The bloc choir of the Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) has won the 2025 Easter choral competition organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria, Ebonyi State chapter in collaboration with the Ebonyi State Government.
The enthralling annual competition was held on Thursday at the Christian Ecumenical Centre, Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
It featured presentations from the five blocs of CAN, with OAIC scoring a total of 73.6 percent to clinch the trophy.
The second position went to the Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) bloc choir with 69 percent score, while the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) bloc choir got the third position with a score of 68 percent.
The OAIC bloc of CAN is made up of over 30 different denominations of churches, including the Christ Holy Church, Celestial Church of Christ, Cherubim and Seraphim and Universal Christ Ministry of All Nations.
Announcing the result, the lead choral judge, Dr. David Jayeola, commended the competing choir groups for their efforts and urged them to continue to improve on their performances.
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Jayeola, the Head of Music Department, Alex Ekwueme Federal University, Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State, explained that adherence to musical key and song notes, vocal strength, diction, and uniformity formed the major criteria for the scores.
In a remark, Governor Francis Nwifuru reassured that the state government would continue to identify with the church in the state as well as support all programmes of CAN.
Nwifuru solicited the continued prayer and partnership of CAN to continue to nurture good governance and moral rectitude in the state.
The governor, represented by his Chief of Staff, Professor Emmanuel Echiegu, appreciated the CAN for organising the event and for periodically drawing the citizens to the throne of God in praise, describing it as rewarding.
In his message, the CAN Chairman, Ebonyi State Chapter, Rev. Dr. Scamb Chinedum Nwokolo, enjoined Christians never to allow the present hardship in the country shift their focus from God, stressing that the situation could be a lesson and a prelude to God’s abundant blessings upon Nigeria.
He said: “Really, it is very noticeable that things are very difficult these days, not only in Nigeria but across the globe.
“However, from the point of our own understanding as the church, we are aware of what people are passing through in Nigeria.
“And that’s why we use this medium to speak to our people not to allow the evil and hardship in the land at this time to derail or deviate them from their standpoint with God.
“We should rather utilise this period of Easter celebration as an opportunity of coming closer to God in order to interface with him and seek for his divine intervention.
“Sometimes, what we feel is very bad is not actually bad in the presence of God.
“Rather, God wants to use it and teach us a lesson.
“So, regardless of what is going on, let us exercise restraint and patience in every situation, believing that God has the key to every success in life.
“He knows what is good for us and those good things we believe will definitely come to us as a people and as a nation.”
Earlier in a sermon titled: “The God of even now,” the founder and General Overseer of the House of Priests and Kings Church, Professor Wilberforce Oti, urged Christians to eternalise the habit of praising God in all situations, stressing that such an attitude would always attract God’s intervention to bring about resurrection, restoration and renewal.
Expressing gratitude to God for enabling them clinch the top position in the competition, the leader of the OAIC bloc choir, Joyce Ejikeme, assured that they would continue to work harder to defend and retain the trophy, come next year’s edition.
Ejikeme enjoined other choir groups to also work hard to improve upon their performances.
The 2025 Ebonyi CAN choral day celebration was themed: “Resurrection and Renewal.”
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