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Ozubulu: Other Anambra Billionaires Who Built Churches - Religion - Nairaland

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Ozubulu Catholic Church Shooting In Anambra: Police Reveal Reason For Attack / Aloysius Nnamdi Ikegwuonu "Bishop" Who Built Attacked Ozubulu Catholic Church / Gunmen Kill Worshippers At A Catholic Church In Ozubulu, Anambra State (Graphic) (2) (3) (4)

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Ozubulu: Other Anambra Billionaires Who Built Churches by themomentng: 11:42am On Aug 13, 2017
Last Sunday’s attack of the multimillion naira St. Philips Catholic Church, Ozubulu, in Anambra State, built and donated by Alloysius Ikegwuonu, (aka Bishop), who is fingered in an alleged drug war, has brought to the fore how several billionaires constructed and donated churches in the state.
Our findings revealed that the Chief Executive Officer of Ibeto Cement, Mr. Cletus Ibeto, built St. Cletus Catholic Church in Ndakwu village in Otolo, Nnewi North Local Government Area, while oil magnate and owner of Ifeanyi Uba FC. Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, is presently building the Nnewi Catholic Dioceses Cathedral alone.

The imposing Anglican Church in Umuokpu, Awka South Local Government Area of the state, was built by an oil consultant based in Port Harcourt, while more recently, two governorship hopefuls in the state, Chief Godwin Ezeemo of the PPA and Obinna Uzo of the PDP, have single-handedly built churches in their country homes to the applause of the communities.

Also, a Texas, USA-based medical doctor, Dr. Godwin Maduka, has built an edifice for the people of Umuchukwu and donated it to the Catholic Church.

While it has been argued that church members can promote worship by such acts, some observers have said that the churches cannot absolve themselves of guilt of indirectly encouraging young people to pursue wealth by all means.

They said though this act and flamboyancy started with the Pentecostal missions which preach the gospel of building mansions for God on earth, the orthodox churches in the recent times have followed suit for fear of losing more faithful who are in a way being attracted to the grandeur of the Pentecostal churches.

It appears that the orthodox churches have suddenly realised the sense in what a certain Cardinal told a Roman Catholic faithful in Rome that they had to receive the gift of Tony Montana in Mario Puzo’s godfather 11 that “the Vatican is not run with only Rosary and chaplet, it is run with money.”

According to an indigene of Ozubulu who doesn’t want his name mentioned, though Alloysius Ikegwuonu, aka Bishop, has done well for the community, the time has come for churches to question the source of wealth donated for either construction of church or otherwise. “The Church is a place of worship; therefore, it must be sacred. If you invest bad money in church building, then you can be sure that one day, the devil will attend service”.

On his part, Octogenarian, Pa Abel Nsobundu, 82, said, “In those days, an individual does not build a church. Even when the church is completed, most of the people that started the church building may be dead by then. But this new craze of one person building a church sounds strange. Church building is a community project that takes so many years to complete. So, one wonders the source of money an individual would have that is decent enough to start building a church.”

There are, however, insinuations from different quarters that the attack may not have been truly drug related. Transition Chairman of Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Ikenna Ofodeme, said that the attack has the trappings not of a drug war but that of terrorism.
“It is a terrorist attack because the Bishop has no issues with anybody,” he said.

A governorship hopeful of Peoples’ Democratic Party, Dr. Alex Obiogbolu, in his reaction, said that whatever anybody is saying concerning the Ozubulu massacre is mere speculation.
He said “The act is an abominable, strange, malicious happening against the peace loving people of the state. This is an opportunity for us to rethink on our social apparatus and strategy for security in the state. We need a total review of our value system, increase in social awareness and intelligence gathering probability of the vigilante in the state.
“The Nigeria Police Force lacks the ability to gather the intelligence that will anticipate and prevent this sort of criminal activities.
“As long as our leaders do not focus on restructuring of our value system and moral compass by utterances and actions encourage the debasement of our cultural values and encourage criminality, that sort of dastardly activities shall continue.”
Governor Willie Obiano has, however, linked the current insecurity in Anambra State to the machinations of the APC, alleging that there is a plot to declare state of emergency in the state, contrary to his earlier claim that the massacre was as a result of a war between two people.

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