Pastor Ezekiel Odero settles his wife Sarah Wanzu’s dowry after a decade of marriage in a joyous ceremony that blended faith, tradition, and high-profile cheers, drawing netizens’ warm nods for honouring roots long delayed. Accompanied by Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka, MP Owen Baya, Governor Wavinya Ndeti, Pastor Ezekiel’s lawyers, Ukambani MPs and MCAs, Ezekiel proceeded with what he vowed to accomplish over 10 years ago.
Pastor Ezekiel Odero, the fiery preacher of New Life Prayer Centre, led a colourful delegation to his wife Sarah Wanzu’s family home in Makueni County, finally fulfilling the Luhya rite with cattle, cash, and customs nearly ten years after their 2016 union.
The event, splashed across social feeds, sparked hope among followers who recalled his humble start with just two goats and a KSh 15 ring as initial tokens a decade ago amid budding ministry calls.
The Saturday bash in Emali pulsed with ululations and drums under a vast tent, where elders from the Sarah Wanzu clan received the full bride price package, estimated at KSh 500,000 plus livestock, per local whispers.
“It’s not about the money; it’s about sealing the bond before God and ancestors,” shared clan head Mzee David Mutua, his beaded regalia gleaming as he blessed the couple.
Odero, in a crisp white kanzu, knelt beside Sarah, radiant in a beaded leso, to present the gifts, his voice steady in prayers that wove gratitude for “delayed but divine timing”.
The delay? In the early days of tent preaching in Kilifi’s sands, where survival trumped ceremonies, he explained in a post-event clip that’s racked up 50,000 views.
Heavyweights dotted the guest list, turning a family rite into a regional spectacle. Wiper boss Kalonzo Musyoka, ever the Ukambani kingpin, arrived in a convoy, hailing Odero as a “bridge-builder of souls and soil”.
Machakos Governor Wavinya Ndeti, sharp in a kitenge power suit, danced with Sarah’s aunts, quipping that “true leaders pay debts of the heart first.”
Kilifi North MP Owen Baya, a coastal ally, gifted extra goats, joking it “upgrades the original pair to VIP status.” Their presence underscored Odero’s sway: from 2023’s Shakahola shadows to 2025’s revival rallies.
“Kalonzo’s here because Ezekiel unites, not divides,” noted one attendee, a youth pastor from Mlolongo. Netizens, scarred by the preacher’s past probes, exhaled relief in threads. “From two goats to full honour? That’s growth, not gimmicks,” a fan said, while another gushed, “Sarah waited gracefully; now her home celebrates. Hope for us all in unfinished stories.”
Critics, though, sprinkled shade: a few jabs at the “flashy finish” post-scandals, but positivity drowned them, with memes of cartoon goats toasting “better late than never”.
Flash to 2016: a young Odero, barely 30, proposed amid Kilifi’s cashew groves with that modest ring from a roadside duka and goats bartered from a neighbour.
“We trusted God’s provision over protocol,” Sarah recalled in an interview last year, her smile masking the side-eyes from kin who urged haste.
Fast-forward through church booms, a 2023 arrest over cult links (cleared in months), and family strains; the couple’s quiet resolve shone.
Now, with New Life’s branches in Nairobi and Mombasa, the dowry seals the legacy. “It closes a loop, opens heavens,” Odero preached to the crowd, his words rippling to online flocks hungry for redemption arcs.
For Makueni’s villagers, the windfall means more than mutton feasts. Emali’s market buzzed Sunday with tales, traders hawking “Odero special” beaded necklaces at double price.
Women’s groups, inspired, chatted about microloans for delayed rites, while youth deejays spun gospel remixes of Luhya folk tunes.
Beneath the revelry, whispers of deeper heels: Sarah’s clan, hit by 2024’s floods, gets a borehole pledge from the pastor’s coffers.
“Dowry isn’t an end; it’s an empowerment start,” affirmed Ndeti in her speech, pledging county scholarships for girls’ weddings.
This chapter flips Ezekiel’s script from controversy to closure, a balm for a nation where traditions tangle with trials.
As clips of Kalonzo’s jig flood TikTok, one truth endures: in Kenya’s kaleidoscope of faiths and families, honouring the past fuels tomorrow’s fire. Netizens’ hope? It’s contagious, a reminder that even shepherds settle scores, one goat at a time.
