s really what brought us together,” Bello said.
Bello told CNN: “She was very giving. This message that she sent me before she died, that’s who she was, there’s nothing more to say beyond that.
“There has been an outpouring of grief on social media as people spoke out about their shock and sadness at her death.
Nigeria’s President Buhari was among those who sent messages of condolence to the family.
“The President shares the pain and sorrow of the family at the sudden death, and prays God’s comfort for the entire family, friends and members of Trinity House,” his aide said in a statement.
Another friend Adebola Williams wrote a touching tribute to her on his Instagram page, saying “I’d miss your kindness, if generosity had a name it would be Ibidunni.”
Ibidunni was renowned for her ability to transform mundane and odd settings into exquisite spaces.
Her enthusiasm, creativity and years of event planning experience cemented her status as the most innovative planner, and endeared her to people.
She won the Miss Lux title over a decade ago and got married to Pastor Ituah Ighodalo of the Trinity Church House on February 16, 2007.
She once revealed her infertility challenge and the several IVF procedures she did during her lifetime.
Ibidun and Pastor Ituah have two children together. She is the founder of the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation.
Her company, Elizabeth R, decorates Lagos during Christmas/Festive seasons. During Fashola’s tenure in 2007, she was given the arduous task of beautifying Lagos. She was once adjudged the Queen of decorations.
Ibidunni also handled most of society’s top notch events in a career spanning over a decade. She founded Elizabeth R in 2003 as a public relations and events company.
