I read in the newspapers that a Catholic priest resigned his priesthood and became a traditionalist. I was filled with a sense of resentment, disappointment and embarrassment.  I continue to wonder what came upon the priest who was reported to have served in the priesthood for 17 years.

A former Catholic priest of 17 years, Dr Echezona Obiagbaosogu, said he resigned from the priesthood to embrace the African traditional religion. Obiagbaosogu, a lecturer in African Traditional Religion at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, disclosed this after defending his PhD Dissertation titled “Rainmaking and Control in Igbo African Medicine”.  Obiagbaosogu, who is now married, said he was fascinated by the traditional African spirituality and the art of rainmaking, adding that Africa possesses enormous resources and value which have been eroded by colonial powers. He disclosed that he spent several months studying under a renowned native doctor, learning the intricacies of the craft, adding that he conducted research intending to recover the lost African value.  He said he has come to realise that his true calling is to serve his people through the ancient traditions of his ancestors.

According to him, he said he partly lived with his maternal grandfather, who was a traditionalist, while his father was a Christian before he passed away. Though he was a Christian, he still believed in traditional materials. He went further to explain that his grandfather was an agriculturist with trees around the compound and always brought in new ones, some of which he said were medicinal.  So, he learned from him to appreciate nature. He was once a Catholic priest—Rev. Father and he began his research as a priest five years ago and then left the priesthood, and got married. 

He went further to say that everything about his research stems from his curiosity about nature and God. As a priest, he had the opportunity to work in health sectors, and understood what health is all about. He reiterated that he conducted the research with the intention of recovering his lost African values.

Obiagbaosogu also shared his thoughts on the relationship between magic, religion, and science, adding that, “Civilisation began with magic, moved to religion, and today we are talking about nanoscience and other fields.  The white man was able to explore these magical laws, codify them, and call them science. So, science is essentially what was once magic.  We can also access these magical laws, which we call African magic or religion. It is not the African magic of Nollywood. The African magic of Nollywood is one of the tools used to destroy our culture and values, he said.  African magic is actually African science, which remains unexplored. 

When asked about his decision to leave the priesthood, Obiagbaosogu said, “Life is a process. Things happen, and people begin to look left and right.  One important thing is for the person to know themselves. If you understand yourself and remain open to reality, you will begin to make decisions for your life.” He declined to discuss the specifics of his resignation, saying it was a matter of personal conviction.

It is his choice to embrace whatsoever religion he wants to, either modern or traditional, that is free moral agency for him.  Obviously his fascination with magical rainmaking tradition in Igbo land and other mystical practices fuelled his decision to embrace this path. He fashioned the God he was taught about into the image of a primitive and local deity. His confusion is fuelled by his original lack of knowledge about God. From Reverend Father to Dibia, this is the classical misnomer. 

He has now become a poster boy for modern day aspiring native doctors, a sort born again shaman or should I say charlatan. He has seen the native light of African voodoo and he is now a priest of black magic. This is classical African retrogressive syndrome (ARS), a state where black people feel they were robbed by those who brought them out of the bush into modernity.  So this fellow is now scavenging in the gutters of unproductive and primitive ancestral practices.  It is like looking in the mud to see your reflection. 

Africa my Africa who did this to you. This renegade priest now believes our cell phones work by the agency of white magic.  Here’s hoping ARS is not contagious.  He was never fully persuaded, he fooled the congregation for 17 years.  He felt Catholicism does not demand real commitment to the Christian faith, it is just a routine monotonous repetitive rituals and tradition of the Greek and Roman deities mutated into the Christian faith.

In a similar dimension, just like Islam, conversion is not necessary to God’s work, it is just an outward show of piety and hypocrisy.  He got frustrated with routines made by Rome and he still does not or have not really figured out the God of the Bible, so he quit.  He cannot find God in rituals of the Catholic worship. I feel his heart yearnings, traditional religion does not and would not fill the void of the heart.

HE NEVER BELIEVED IN THE CHRIST THAT HE PREACHED. HE NEVER KNEW HIM. NO RELATIONSHIP. IT WAS ALL PROFESSIONAL CAREER PRIEST

I still remember vividly that there’s a Pentecostal Pastor who was a member of Dunamis Church, I think his name is Abraham Daniel who now claims to practice humanity instead of Christianity so what do we say about that? Do we call the Pentecostal Church he left also a cult? 

Anytime you hear about the Catholic Church you people begin to talk cheap, stick with your belief and leave Catholics; don’t use it as a validation for your confusion. He is one of those who chose themselves.  It is good that he has reconnected back to his real call instead of continuous pretence and subsequent disgrace to the body of Christ. 

Christ said, I know my sheep, and my sheep knows me. No one should force him or herself into what they are not.  Obviously, he was never called to be a Catholic priest but a traditional priest. He mistook his calling for some reasons best known to him.

Some salient questions need to be asked. Has he been questionably involved with women all along as a Catholic Priest? Does he have children when he was a priest of the Catholic Church?  These questions are germane because he got married immediately he changed his mind. If he has been doing these it means he was confused by the taste in the pudding and this confused his belief. He confused the people as been religious but did not experience genuine salvation, so when the powers of his father’s house came calling for his service he was an easy prey. 

Pray to encounter Jesus and be crucified to the flesh but alive in Christ. Things have really fallen apart for Obiagbaosogu and the centre can no longer hold by Chinua Achebe. Pray for your priests.

God Bless Nigeria and the Catholic Church!!!