IKPOBA HILL YOUTHS FORUM APPRECIATES GOD IN THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT WINNERS CHAPEL

 

As part of its annual tradition for starting the year, THE IKPOBA HILL YOUTHS FORUM, today, at the Living Faith Church, aka, Winners Chapel, Amufi, Benin-Asaba Expressway, Ikpoba Hill, appreciates God in a thanksgiving service for what they described as a way of committing the new year into God's hands and also thanking God for peace all through the previous year.

In his testimony, the Chairman of the group, Comrade Kingsley Osemwingie, thank God for the peace in Ikpoba Hill all through the year 2025 and also appreciates the Church for their support during their protests against the deplorable roads situation in Ikpoba Hill.

" I want to use this opportunity to thank God for the peace we enjoyed all through the year 2025 and we appreciate the fact that it was God who made it possible and that is why we are here today to appreciate God for his mercies and to commit the new year into his able hands 

" We are also thanking God that all through the year 2025, we did not lose any of our members both at home and in the diaspora and we know that it was the Grace of God that preserved each and every one of us.

" We are here today to also appreciate the leadership of this church for your support during our protests against the bad roads in 2023. We want to thank the Pastor who saw the selflessness of our agitation for government to stand up to its responsibility and be accountable to the people by coming up to fix the bad roads even if it was just a palliative measure. The pastor of the Church was coming to support us by bringing us food and water and eventually the government then under governor Godwin Obaseki's administration came to do a remedial measure which was very helpful at the time and today to the glory of God, we are happy that the federal government has taken it up for a comprehensive repair and it is a good thing in our sight.

In his response, the resident pastor of the Church, Pastor Emmanuel Edoba, praised the youths for their understanding of the ways of God and prayed that none of them both at home and in the diaspora will die but live to continue to contribute to the society.

Highlight of the service includes the presentation of Chairs and offerings by the youths as the entire congregation danced to choir 

ministration.

Speaking to the press at a reception organized for its members, Comrade Kingsley Osemwingie observed that the thanksgiving service was part of the annual event to mark the beginning of each new year and also to thank God for the blessings, the peace and protection of the end of the previous year.

According to him, " We usually start the new year with prayers for our youths both at home and in the diaspora, we usually pray for peace, unity and good health and to mark this year's event, we started by giving back to the society by visiting the orphanage and giving to the less privileged and today because we believe that God is the author and finisher of our faith, we decided to come to the church to appreciate God for all his goodness and to beg God to preserve the lives of every Ikpoba Hill Youths both at home and in the diaspora and to pray that God should bless Ikpoba Hill with good government infrastructure that both the state and federal government should always have Ikpoba Hill in mind as they develop the country and the state.

" You will recall that sometimes in 2023, Ikpoba Hill Youths barricaded the Benin- Agbor road in protest of the deplorable road conditions which caused businesses to close down and nothing was working in Ikpoba Hill as a result of the bad roads but eventually the government listened to us and came to offer palliative services and today as you can see the federal government has taken over the full and comprehensive repair of the road and we are happy about it and as you can see also the government is fixing the Amufi and Ohovbe road as well and these are things we advocated for and we are happy that today our advocacy is yielding tremendous results and we are praying for more good things to be attracted to Ikpoba Hill".

He therefore advised the youths of Ikpoba Hill to always be of good conduct shunning all forms of social vices and Cultism which the group has been preaching against .

" I am appealing to all Ikpoba Hill Youths to be ambassadors of peace and good conduct, carrying our message of peace and good conduct to the upcoming generation"

Also speaking at the occasion, Comrade Ehis Ekhator Obasogie, former Sector Commander now monitoring team Commander at Ikpoba Hill said it was a good thing to always give thanks to God considering the fact that there was no lose all through last year.

" It is a good thing to always give thanks to God considering that we did not lose any of our members all through last year and that is enough to appreciate God for and you will agree with me that Ikpoba Hill Youths have made commendable impact in our advocacy for the government to be accountable to the people and that singular efforts has yielded tremendous results as you can see that the roads we protested about is receiving government attention as massive facelift is being given to the road. We have channelled a lot of energy into those advocacies and we are happy that it is yielding positive and commendable results and that also is enough for us to appreciate God for. If you go to Ramat Park now you can see what the governor is doing concerning the flyover bridge, the Amufi road is under construction and work is ongoing at Ohovbe road and all these gladens our hearts and we have decided to thank God for the developments we are seeing because it is as a result of our coming out to draw the government's attention to the neglected communities and we are so happy that the government has listened to our cry", he concluded.