Pastor dies observing 40 days dry fasting

A pastor, Evangelist Chidi Eke has died while fasting for 40 days and nights in Eziala Nguru in Ngor Okpala council area of Imo State.

Sources say the 46-yr-old deceased, who had abandoned his wife and two children in Lagos and came back to the village, had planned to start his own ministry by announcing he would go to the “wilderness” to obtain power from God first.

He reportedly started by first successfully fasting for 21 days, before pushing his luck to far by embarking on 40 days and 40 nights dry fasting.

One of the village sources told journalists, “During the first and second week of his fast, people who had gone to their farms heard him singing and praying loudly. But after the third week nobody heard his voice again and most people thought that perhaps he must have gone deep into meditation.

“But one of his church members, one Cyriacus Opara who became worried and insisted that he needed to visit him at the forest.

“When Opara approached the family that he wanted to visit Chidi Eke in the “Wilderness”, they told him that they don’t actually know the exact location where he was and that Eke had earlier issued a stern warning that he did not want any visitors because he had left his phone and money at home and had only gone with his Bible and gown.”

He continued, “Eke had abandoned his wife and two children, a boy and girl in Lagos and returned back to the village saying that he has come to answer the call of God. His corpse was discovered by one of his members who had gone to check on him in the bush where he had gone. Eke is the only son of his mother. In fact it was members of the community under the leadership of Tochukwu Ekeh (Angle 90) who are going to bear the burden of burying him.”