By our Reporters
Rev. Fr. Oliver Ekene Nwosu, a newly ordained priest recently suspended by the Catholic Diocese of Morogoro in Tanzania for allegedly obtaining priesthood ordination by cheating, has cried out to be reinstated in the Lord’s vineyard.
The embattled priest, whose suspension letter leaked to the internet by yet-to-be-identified person(s), has gone on to accuse the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor, and a few other clergies, of masterminding his five-year ordeal.
Nwosu, who claimed that allegations which led to his sack from the priesthood in far-away Tanzania were trumped-up said the endpoint was to tarnish his image and stop him from doing God’s work. “I want to let the world know that I am being framed. They want me to look like a criminal. I am not a criminal. And I want His Holiness, Pope Francis, to hear my cry and intervene,” the priest said.
Blast from the past
The Owerre Ezukala, Orumba South local government area of Anambra state-born cleric, traced his ordeal to allegations that he was not qualified to be ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, an allegation that popped up shortly after his ordination as a deacon by the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Bishop Paulinus Ezeokafor on July 18, 2015. According to him, the allegations of ‘improper formation’ brought against him by some priests in the bishop’s court eventually led to his suspension.
“After my ordination as a deacon, I worked tirelessly and obediently for him and the diocese for a good number of years. When it was time for him to ordain me as priest, he refused and, I think, he did that because of one or two persons around him.”
According to him, the crisis took a devastating turn in December 2016 when the bishop handed him the dismissal letter on grounds of ‘improper formation.’ He argued that the “Catholic Church has what is called Canon Law which everyone must follow. There is due process and one of them is; if you have any allegation against a priest or a deacon, you must bring it to the notice of the person and give the person fair hearing. In this fair hearing, the person would be able to defend himself but this was not followed.”
“I want to let the world know that I am being framed. They want me to look like a criminal. I am not a criminal. And I want His Holiness, Pope Francis, to hear my cry and intervene,”
Nwosu claimed that he approached the bishop and suggested that “if my formation is not suitable for him, he should send me back to the seminary and that I was ready to start from year one. He refused; so, I left.”
He disclosed that, thereafter, about six bishops from other dioceses indicated interest in re-absorbing him but that Ezeokafor refused him his blessing. “I went to him several times, pleading, kneeling down, he refused.
Petition to Rome
Nwosu disclosed that he engaged the service of a Canon lawyer to help him write a persuasive letter to the bishop to grant his blessings but that Bishop Ezeokafor failed to respond and, instead, wrote to Rome, recommending his dismissal. According to him, the bishop levelled a lot of allegations against him and that, in response, the papacy on October 13, 2017, instructed the bishop to advise him that he was not capable of being a priest.
He said that Rome did not hear from him before responding to Ezeokafor and so he got his lawyer to appeal that response on December 1, 2017, and that, in a February 28, 2018 reply, Rome reversed itself and upheld his status as a deacon of Awka Diocese.
According to him, “They also said that they’re not going to force Ezeokafor to ordain me a priest and advised me to meet Ezeokafor for a father and son dialogue. When I received this letter, I went to Bishop Ezeokafor to make peace with him. All my pleadings and everything proved abortive.”
Fr Nwosu claimed that, as a deacon, he had rights and privileges that included residence and sustenance but was denied such. “I requested these things but they were denied me for five years. I was moving like sheep without a shepherd. I was moving like an orphan. I don’t think Pope Francis will be happy hearing that this kind of injustice was meted out on his priest. I was wandering about whereas there were many houses and parishes where I could wait until final determination of my case. I am not the only priest that has been suspended. If you suspend a cleric, you must provide for him. Suspension is never translated into dismissal”, he said.
Seeking greener pastures
Nwosu disclosed that when efforts to remain in the priestly service of the Awka diocese failed and options for other diocese in Nigeria also shut down, he opted to seek greener pastures outside the shores of Nigeria.
The frustrated priest remonstrated: “I had to come to him again, knelt down and pleaded. I pleaded with him to please set up a neutral committee that I will subject myself to so that this committee will give you a report of the whole story but he refused. These are the efforts I made for five years.,” he stressed.
“After I had suffered, I met a congregation called Missionary of Jesus the Saviour, an institute erected and approved in the Diocese of Morogoro in Tanzania. They listened to me. I told them my story. The Superior and founder of the institute called Bishop Ezeokafor to say I was with them. They discussed my case with the Bishop of Morogoro and they admitted me into their institute and, after some years, they promoted me into priesthood.”
“After my ordination I called Ezeokafor that I will like to come and see him for a discussion but he refused. I called him several times but, each time he heard my voice, he would end the call. He went ahead and wrote to the new nuncio in Tanzania against me and the nuncio contacted the diocese of Morogoro. The person in charge of the diocese is an administrator who doesn’t have full powers and the administrator called me and said that he had been ordered (by Rome) to suspend me.
“The administrator of Morogoro wrote the first suspension letter on the 6th June (2020) and sent it to me. Two days later he sent another message on my phone that he had withdrawn the letter and that a new one would be given to me later.
“On Saturday, 1st August, 2020 someone alerted me about something that’s going on in internet. He forwarded it to my phone only for me to see the suspension letter in the internet. The date on it was June 14 and, as I speak, nobody has given me that letter. I called the administrator and asked him how he posted my suspension letter on the internet. He said he did not do it.”
I asked whether anybody from Awka called him because Fides reported that they called Diocese of Morogoro to verify the authenticity of the letter. The administrator told me that nobody called him.”
Orient Weekend contacted the office of the Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Awka, but was told that the bishop was not disposed to speak on the subject matter and that he would reach us as soon as possible.
Fr Nwosu during his controversial priestly ordination in Tanzania
Fr Nwosu
Fr Nwosu doing his duties