The conflict between the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Rt Rev Godfrey Onah, and his priest, Rev Fr Paul Obayi, popularly known as Fr Okunerere, has elicited a wide range of opinions, notwithstanding Fr. Obayi’s claims that he gave all to the church and that the church intended to strangle him.
Similar to Mbaka, Obayi is the spiritual director of the Okunerere Adoration Ministry in Nsukka, Enugu State. He disclosed that he was being mistreated by the diocese’s church authorities.
According to the Rev. Fr., a few priests broke down the Adoration Ministry’s entrance gate while claiming to be carrying out a Rt Rev Godfrey Onah’s directive.
“I love the church, I love my Nsukka (Catholic) church, I love the bishop, I love the priests, but they are oppressing me,” said Fr. Paul Obayi. “The church is my vineyard.”
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“I give everything to the church, yet the church wants to strangle me. But it can’t happen!
“Since the church doesn’t want me again, I am leaving the Catholic Church any moment from now,” he said.
Fr. Mbaka, who is renowned for speaking out against injustice, asserted that his fellow priests had consistently deserted him in cases of comparable mistreatment and he admonished those persecuting Fr. Obayi to stop or else they would suffer the repercussions of their behaviour, which he referred to as “sin against the Holy Spirit.”
The “attacks and forces of darkness, whims and caprices of hawks, vultures, and serpents,” as he put it, were what Obayi needed to be protected from.
While bemoaning the abuse many other priests were subjected to by church authorities, Mbaka launched a mild criticism of the Bishop, stating, “When you have not verified what a man of God is doing, you begin to blackmail and misinterpret it.”
Many, he added, left the seminary blazing for God, but once they were ordained as priests, the fire was sadly doused.
“Has anyone given you people an assignment? Know when you have crossed the boundary. Are you God? Why are you an impostor?’
”If you people shut down Okunerere adoration ministry, the demons he cast will follow you people. I want the world to hear this voice. These are the children given to me; I am their senior brother.”
”We need more soul-winners like Father Okunerere. You beat a child and asked him not to cry. Who are you? God ordained all that you are. And if you take the authority God gave you to oppress his messenger, heaven will take away what it has bestowed on you. You better repent”.
”I am talking to Nsukka people. I am not talking to any individual. Nsukka, as a people, if you keep quiet and Father Obayi is nowhere to be found, before such a good thing like him comes to you people, those who will die because of it would be many. I know that what I have spoken will raise so much dust.
”Father Obayi may not be the best, but he’s good. He has done so well in winning souls to God. He should not be messed up. Those who should shield this young man from attacks and forces of darkness should not pass him to the whims and caprices of hawks, vultures and serpents.
”Father Obayi should not be exposed to predators. The chief shepherd of that diocese should protect that young man. Obayi should not be compensated with sorrow and should not be handed over a dead child.
”But I will warn my brother priest not to be tempted into leaving the priesthood. Let him be courageous, let him be steadfast, let him be resolute. His labours will never be in vain.
”I have been trying to get him through the phone, but I have not. I saw the thing on social media, so I am replying through social media. Jesus in the Eucharist is the one you should look to. He will keep you, Father. He will shield you from the valleys of shadows of death. He will preserve you.
“Don’t forget you have dealt tortuously with many demons, so they cannot leave you unharassed. The devil can use many people to attack you back.
”Those who are doing these things to Obayi should know he is not supposed to cry for you people. The good thing that came to Nsukka. The people of Nsukka, you kept quiet? Are you people saying it does not concern you? There is someone you lose, and heaven’s wrath and anger will be upon you when you can no longer find him.
“Do you people even know what’s happening to you people? Nsukka people, be vigilant!
”Galatians 6:17 says, ‘’Henceforth, let no one trouble me. I bear in my body the wounds of Jesus’. Don’t trouble Fr Obayi anymore; allow him to concentrate, focus, dedicate himself to the work of God, and be used as a deliverer, as a healer. Allow him to sacrifice himself – he has been sacrificing.
”I know Father Paul so deeply. If there is a place where he is falling short, let him be corrected. But he has done well in many areas. And the people of God love him. Let nobody be jealous of him. You cannot do what he’s doing.
”If such a man could leave the occult world and come into Christianity, and he would be bullied in his Christian family, where would he now run to? The Bible says the foundation, once destroyed, what shall the just man do? (Psalm 11:3). Because the sceptre of the wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the just. Otherwise, the just will be forced to put a hand in evil.
”Those who brought poverty and hardships in the land, nobody has done anything to them. Nobody has done anything to the wicked ones in the society. Meanwhile, the messenger of God has been made to cry in the house of God for nothing.
”It is easy to attack me, and I will endure, but you cannot attack a fellow prophet, and I will be silent. Listen, whoever is doing this thing to Obayi, he should not cry for you people again.
”You know, during my trying time, many priests kept silent. It is not so now. I am speaking under the mandate of the Holy Spirit. Stop bullying men of God.
”Why do you people hate those who can pray? Why do you hate those who are anointed in a charismatic way? Where do you belong? Nsukka, are you people silent? Let nothing happen to Father Paul. Every town would not be dumb. The Catholic Church is not a dumb church.
“He should be encouraged. He needs our prayers and support. He needs our love. He is a real man of God. Where he did not do well, he should be corrected but should not be caused to be bleeding in the church.
”The Catholic Church is passing through a tsunami. We are losing our members in millions to Pentecostals and gifted priests who will become magnets to pull the snatched-away members back, taken away by idol worshippers; many have gone into cultism and occultism, and we are losing our members; many have no leadership trust in the leadership of the church anymore, I am talking about the reality; instead of planning on soul-winning and proper evangelization.
”If you people shut down Okunerere adoration ministry, the demons he cast will follow you people. I want the world to hear this voice.
”What is the problem? You are free to misunderstand me when you hear this, but heaven will dismay you if you exceed your boundaries. I don’t want to know who you are. Evil is nothing but evil. You people should stop killing the church. We need soul-winners like Father Okunerere, more of that.
”Not just Father Okunerere, there are other priests who are in anguish and lamentation. A Rev. father does not marry and has no child. So, we need prayers for our priests.
”In the future, the Catholic Church in Nigeria will begin to look for people like those that they are killing now, but it will be difficult to get them.
“Beware, Jesus said that every sin could be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Spirit.
“When you have not verified what a man of God is doing, you begin to blackmail it and misinterpret it. Has anyone given you people an assignment? Know when you have crossed the boundary. Are you God? Why are you an impostor?
”Let me stop here because I know these things I have said will raise many other issues. You can come out if you have the strength. In many dioceses, many priests are bleeding. They came out from the oven of the seminary hot with anointing, ready to pray and work and be holy, and they would be messed up.”
