Worshippers at St
Dominic’s Catholic Church, Adazi Enu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra
State were shocked on Friday when a US-based Catholic priest, Rev. Father Mike
Steve Ezeatu, descended on a 70-year-old man and beat him blue black.
Parishioners
told Southern City News that the priest had finished celebrating a funeral mass
and was about entering his SUV when he sighted the old man identified as
Innocent Nwolisa and beckoned on him to come closer.
Obeying the
call, Nwolisa approached the cleric, who descended on him, accusing the old man
of charming him while he was celebrating mass on the pulpit.
Narrating
the story, the first son of the victim, Ebuka Nwolisa, said his father was
about to leave the compound of Ifedigbo in Ugweni Ojii, where the funeral mass
of one late Ifeoma Ifedigbo, had just been celebrated by Ezeatu, when he was
called back by the priest
“I think my
father went because we are related to the priest and they know each other. My
father thought the priest might be calling him to give him special blessing,
but what he got was a beating.
“The only
saving grace he (reverend father) had was that I was not around; that was why
he got way with his action,” an angry Ebuka explained.
Another
eyewitness, Mr. Arinze Ezeatu, who is a younger brother of the priest said,
“Father Mike complained that the old man was releasing evil powers on him while
he was at the altar celebrating the mass, and that was the reason for his
action.
Arinze and
Olisa Ezeatu, both younger and elder brothers of the priest, maintained that it
was not true that Nwolisa was releasing evil powers on him, but that the
reverend father was suspecting that the old man may have supported his
brothers, whom the priest has for long been at loggerheads with over land.
According to
them, “The priest is our brother, but he is more like a curse to us than a
blessing. He is based in the US, and can be described as a businessman than a
clergy. Because he has money, he has grabbed all our land and we have been in
dispute with him.
“We have
even reported him to the Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Reverend Paulinus
Ezeokafor, yet he has not let go. The man he beat up is an elder in our
extended family, and he has been advising the priest to relinquish the land to
us and even settle our rift.
“We think he
simply suspected that the man has started siding us after knowing the truth.
That is why he beat him up on Friday after celebrating mass.”
Meanwhile,
Ebuka the first son of the victim, who led his younger brother to the resident
Parish priest of St Dominic’s parish to complain about the incident, told
Southern City News that his father was recovering.
When
Southern City News contacted Mr. Abuchi Onwumelu, the Press Secretary to the
Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev, Paulinus Ezeokafor, he (Onwumelu) declined
comment.
-Punch
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