By Prisica Sam-Duru
The public presentation of the book, Petals of Mercy written by Patrick Kasie Nwachukwu, penultimate week, held at Centre for Management Development(CMD) Shangisha, Lagos. The occasion was marked with poetry performances taken from the author’s previous publication, a collection of poems titled, In the Dock.

Petals of Mercy is a documentation in narrative, which captures Patrick Kasie-Nwachukwu’s experience of how his wife Oge, the major character in the novel, was rescued from the throes of death simply by the extravagant mercy of God.

The father of three who holds a Master of Laws(LL.M) degree from the University of Ibadan, tells the story of how Oge bled uncontrollably after the delivery of her third child. This resulted into two complicated surgeries and lots of prayers before the doctors were able to contain the situation.

From left: Patrick & Oge Kasie-Nwachukwu and Philip Isakpa

She was later diagonised of Kidney infection. This development led to several trips between Lagos and Benin City while the couple awaited Divine intervention which eventually came through the competence of a consultant Urologist.

The event which was emotive to an extent had few guests, sharing memories of similar encounters which only the mercy of God helped them scale through.

Gboyega Shokoya, a Pastor with the Redeemed Christain Church of God pointed out in his keynote address during the presentation of the book, that God’s worshipers are candidates of mercy which was the reason He saw Oge through such trauma adding that, “God is not interested in people’s happiness but in their holiness”.

Pastor Shokoya described the book as a master piece which if turned into a movie, will emerge as a first class narrative of existential war of survival.

Aside poetry renditions that marked the occasion, special and heart rendering song was also performed by the duo of Akinlabi Akinbolumo and Bem Ioordah which touched on the essence of the extravagant grace of God in the lives of the suffering masses.

Reading from the book was done by Sharon Adeleke, while an upcoming comedian, Kachi set the entire audience in the auditorium in a happy mood with rib-cracking jokes revolving around society and Christendom.

In the book review, the editor of BusinessDay Newspaper, Philip Isakpa described Petals of Mercy as a novel that “tells of man’s perseverance and faith in God, even when prevailing circumstances deny His existence”.

Continuing he added that, “anyone familiar with the travails of Job in the Bible would definitely find many commonalities in Kasie-Nwachukwu’s new work.

Explaining his reasons for writing the book, the author ,Patrick said that he only fulfilled a pledge he made to God when his wife’s situation overwhelmed his life. He said he promised to give hope to the hopeless, help individuals win the battle of the mind against the enemy, help Nigerians and people outside the country who might lay hand on the book, find strength in overwhelming situations by documenting Oge’s traumatic encounters if she came out alive.