Sunnews Times Team
The efforts made by the Parish Priest of St Anthony’s Catholic Church, Ihembosi, in Anambra state, Rev. Fr. C. Y. Ohagwa, to stop immoral activities of some persons, who use the church field for sex romp at night nearly cost him his life .
All Facts newspaper learnt that, because the priest commissioned the fencing off of the field, in order to ward off intruders who use the field for sex orgy at night, some yet to be identified persons went after him with masquerade.
Father Ohagwa, whose parish residence is backing the church field, we learnt, had most times observed that men bring women into the church field at night to have sex in the open, and sometimes, inside their vehicles.
He felt that such activities should not be going on inside the Lords vine yard and decided to secure the field by fencing it.
Before then, he had on several occasions, during Church mass, preached against the evil of coming to have sex in the church field just to discourage people from such immoral acts.
Men bring their concubines, women friends, girlfriends and prostitutes to desecrate the vine yard of God, but the sermons of the Parish priest did not deter them.
To forestall the continuous practice, he commissioned the fencing off of the field and installing gate to stop intruders from desecrating the house of God.
But little did he know that he was stepping on the toes of the high and mighty who are architects of the evil he was fighting.
He drafted workers and commenced the digging of the foundation and laying of blocks, to raise the fence to a level that would not allow intruders in, and then, all hell was let loose.
To his amazement, on June 7, 2021, some aggrieved persons in the name of community Youths stormed the site with masquerade and started beating up and chasing away workers at the site.
They flogged, and mercilessly beat up the workers who abandoned their job and ran for their lives.
Then, they descended on the already high fence and brought it down to rubbles, and went after the Parish priest, who on hearing their noise locked his gates and went into hiding.
It was learnt that some persons in the Community had earlier approached the parish Priest, requesting that he should make the fence dwarf because the Community use the field for festivals but the priest declined because of what he had seen going on there at night, and went ahead with the project of warding off intruders from the church premises.
Angered by the action of the Parish Priest, some people in the Community instigated others, who invaded the church property in the name of Ihembosi Youths and brought it down to rubbles .
They were also said to have given the workers the beating of their lives and chased them away from the site with their masquerade.
Meanwhile, the same youths are said to be spoiling for war against the Church leaders despite what they had already done against the Church and the priest. The surprising aspect of it is that in spite of what has happened, the community leaders, who claim ignorance of the identity of those who committed this sacrilege have not made any attempt to report the matter to the police or even arrest those who destroyed the Church fence.
This has led to some anonymous persons insinuating that some Community leaders instigated those who committed the atrocious act.
When All Facts visited the Community to seek the reaction of the president General, Prof Christopher Ihueze, who was holding a meeting with stakeholders, he said that he would not talk to the press on the matter because the Community was looking into it. He warned that the press should not meddle in their matter, that anytime they need them, they will invite them, probably after their stakeholder meeting that day.
“It is because of what happened that we are having this meeting today at Ihembosi Community hall, after the meeting, if we feel that it is necessary to invite the press into the matter, we shall do that, but I cannot talk to you because I don’t think that it is necessary, Just go , I don’t want to talk to any press man on this issue”, he said.
It however gathered that the matter has been reported to the Catholic Bishop of Nnewi Diocese, Most Rev.Hilary Paul Odili Okeke, by the Parish Priest who felt that his life is danger, after the unholy activities of the assailants of the Church.
All Facts gathered that the Bishop set up a committee to look into the matter, and that representatives of the town Union have visited the Bishop and tendered their apology on behalf of the youths, whom we learnt are not showing any sign of remorse, but are still threatening to cause mayhem if the church refuses to do a dwarf fence as they demanded.
The Union leaders, we learnt admitted to the Bishop, during their visit, that they were aware that the land belong to the Church, but that they needed a place where they will be holding their social activities periodically.
Some anonymous speakers, who are members of the Community, who are not in support of what the assailants did to the church and church priest wondered why some people should force a church to do their bidding by not fencing off the church property.
All Facts investigation revealed that a son of the soil, and philanthropist in the Community had in 1997 fenced some part of the church but would have completed the field side but was stopped by certain circumstances at the time.
Another anonymous speaker said that sometimes “house wives are taken to the field to fornicate with their male counterparts when they cannot afford money for hotel accommodation or chalets, and they are the ones that are against the church decision to fence their property.
He alleged that it was the President General who ordered the workers to stop work instead of dialoging with the Church leaders. At that juncture, the priest asked them to continue and the whole thing became a show of ego and authorities that led to the bringing down of an already built fence”, he said.
He said that some of the people causing the trouble are not members of Catholic church, and that when the fence was brought down the president General did not show any sign of dissatisfaction over the action of the perpetrators.
“During the first meeting with the Bishop , he refused to attend and as a result of that the meeting did not hold. The compound of the church is housing the church, the school and field ball field, but you don’t tell people how to use their property.
The Catholic Church is not the only church in Ihembosi, we have Anglican church, Christ Holy Church, Assemblies of God Church, and others, about 8 churches, why are the youths not going there to tell them not to fence their own field”, he queried.
Meanwhile the leadership of the Community has not deemed it wise to report the matter to the police to avoid more crises, as the youths are still spoiling for war, and what I understand is that those involved in this crises are not members of the Catholic church because if they are, they will know the reason why the parish priest want the place fenced round because he talks about the desecration of the church field during sermons yet people will not stop. What baffles some people is that those who are behind these troubles are known yet, no arrest had been made. I learnt that they have not even reported the matter to the police. We are wondering if the community leaders want someone to die on the process before they can in the police to arrest the situation. They have maliciously damaged the fence of the catholic church and nothing is being done about it, is it because the Catholic church is very lenient that they are doing all these?
Leaders of the Community should wake up to their duties and save Ihembosi Community from impending crises”, he advised. END
