A dispute is developing between Bishop Godfrey Onah, the catholic bishop of Nsukka Diocese, and Rev. Fr. Paul Obayi, also known as Fr. Okunerere.
Currently serving as the Okunerere Adoration Ministry’s spiritual leader in Nsukka, Enugu State, is Obayi.
The cleric recently accused his bishop of persecution and pointed the finger upon his neighborhood’s ordinary.
According to the spiritual priest, who conducts a prayer ministry akin to that of Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka of the Enugu Catholic Diocese, the church has been mistreating him.
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He claimed that the most recent persecution occurred because the Bishop and other priests wanted to evict his ministry from its land.
Okunerere claimed in a 30-minute video posted on his Facebook page that despite giving the church everything, it still wanted to strangle him.
In the video that the DAILY POST on Wednesday was able to get, the clergyman made a long list of assertions.
In the film, there are quotes like this: “The church is my vineyard; I love the church; I love my Nsukka (Catholic) church; I love the bishop; I love the priests; I love them; but they are harassing me.
“I searched for a place to perform my adoration but was unsuccessful. I started my adoration there in a rental I had obtained behind Queens College Nsukka. Bishop Onah ordered me out of the building because he claimed I was making noise and obstructing the Queens Students.
“The plot of land I’m currently living on was given to me by the previous governor of Enugu State, Gburugburu. I informed the Bishop that I had a piece of land and took him to view it. When he arrived, he declared that the site might be utilised to construct the Marian Shrine. I told him that instead of Marian Shrine, I wanted to start my adoration ministry here. I shouldn’t bring it up again, he said.
“I give the church everything, yet the church wants to choke me. But it’s impossible!
“I purchased and installed the best transformer, which is still in use today, in the cathedral of the Nsukka Diocese.
The Bishop ordered me to construct a museum where I would store the gods I took out of villages. I told my bishop that I had spent N2.8 million building the museum upstairs in the church. My bishop only expressed gratitude by asking me “where did I get the money to build it when he has banned selling of olive oil,” which was the only “thank you” he offered. But I put up with it.
I received land in Obimo on which to erect my adoration ministry. A mountain it is. I levelled the land and built roads there for more than N50m, after which I constructed a 30-room self-contained mansion. I gave it to the church, who collected it from me. Because the church didn’t start utilising it until today after I gave it to them, kidnappers are still using that structure to keep their victims today. According to the Bishop, the location will serve as the Nsukka Diocesan Pilgrimage Centre.
“I was sent to Obollo, where I built a church for N10 million. On the day of the dedication, when the Bishop came to dedicate it, everyone was thanked, but they refused to thank me, Fr. Obayi, for building the church. Just two months after the chapel was dedicated, I was transported to Ikem, where it is well known that kidnappers frequently roam the streets.
“I was an associate professor, but no one in the diocese ever acknowledged me as such. Those priests who were made associate professors yesterday, however, are acknowledged by the diocese, while I have remained unnoticed even now as a professor.
It grew so bad that fellow priests knocked down my gate and stole my land, claiming they had been sent.
“I provided free drinking water to everyone in attendance for the Bishop’s Episcopal ordination.
“There is too much oppression. Priests are staying away from my adoration because if they post a priest there, they will send him to a remote hamlet outside of Adani in the Uzo Uwani LGA.
“The Bishop has declined my invitation to come to my adoration because he claims he doesn’t comprehend what we are doing.
“The authorities will toss the programme if Charismatics write a programme with my name listed as a guest priest and submit it to the Diocese for approval. The Charismatics would question the need for inviting Fr. Okunerere. I haven’t been to a charismatic programme in five years because the church authorities won’t let me.
“Bishop Onah forbade me from travelling to London to give a sermon because he believed I would there preach heresy. I questioned him, saying that I had preached at ten different programmes in London before you became my bishop. Will I now preach heresy that you are my bishop?
“The church rejected my request for land for my devotion, and now that the government has given me one, it wants to take it back.
“I’m leaving the Catholic church right now because the church doesn’t want me back,”
