Father Patrick + Soyinka on Ribadu's removal

I am Catholic and whenever I read anything negative about our Catholic priests, it does something to me.

Here's a story, courtesy Sunnewsonline, about a Priest, a woman, an illicit affair and an abortion.

Wearied by the papal oath of celibacy, which insists on strict abstinence from sex and marriage, a Catholic priest, Reverend Father Patrick Okon, who allegedly yielded to things of the flesh, has found himself trapped in the whirlpool of an abortion-related web.With the wind now taken out of the sail of his six months of sizzling romance with one Miss. Ebere Eze, who is still battling to overcome abortion complications she alleged was instigated by the priest, Father Okon is now torn between renouncing the vow he entered into with the Papacy with a view to getting his lover permanently hooked and doing all he can to keep the liaison a guided secret.

Begun somewhere at Agege, Lagos, in December 2006, Ebere told Saturday Sun that she met Father Okon at Tasty Fried Chicken (TFC) where the priest initially introduced himself as a lawyer on an attachment with Saint Kizito Catholic Church, Iju, Agege, Lagos.

From one declaration to another, Father Okon, allegedly swore his immortal love for Ebere, which culminated in the promise of marriage and an exchange of engagement ring between Ebere and the Reverend Father.

During the flourishing period of their liaison, which peaked when Father Okon relocated to Saints Peter and Paul, Somolu, a parish, the stealthy romance, which transpired without the parish priest’s knowledge according to Ebere, usually involved her being smuggled in with the assistance of the security man at the gate.While this practice of sneaking her into the Priory endured, Ebere said she could not understand why this was so, even as Okon had consistently said he was a lawyer and not a worker in the Lord’s vineyard. At Saints Peter and Paul’s, Somolu, where she eventually found out that Okon was indeed a priest, contrary to his previous claim, sometime in April, Ebere said she was already pregnant for him.

Her refusal to yield ground for fear of risking her life, Ebere said, dangerously pitched her against Okon. But desperate to ensure that the looming scandal did not morph into an institutional humiliation, following a series of failed persuasions from the priest on his lover girl, Ebere told Saturday Sun that Okon tricked her into going out for ride with him in June 2007. And at a spot along Lagos-Ibadan expressway, just after the crusade ground, Okon, in a BMW 3 Series, pulled up at a joint, where he ordered drinks (a Star lager beer for himself and a small bottle of Guinness Stout for Ebere) for both of them.

Among other reasons the priest advanced for insisting on the termination of the pregnancy, Ebere alleged, was the cost of bringing up a child. According to her, just as she was about to take her drink, it was then the priest remembered he forgot something in the car and asked her to go get it for him.

Unsuspectingly, she returned to take her drink, which she also alleged might have been laced with poison.

Ebere further alleged that after the drink, she could neither remember how she made it back with Father Okon to the Reverend fathers’ house at Saint Peter and Paul, Somolu nor how her under wear got soaked with blood. She disclosed that she woke up at about 5:pm, after several hours of unconsciousness to find herself protected with sanitary towel heavily flooded with her own blood. Terribly weak to go back to Oshodi, where she lives with her brother, and not knowing what to tell him was responsible for her profuse bleeding, Ebere said she spent two nights in Okon’s apartment.

Devastated by what she alleged Father Okon had done to her, by discretely administering an abortion on her, Ebere said she threatened to let the world know what he had done to her. According to her, since the development, she has been experiencing an erratic menstrual flow, sometimes twice in a month or once in two months, coupled with loss of weight.

Some of the texts purportedly sent to Ebere and which she forwarded to this reporter, are reproduced below:
“Ebere, it is Appiah and Fabian that paid you to betray me and you did it. How much did they give you? Can you see the prove (sic) of the love you had for me? You told me the other time you did not have the Cardinal’s number, where did you get this from? All I want is peace, once more, I am sorry for the pain I caused you”.

“Let us meet and talk. Friends do have misunderstanding. I am in love with you. Don’t let anyone separate us. When can we see? I am sorry for hurting you”.

“I left the Church (Saint Peter and Paul) since June. I work in a school (Missionary Society of Saint Paul, Iperu-Remo, Ogun State). So you have to arrange for another place where we can meet during the week”.

“Come to Sagamu. I am at RSS Sagamu. When you get to the park, I will pick you up”.

“Eby, if it is marriage you want, let us meet and talk. I may leave my job before end of the year”.

“Have you ever offended God and asked Him to forgive you? That is what I am asking of you. I may leave my ministry soon and I need you with me”.

“Please don’t sleep with anybody. I can’t cope without you. Please forgive. I will start taking good care of you please”.

And so on and so forth.

If you want to read all the sordid details, then go to sunnewsonline.com

What do you guys think of this story?

Soyinka on Ribadu's removal
Howmany of you know that Mallam Nuhu Ribadu has been removed as the chairman of the Economic and Financial crimes Commission (EFCC)?

That's sad huh? People have been reacting to it, describing it as a contemptuous New Year gift, that constitutes an assault on the corporate integrity of the nation.

The person most pained is Professor Wole Soyinka. In a press statement yesterday, Soyinka said Ribadu’s removal would have a far more devastating impact on the psyche of the Nigerian nation “than the deadly event that now threatens to destabilize Pakistan,” through the assassination of her democratic front runner, Benazir Bhutto.

Soyinka said the precarious socio-political condition into which the Pakistani people have been thrown, echoed, in both parallel and divergent directions, the blow dealt to the Nigerian nation by the “assassination” of the head of the EFCC.

The Nobel Laureate said Ribadu had commenced “the process of restoring dignity to a people whose nation has become a byword for the most breath-taking scam in high-places, for endemic corruption, contempt for accountability and transparency and the abuse of national resources in the pursuit of personal and party power consolidation.”With the removal of Ribadu, he said the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had proven yet again that there is no reformist agenda possible within its ranks.

Also, Lagos lawyer and human rights activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi said with the removal of Ribadu, the government has subverted the anti-corruption crusade embarked upon by the EFCC under the outstanding leadership of Ribadu.

What's your view on Ribadu's removal?