Shock and intrigue enveloped the parish priest and the entire faithful of St. Thesesa’s Catholic Parish, Nguru in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State as one of their sons, Jude Chinonso Amadi deceived them, including his parents, making them believe that he has been ordained a deacon(priest) of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis in Rome.
According to THE LEADER, a Catholic newspaper, Mr. Amadi couched his gimmicks so cleverly that no one was able to detect his true position, until a rousing reception and thanksgiving mass were successfully held in his honour by his family, church and the community.
Mr. Amadi, in connivance with his sponsors, forged documents for banns of his Deaconate ordination, dated July 24, 2013, written with the official letter head of the Society of St. Paul(Paulines) and signed by one fake Rev. Fr. Williams James(SSP), who acted as the delegate Superior to the fake reverend.
In the banns addressed to St. Theresa’s Catholic Parish, Nguru, the Society of St. Paul in Dugbe, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, allegedly informed that their student, Jude Amadi, had been approved for deaconate ordination.
The banns went further to state that the ordination would take place on September 7, 2013 at the St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome.
All this while, Jude had verbally maintained that his ordination took place on August 30 by Pope Francis in Rome.
Narrating how the entire scene unfolded, the parish priest of St. Theresa’s Parish, Nguru, Rev. Fr. Ikem Ogugua, said he met Jude as soon as he was posted to the parish on September 1, 2010 when he gave him the impression that he was a seminarian with the Society of St. Paul.
He also said the entire Nguru community had the same impression and were not surprised to hear the banns announcing his deaconate ordination.
Fr. Ogugua told THE LEADER that they did not entertain any doubt until after the thanksgiving mass, when Jude began to parade himself and pontificate as a deacon of the Catholic Church.
Luck, however, ran out on the fake priest after he had assisted at Mass at St. John’s Catholic Church, Igondu, Lagos, when the parish priest, Rev. Fr. Cletus Anyanwu asked to know his identity, the smart fake reverend introduced himself as a deacon of Paulines, Ibadan.
Fr. Anyanwu, who also had a seminarian from the Society of St. Paul, immediately invited him to welcome Jude. But, the seminarian could not identify him as a deacon of their society.
This prompted the priest to alert the Superior General of the congregation, Rev. Fr. John Watacura, who put up a disclaimer on the person of Jude Amadi.
The matter was then reported to the home parish priest of Jude Amadi, Rev. Fr. Ikem Ogugua who commenced investigations only to discover that the said Jude had deceived the entire parish and the community. He said with the information Jude gave them about his ordination as a deacon, the parish was already preparing for his priestly ordination which was said to come in April next year.
As if that was not enough, having realised that his game with the Paulines were up, Mr. Amadi changed tactics and started claiming that he had switched over to the Crossian Congregation based in Enugu.
He then contracted one Stanley to act as his superior in the congregation.
Jude and his accomplice started making plans on how he would travel to Cameroon under the guise of the Crossians.
But, the original Crossian Congregation in Enugu got the wind of the move, they visited the home parish of Jude in Imo State last week where they met with Fr. Ogugua.
It was then they alerted the police about the fake deacon, and the police nabbed him for impersonation three days later on November 28,when he returned for onward movement to Cameroon.
It was learnt that before his arrest, the youths of the community had trooped to the Imo Airport weeks before with traditional dances to welcome their new deacon, fake Rev. Jude Chinonso Amadi on ‘arrival from Italy’, with pomp and celebration.
It was gathered that Mr. Amadi was expelled from the Seminary in 2010. He is currently cooking off his heels at the police in Ngor Okpala
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