By Banji Ayoola
Remains of ace photojournalist and former Chief Photographer of The Hope newspapers, Mr Remi Aye, were interred on February 25 at his Messiah Estate, Agbota, Oda, near Akure, Ondo State capital home.
His burial was preceded by a church service during which the Shepherd in charge of the Celestial Church of Christ, Ona Abayo, Most Superior Evangelist Adeyemi Micheal, delivered a sermon in which he charged people to seek the Kingdom of God and to live an exemplary life in the service of the Almighty Father.
He advised people to accept the Truth as brought by Christ and live as if they will die tomorrow explaining that no one knows when his end will come.
Describing death as inevitable, Michael said everybody will die at the appointed time and that only the righteous will be granted existence in the spiritual world.
Also, the Shepherd in charge of Celestial Church of Christ, CCC, Elohim Catholic, Oda, Prophet Jeremiah Temitope said that Aye lived a worthy life and was in Christ before his passage.
Temitope who urged people to do good because life is not a place to live forever, described Aye as a good ambassador of the church who was always there and did not want the church’s work to suffer.
While praying that the Lord takes care of his family, he said people should thank the Lord because he lived an exemplary life and died before his children.
Aye was a former chief photographer of The Hope attached to the Ondo state Government House. He won many awards as Best Photographer of The Year while in service, and retired in 2019 .
He is survived by a wife, Janet, and five children.
The burial was preceded a day earlier, that is on Thursday, at 5pm, by a wake keep also at his residence.
Aye was the immediate former Chief Photographer of The Hope and the paper’s photographer attached to the Governor’s Crew/Ondo State Government and State House. He retired statutorily in 2018 after which his ailment aggravated.
The serial award-winning photojournalist, who had been battling partial stroke since 2015, had slumped about three weeks ago and knocked his head against some hard objects, bled from the head and became unconscious. He was rushed to the Trauma Centre, Ondo from where he was referred to the Federal Medical Centre, Owo.
But unfortunately his family could not afford the N400,000 cost of the operation on his broken head and had to be moved home still unconscious, where he gave up on Friday, February 11 at about 8.30am.
