From Nonye Udumiri, Aba
There is an Igbo adage that says, “When an evil act, goes unabated for awhile, it becomes a tradition (ife ojoo gba afo, oburu omenala).
With all due respect to whatever denomination every Christian belongs to, it is high time everyone started asking questions to correct the anomalies going on within churches in Igbo-land.
Prior to this research, it was crystal clear that most people will be offended by this work and will form the usual defensive “God’s warriors” team of defense against the pure truth to be exposed here.
Responses like: “don’t judge, our church don’t do such, don’t talk about my holy church like that! Don’t judge God’s anointed,” and all manner of spiritual militancy and blackmail will be among the feedbacks, but truth must prevail.
Take it or you leave it, the horrific stories about people’s encounters with churches and clergies, during the funerals of their loved ones are numerous to recount.
For how long shall everyone keep quiet and watch the church, its leadership and clergy, turn mournful periods of family’s money spinning event?
Until people rise up and stop what is completely daylight extortion and an outright disrespect of the bereaved family by inconsiderate churches, clergymen who think they have keys to heaven, this evil must continue.
Ernest Okwudili, a victim of the church’s burial extortion told News Echo that what happened to him during his father’s burial can best be described as kidnapping the dead for ransom by the church.
Okwudili, a member of the Catholic Church said that clergymen in Igbo-land especially those in the orthodox churches have been feeding fat by defrauding the bereaved families.
“They tactically used dogmatic and spiritual blackmail to compel families to spend fortune just to bring them to bury a member of their own church.
“It happened to me. With these shameless actions, they also kill the bereaved and whatever remained of their souls and their respect for church.
“For those who have not experienced it, this is how clergy extortion typically happens. Someone dies in a parish. The moment the parish priest gets the news, it instantly turns the clergyman into a vulture.
“The priest stretches his neck out, sharpens his claws and ingests medicine to purge his bowl in anticipation of a feast of the dead.
“It does not matter if the bereaved family is rich or poor, though any sign that someone within the family is of means triggers an exponential surge of greed. And if any family member lives abroad, the eyes of the vulture pop out just as the beaks widen.
“When our churches still had their sanities intact, a report of a brother’s or a sister’s death draws sympathy from the parish priest and pastors.
“That was when parish priests and other clergies knew members that were sick and spent time visiting them and praying for them.
“This time, a report of a member’s death brings out ‘the beast’ in the clergy. Even before the clergy pauses to mutter a prayer for the repose of the deceased’s soul, he first opens the church’s financial book to see if the dead person is in good financial standing.
“It is the same even in cases where the deceased had been sick for a long time, and the family had borrowed above their means to take care of healthcare costs.
“The first thing on the church leaders’ minds the moment the bereaved family knocks at the vicar’s door is money that the dead owes.”
Mrs. Chinenye Nwachukwuka from Oba, Idemili South, Anambra State who is also a member of Church of Nigeria Anglican Communion narrated her own ordeal during her mother’s burial.
“I have full experience on that matter because it has happened to me when I buried my parents. Majority of the church leaders when you’re telling them your predicament especially trying to explain to them that the deceased was very ill and bedridden before death, they’ll not take it serious.
“They believe that since you’re eating, you’re capable of handling anything. When my father died in 2016, a certain religious society within the Anglican Communion asked us to pay certain amount of money of which my father was not even a member.
“We had to pay before they agreed to participate in the burial. When my mother was also buried, it was the same issue. What pains me most is that they don’t consider the financial status of different families when making such demands.
“They don’t even consider the expenses incurred while the person was ill. This issue is really tough in the Anglican Communion. From different monthly dues to tithe and other levies, there is always one or two things to say whenever someone is dead.
“They will always start from when the person stopped paying. Even when they want to come for the burial, they’ll tell you what to keep for them of which when you fail; they’ll threaten that they’ll not come.
“However, if they eventually come, they’ll stand there to remind you what’s remaining. It’s too terrible in my hometown because when you think you’re tired of their demands and goes out there to get another priest to conduct the burial, they’ll stigmatize you with the statement that you went outside to buy a priest that conducted burial in your family.
“They did such to me during my mother’s burial. When the Anglican Communion read out all their demands, my family told them we can’t afford such. They persistently insisted that we must bring all they demanded, so we went out to get a pastor to conduct the burial.
“At the end, they started mocking us that we went outside to buy a priest. I reminded them that same money they were asking for is tantamount to buying them as well to do what they’re claiming we did. They don’t have mercy at all.”
Mr. Okorie Godsgift Ugochuckwu, from Isuochi, Umunneochi LGA of Abia State who is a member of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, said he had similar experience during his father’s burial, but sorted it out amicably with the church.
“It has happened to me during my father’s burial in 2014. When he died, I met the Reverend who told me then that it’s been long my father stopped paying tithes and other levies in the church.
“He said they’ll have to check their register and give me what I must pay. After the checking, I humbly explained to him that my dad had been ill for over four years prior to his death. And that he was with me in Aba before he died.
“I made it clear to him that my father was always paying his levies until he got ill and couldn’t move on his own again. I also explained to him that his illness affected the entire family seriously.
“The Reverend understood my point and agreed to conduct the burial without collecting any money from us. It was truly by God’s grace.”
When asked what would have been his next line of action if the Church had insisted the family must pay before the burial, Okorie said he will bury his father without them and move on with life.
“If they had insisted that I should pay, I can’t rob. I can’t even sell my inherited land just because I want to conduct a burial ceremony.
“A lot of people do that these days and I find it very absurd and unacceptable. I’ve seen people who did clearance of over N200,000-N300,000 in the church just to get approval to perform a burial.
“If they had refused my pleas to come and bury my father, I’ll look for another pastor to do it. If I couldn’t get, I’ll become a pastor for that day and conduct the burial myself.
“Befitting burial is for those who have the money. One cannot say because he witnessed a burial conducted with N100,000,000 and decide to incur debt he cannot repay in the next one hundred years.”
Hon. Cyriacus Ohamaeze, a former president, secretary and current patron of the Catholic Men Organization (CMO) in Aba, Abia State took a different direction to explain reasons behind the demands during burial.
“What’s in the Catholic Church is that we have so many religious groups and belonging to any of them is optional and nobody forces you to join. If you want to worship in the Catholic Church and go, nobody will worry you.
“We have Catholic Women Organization (CWO), Catholic Men Organization (CMO), Catholic Biblical Instructors’ Union (C.B.I.U), and Catholic Youths Organization of Nigeria (CYON) etc. and if you want to belong to any of those religious societies, you must abide by their rules.
“If you’re a member of CMO where I’m currently a patron, normally we have present fee. As a new member, we don’t collect anything from you, but you can decide to do whatever you want nobody will force you.
“The only compulsory levy we have is Present-Fee which is N100 every month. We have burial levies if someone amongst us dies. It all depends on the distance we’re going for the burial. These things I’m telling you are applicable in all the religious societies.
“So, if you’re a member of these groups, you’re not paying until the levies accumulate, that’s when it gets to a level when those societies will be making series of demands to the bereaved family.”
Ohanaeze stressed that before one registers as a member in any of the above groups, the leadership of the group will give the person something like rules and regulations which he or she will go home and study.
“At that time, you have the right to say no to whatever that is written on that paper. If you’re there and that small money you’re not paying it, it will accumulate.
“Before the group will come for your burial, your family must pay. Remember, it’s a group thing and not a Catholic thing. As a member, you’ve been enjoying the money paid by others. Again, if they come for such burial, they’ll give you right.
“We have the Council, the apex body of each parish and they cannot say they’ll not attend the burial of any member. If all those religious groups within the Catholic Church refused to go, the Council must go.
“The Council includes a priest and other leaders in the parish. The church council most times are not more than 15 in number. But it’s in those groups that things are happening in terms of benefits.
“There’s no normal reason for Catholic Church to say they’ll not go for burial except in one instance. We have what is called Annual Membership Card (AMC). It’s a membership revalidation fee to prove that you’re a member of the Catholic Church.
“If you come every year, it’s N200. When you buy the card, take it to the church Secretary to prove that you’re still a member. It’s a kind of roll call. If you’re a member of a parish, and you’re not paying your AMC, it means your name is not in the Church’s ledger.
“It’s the AMC that proves you’re a member. So, without AMC, how will the church know you’re a member? That’s the only case where the church will say the priest will not go for the burial of such a person.”
Mrs. Bridget Ekene, a member of the Apostolic Church said that she is still shocked on how a tribe that claims to be very smart like the Igbo still allows churches to suck them dry during every burial ceremony.
“Our biggest problem is religious hypocrisy.
Ndigbo religiously hypocritical:
Whenever issues like these are raised, you’ll see some of us hiding just because we want to remain in the good book of one Apostle, Pastor or even national council.
“If the dead owes any money to the church, the field wants it taken care of before any burial conversation begins. The church’s mathematical permutation to arrive at the amount owed often shocks me.
“I’ve seen families in most churches leave where they go to negotiate burial levy with over a million naira debts hanging on their necks, most of which the family cannot explain how the church came up with.
“My church has its own problem. I’m not going to say we’re perfect, but I also know where it is worst. In most churches in Igbo-land do you know they now ask and demand that the family settles all outstanding fines and dues owed by every bereaved family member not just that of the dead person?
“Put yourself in the shoes of a family that has gone through a lot, paying hospital bills to save the life of their loved one to no avail and now the church is giving them another hellish treatment.
“When I was small, I was told that the church provides comfort, but now they’ve turned around to bring troubles. Those greedy clergymen do not care if the deceased was not a person of means or one who had children of means.
“A poor woman or man in a village has no chance of seeing clergymen lining up to attend their funerals. Our clergymen do not show up at burials because they have any connection to the dead, but because they will return home with pockets full of money and eat specially prepared food.
“It has become so shameful that churches now specify the number of rice coolers, heaps of pounded yams, and naira lavished pots of soups, stupendously garnished with assorted meat and fish.
“Go to the burial of a rich man, you’ll see hundreds of uninvited clergymen lining up like Almajiris at funerals of people they do not know, only because they heard that the family is rich.
“The most conscienceless part of it is that same people who robbed you during the funeral will expect you to return to the same church on Sunday for thanksgiving.
“On that Sunday, the extortion continues. friends and families who attended the church service with you will be forced to get involved into a fundraising.”
Revivalists, Evangelist Nicholas Ogbonna described some churches position on issue of burial as complete errors that has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity.
“Burial simply means to bury somebody. And what’s burying somebody? It’s just to dig a grave, friends and well wishers will witness it and you lower that person to the grave.
“The enemy (devil) is very subtle. The enemy has not only subtly penetrated every nooks and crannies of Christianity, but has also bastardized it and made a mountain out of a molehill.
“Issues we’re supposed to give attention to, we withdraw from it and now exert our energies and fortunes on issues that are inconsequential.
“All these ostentatious and flamboyance spending, and who buried who, is not only unchristian but paganism. It’s not how you were buried that matters, but how you lived.
“If you go to the scripture, you’ll see the story of the burial of John the Baptist in Matthew Chapter 14 when he was beheaded. Bible said his disciples only came, took his body and buried him and went their way.
“Talk about Jesus who’s the author and finisher of our faith, when he died, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus took him and buried him in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
“It was same with some other people like Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 7 and parts of 8. So, all these shenanigans and noise they are making about burial is an error.”
He stressed that spending money that even the living ends up dying because of the fear of burying the dead, should not be allowed into the church of God.
“It’s a complete error. I’m one of those God has given the grace to help those who are being put under a terrible yoke about burying their heads same with marriages.
“The issue of burial should not be an issue in Christianity. It’s a distraction, a digression and a foolishness of the highest order.
“That’s why I continue to say it and I don’t have apologies to anybody. In the real pattern of burying the dead and its simplicity, I copy a lot from Islam. That pattern should be the Christian way.
“I’m not saying you shouldn’t put somebody in a mortuary. There’s nothing wrong with that. However, to spend much or force people to spend much simply because they want to bury the dead is a complete error.”
He went further to debunk the notion held by some persons that the quality and name of a priest who conducted any burial has any effect on the final resting place of the dead.
“Again, to determine who buried who is another foolishness. Somebody died an occultists, a useless and a very wicked man and someone is saying let’s get a Bishop and a Primate to bury him believing it has effect on eternity. That’s nonsense.
“What matters is how his life was when he was living. Supposedly somebody died, his body sank in an ocean and there was no space for burial? So, what’s the essence of bringing dead bodies to ride on Limousines and others when he never rode on a bicycle?
“What’s happening to Christianity? Have we gone crazy? Why are we making a mountain out of molehill? Why are we making a matter out of a burial, instead of spending money on outreaches and soul winning?
“We spend money in burying the dead who never lived for Christ. So, it doesn’t matter who buried you. What matter is who you lived your life for?”
