By Charles Igbo
A Roman Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Stephen Nwaigwe, has, like the Biblical Adam, eaten the forbidden fruit which he swore before God and man not to partake of.
For that sacrilegious act, he is cooling his feet inside a cell in a Correctional Centre in Anambra State.
Fr. Nwaigwe is accused of r€ping and impregnating a minor whose education he promised to sponsor. The Priest met the minor as a 14 year old when he was invited to a religious program at St Albert The Great Catholic Church Parish, Obosi, Anambra State.
Fr. Nwaigwe took the minor to cook for him and promised to sponsor her education. Her parents were excited as they thought the Rev. Fr. would guide her spiritually in the narrow righteous path. The icing on the cake, for them, was the promise to sponsor their daughter’s education. But all that turned out to be fake promises, empty.
Instead of guiding her spiritually, Fr. Wigwe allegedly forcefully guided the minor into becoming his bedmate as soon as he took her home. She continued to, on the Priest’s insistence, warm his bed. Then, at 17 years, she became pregnant.
As a cover-up, and to take her away from prying eyes, the Priest decided to ferry the minor to his brother and wife who live in Benin City, Edo State.
The minor was a loser all round. When it was time for her to put to bed, she was taken to a traditional birth place in Benin, not to a proper hospital. When she put to bed, she was denied the joy of holding her baby. She was told that the baby died. And when she asked to see the corpse of her baby, that was denied her, as she was denied the closure of seeing the grave too.
The story which she told the minor to tell was that she was gang-r€ped and so, got pregnant. It is a tale the minor rubbished, and refused to tell. When asked by the Court if she was gang-r€ped, the minor said she has never had a relationship with anybody except the Rev. Fr. who continued to force himself on her. She revealed that it was the Priest who tried to coerce her to say she was gang-raXed while he was taking her to Benin City.
Hauled before a Chief Magistrate’s Court for Sexual and Gender-based Violence, the Priest’s Counsel asked for his bail on November 20, 2023. But the Police Prosecutor protested vehemently against it. He said Rev. Fr Wigwe would jump bail.
The Chief Magistrate, Genevieve Osakwe, ordered that the Rev. Fr. be remanded at the Correctional Centre, Awka, and asked him to proceed to a High Court to ask for bail. She adjourned the case to December 6, 2023.
FCC JONES ONWUASOANYA LAMENTS
But in a write-up where he condemned Rev. Fr. Nwaigwe’s alleged sacrilege, FCC Jones Onwuasoanya, a socio-political commentator, lamented:
“Reverend Father Stephen Nwaigwe is one of those priests who claim to be charismatic miracle workers and who go from one parish to the other, and from communities to another; praying, breaking yokes, performing miracles and healing incurable sicknesses, through the power of the Most High. Because they wear cloaks of holiness and declare the name of Jesus Christ, they always have a multitude of believers and salvation seekers fawning towards them.
“While a few good and genuine Men of God go about converting souls to Christ and preparing them for a place in Heaven or Paradise on Earth, Father Stephen and his ilk go about using the name of our Lord to lure the unsuspecting into unholy acts and destroying many innocent people, while extorting the gullible and those desperate for quick-fixes.
“So in a church in Obosi Anambra State, after hosting one of those dramatic shows they present as crusades, adoration or whatever name each chooses to call his, a beautiful 14 year old innocent girl caught his fancy. He met the family and promised to become the little angel’s spiritual mentor, while undertaking to cater for her education and other needs of hers. Who would decline such an offer, especially when it came from a “spirit-filled” Priest? The little girl’s family were grateful to Father Stephen and glorified God for bringing him their way.
“Of all the parishioners and visitors that attended his adoration program at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church,Obosi, the family of this little 14 year old girl counted it a good fortune that their daughter was singled out for mentorship by Father Stephen Nwaigwe. They might have heard that Father Stephen was expelled by the Two Hearts of Love Congregation (Ugwu Nso) and sanctioned by the Catholic Church for acts unbecoming of his priestly calling. But in our part of the world, sanctions are largely understood as persecution and when people signed to particular professions are urged to keep to their oaths, it could be seen as asking for too much. It had even been alleged that Bishops are envious of their priests, for making too much money or becoming too popular. Is a priest even supposed to make money? We will talk about this at other times.
“Father Stephen took this beautiful girl whose name is being kept away deliberately. He took her in and made her his cook and maid. That wouldn’t have been a big problem, because we don’t care so much about exploiting children and even adults, as long as it is done by a man wearing an alb. Anyone who looked closer would have seen through the frightful eyes of that 14 year old girl that she was cooking something more delicious than mere soup and oatmeal for Padre. But, who would dare ask?
“Any good set of eyes connected to a healthy brain would have easily seen through the girl’s eyes and uneasiness that her innocence had been stolen and that a regular and illegal drilling was going on, that a childhood had been lost and maybe, a life. But, the Priest is called by God, and is beyond censure by mere mortals. So, the girl had to bear her chains, sometimes with forced smiles and maybe, a quiet belief imbued in her by the pervert priest that the sexual exploitation was for her own good.
“So our dear Padre continued to drill the unripe oil well for three years, until our little sister became pregnant. She told him that her body had changed, that a seed was growing in her. The incorrigible son of the Devil in vestments, not done with exploiting a child given to his care in trust, designed in his heart a grievous evil against the unborn child.
“Like his ilk, Father Stephen relished the enjoyment of a little girl’s bosom, but wouldn’t want to have anything to do with the responsibility that comes with it, so he schemed with a family, who might be ignorant of Father Stephen’s atrocities against the innocent girl or are his usual accomplices, for the girl was told to tell everyone who asked her in Benin that she was gang-raped. After carrying the baby to term, she was taken to a local attendant who delivered her of the baby, but told her that it was a stillbirth. All entreaties to, at least, hold the cold bundle, to show for her years of pain and enslavement fell on deaf ears.
“Thank God for law and order. It works when it wants to work. Father Stephen pleaded that he is sick, that he should be allowed to go home and be reporting to court or to the Police to plead his “innocence” but our dear Magistrate Genevieve Osakwe, took the side of the Police. She understands that the best deterrence against crime is justice. So, she asked that the errant priest be remanded in prison, unfortunately, with no hard labour yet. Maybe,we will have a kind judge at the court, who will not waste time in sentencing him to a lifetime of pains and solitary confinement. Nothing could pay for the exploitation he put this innocent girl through and for whatever he might have done to the newborn.
“To the many Father Stephens still on the loose; when you are called, be a shepherd, not a wolf.”
For the records, Rev. Fr. Nwaigwe was among the Priests expelled by a popular Catholic faith-based Religious Congregation in Orlu, Imo State, Two Hearts of Love Congregation, in 2018, for alleged misconduct inimical to the image of the Order.
