Tension in Enugu community as leaders, women battle catholic priest

Posted by admin Enugu, Headlines, State News Thursday, October 6th, 2011

Tension is currently mounting in Amaechi, Awkunanaw, Enugu South Local Government, home of former Senate president, Chief Ken Nnamani, where some Church leaders are gearing up for a showdown with the parish priest of St. Jude’s Catholic Church in the community.

Women from the Church yesterday staged a protest calling for the removal of the parish priest, Rev. Fr. John Amadi whom they accused of high handedness. The protesters also condemned what they termed unilateral dissolution of the board of Holy Angel Comprehensive Secondary School by Rev. Fr. John Amadi. The aggrieved women, who displayed various placards with different inscriptions including “Fr. Amadi, are you above the law,” “the whole world should help us,” “Fr. Amadi wants to kill us,” besieged the Church compound singing against the continued stay of the priest in their community.

They accused the parish priest of high handedness, alleging that the reverend father had succeeded in sowing seeds of discord among them. President of Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) of the parish, Mrs. Kate Egbo, who spoke on behalf of the women, alleged that the priest did not consult the parishioners before dissolving the school’s board of trustees. Recalling that the school was founded by the CWO, the women’s spokesperson alleged that the priest had converted the secondary school which belonged to the parish to his personal property. She alleged further that the parish priest now ran the school unilaterally, adding that recently, he increased the school fees from 5,200 to 8,500 without consulting the stakeholders.

Mrs. Egbo maintained that the dissolution of the school’s former board was unacceptable to them, appealing to the Enugu Catholic Bishop, Callistus Onaga, to, as a matter of urgency, wade into the matter to avoid any breach of public peace by the aggrieved parishioners. Also speaking, the First Vice Chairman of the Parish Council, Mr. Daniel Ikechukwu Egbo, further alleged that the man of God lacked accountability and transparency, challenging the priest to account for the money realised during the fund raising ceremony for the parish’s ongoing Church building held last year.

He explained that the secondary school project was initiated by the parish with a view to generating revenue and wondered why an individual should turn it into a private venture.

-Sunwp_posts