I had a family friend late Fr Cyril Ofoegbu. He was ordained
in 1982 or sometime around the early eighties. He was ordained in Archdiocese
of Benin city by the most urbane holiness; the American trained Archbishop Pat
Ekpu.
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| Late Rev. Fr. Ofoegbu and suspended Fr. Anelu |
He could speak Bini, Urobho, Kwale, Esan and Auchi! He had this charming personality of integrating into his community of service by learning their languages. Lest I forget, he was from Imo State.
While in his apostolate trajectory, he never forgot his
books because he strained and got a doctorate degree in Psychology.
And as Fr Cyril was struggling with his apostolate outside
his home town, the structures took notice. He was made the Chancellor of the Archdiocese
of Benin. I guess, that position put him up as the number one priest in the
archdiocese after the bishop. Certainly, he made friends and foes.
The foes he made were those who felt that he had no business
to be the chancellor of archdiocese of Benin. He was perceived as an invader
and as one who wanted to dominate in another’s home. Possibly, his name must
have come up for bishopric along the line. And Fr James Anelu was in Benin
diocese about this time.
Now, to the sad part. Some years back, Fr Cyril was on
official assignment from Benin to Asaba. He was being driven by his driver. As
they were approaching Asaba, he received a call and he described to the caller
where he was.
He spoke in English. Few meters along the road, criminals
crossed them in. They shot him specifically and pointedly until he died. They
took his phone and left.
As usual, the police skirted the edges and closed up the
case. I don’t know if any suspect was arrested. And Fr James Anelu was serving
in Benin then.
Anyways, I am not saying that Fr James Anelu knows who
killed Fr Cyril. God forbid a murder in Vatican, but with his blurt and his
magisterial banning of Igbo songs in open church, I think he has capacity to do
a few bad things. He is filled with hate and he couldn’t hide it. He was good
with the offertory being given by his Igbo parishioners but he couldn’t
tolerate a worship song in Igbo language.
And please, a man filled with hate can do worse things to
satisfy his hate. So, Fr Cyril could
have been murdered because of hate and fear of domination, even when Fr James
Anelu, the hater and scaremonger for domination was in the same diocese with
him.
Stuff happens you know.
*Contributed by Mr. Chris Okafor
1 comment:
They really closed my uncles case. I pray his killers nd that useless FrJames Anelu rot in Hell
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