Chimamanda and the priest who always prefers cash

The special interview which aired on February 13, 2022, has since been covered widely in national newspapers and on social media and is still the source of much discussion, and this question constantly comes up.

Chimamanda’s father, Professor James Nwoye Adichie had previously passed away on June 10, 2020. Her mother, Mrs. Grace Ifeoma Adichie, passed on March 1, 2021. In a painful coincidence, March 1 also happened to be the birthday of Chimamanda’s late father.

Both of her parents passed suddenly without warning, naturally making the experience even more heartrending. Her mother, who was still in mourning for their father: in fact went to Mass the day before she died, at the same church where her funeral thanksgiving mass was held, St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Abba, Njikoka LGA of Anambra State.

In an emotional interview with TVC senior anchor, Mike Okwoche, Chimamanda revealed that she was verbally attacked by her hometown parish priest at the mass, which took place on Sunday May 2, 2021. The grieving family and their guests were seated in front of the church and were taken aback, shocked, and distressed by what unfolded.

The parish priest, who in the interview, for the first time since the events took place, Chimamanda identified as Christopher Ezeh, started speaking about her in a disparaging and hostile manner in response to an interview she had given some months earlier.

Adichie has often stated that she does not have any problem with criticism. It is well known that the author is prepared to speak her mind and take on unpopular causes where she is fully aware that she is likely to be criticised- in order to try and effect positive changes.

“I have never been afraid of criticism,'' she said in the interview. “Nobody enjoys criticism of course. But if this priest had written something to criticise me, even shouted at me at any other venue but the holy mass at my mother’s funeral, it would have been okay. I really would not have minded,” she added.

Chimamanda stated that she thought that she “needed to address” what the priest had said, so she asked for the microphone in order to speak, for which she had to wait for some time before the priest allowed it. She said that she wanted to ensure that she was “very respectful”, despite his hostility. She explained to the congregation that the priest had misrepresented her and that her point was not about not wanting to support the Church. Her point was that poor villagers who could barely feed themselves should not be pressured and ambushed into donating what little they had, “particularly in a church where there are people who can afford it, and who are very happy and willing to give”.

Two prominent men from her hometown, including a senior government official, also asked to speak, telling the priest “this is wrong, we are here to mourn her mother" but despite their intervention, the priest took the microphone and continued to verbally attack Chimamanda. By this time, the other regular parishioners in the church themselves got upset, shouting “Father, it is enough”.

Despite the calls to the priest to cease attacking Chimamanda and continue with the funeral mass, he refused. As such, her family, and guests were forced to get up and leave the church. “So that's how my mother’s funeral thanksgiving mass ended”, she said, clearly still very upset.

Chimamanda clarified her position. “It’s not about me,” she said. With this issue lingering since May 2021, her siblings and her have had to deal with the emotional toll it has taken on them, but for Chimamanda, this is bigger than her family. “One of the reasons that I want to talk about this publicly is I don’t want what happened to us to happen to any other person. I don’t want that for anybody”.

She stated that there were other things she could have said about the priest when she spoke at the church, but that she decided not to, out of respect for the forum. She revealed that the same priest had harassed her family about cash previously when they wanted to bury their father in 2020.

She said that the family presented a cow to the church, and the priest “was upset” because “we should have monetised it”, he wanted cash instead of the cow. She also explained, “when I gave money to the church for the Bazaar, because I knew that he always wants cash, I made sure to go and get cash because if you write a cheque or want to do a bank transfer, he doesn’t want that, he wants the cash”.

Chimamanda emphasised that she was not at all making a blanket condemnation of the Nigerian Catholic Church, contrary to the misrepresentation by the priest. She stated that furthermore, she has a lot of respect for many in the Church hierarchy. It should be noted that she was specifically referring to the actions of her hometown parish priest, Father Eze.

Of course, no one is accusing Fr. Christopher Ezeh of any illicit behaviour. As the adage goes “innocent until proven guilty”. However, as we have seen in many cases when individuals insist on cash-only dealings (not just in the church but in general), it gives cause for concern as to whether funds are being diverted from the intended destination.

In the absence of any other logical or reasonable explanation, the only conclusion one can draw is that Father Ezeh behaved in such an outlandish way in a sacred venue at a funeral mass, which shocked and distressed not only the Adichie family and their guests - but even the regular parishioners in the congregation, due to his rage at the issues he brought up.

One cannot find any other reason for this rage, other than that guilty conscience which sometimes (even unconsciously) afflicts wrong-doers and leads them to vociferously condemn others, even those who have not criticised them personally either privately or publicly: but who have just criticised the same type of wrongdoing in general terms.

Privately, others have subsequently shared stories with the family about Father Ezeh, but confessed that they have been too intimidated to publicly complain, as he has been the parish priest for many years and has managed to get himself viewed favourably by Church leadership.

Even for well-to-do Abba townspeople, talking publicly about tyrannical behaviour by their parish priest is not something that can be done lightly, let alone for Abba villagers who regularly attend St. Paul’s.

When asked if the priest had reached out to explain his actions, Chimamanda confirmed that he had not. She herself could not explain it. “Nobody has faced any consequence. We have not received any apology. The wrong that we suffered has not been righted, so how much worse would it be for the people who do not have the platform that I have?” she said.

Chimamanda revealed that the actions of the priest have made the grieving process much more difficult for her and her siblings. “I cannot help but think of one of the beatitudes, ‘Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted”. “Instead of comforting us, he increased our pain”, she stated. She added, “It kills my spirit that this happened at my mother’s funeral.”

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