Thursday’s burial of the late literary icon, Prof. Chinua Achebe, turned into a carnival of some sorts as politicians and their supporters announced their “noisy” presence on the occasion.

All through the funeral service at St. Philip’s Anglican Church Nkwelle Ogidi, the politicians kept moving about with their retinue of bodyguards, supporters and praise singers.

The trend worsened as the politicians, mainly those aspiring to contest the forthcoming governorship election in the state, tried to outdo one another to announce their presence.

They came in with loud sounding siren-ushered convoys and a rush of young people shadowing after their tinted black luxury cars into the arena.

A lot of them however arrived the venue late after President Goodluck Jonathan had entered the church auditorium, so the presidential guards did not allow them in. However, some of them were able to find their way through another entrance.

Those who gained entry like a member of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, and former Presidential aide, Senator Andy Ubah, took their seats right behind Jonathan, perhaps for effect.

Senator Chris Ngige, another governorship aspirant, sat on the same row with the President along with Governor Peter Obi and President John Mahama of Ghana.

There was however a scene when the Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Limited and governorship aspirant, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah, arrived at the church.

He and his large supporters as well as bodyguards moved straight to the door to the church but the guards stopped them from entering. Not all the noisemaking and namedropping assuaged the guards, who refused the oil magnate entry.

The Capital Oil boss, however, managed to find himself in the church hall.

Soon after his entry, the Vicar of the church, Ven. Obi Ubaka, broke protocol to announce to the gathering, how much Ubah assisted the church in getting it ready for the funeral service.

Around the church premises and the home of the Achebe’s, the politicians put out huge billboards, banners and posters to express their condolences to the Achebes, while at the same time promoting their aspirations.

- PunchNG.com