A Catholic priest of 16 years, Dr. Echezona Obiagbaosogu, who resigned and joined the traditional religion, shares with CHISOM OZ his decision to leave the priesthood
Where are you from?
I am Dr Echezona Augustine Obiagbaosogu. I hail from Isseke in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. I will be 50 years old in a few months.
Recently, a report went viral that you dropped the cassock for traditional religion and have also become a native doctor, which the Igbo call ‘Dibia’. Can you tell us the circumstances that led to your conversion after about 17 years of being a Catholic priest?
Yes, I dropped the cassock, but I did not drop God, and for me, religion is one. Or rather, let us put it this way: religion can divide, but when you understand the worship of God from the perspective of your spirituality, you will know that you can worship God anywhere. Yes, I left the Catholic priesthood, but I still worship God, and I am a traditionalist.
You can call me a hybrid Christian; I believe in the traditions and culture of our people. The media reported that I left the priesthood after 17 years to become a native doctor, but we need to clarify what a native doctor is. The truth is that I left the priesthood after 16 years. The issue of being a native doctor needs to be properly defined.
Who is a native doctor? If a native doctor is what I understand it to be, then I am now a native doctor. If someone undergoes medical training, the person is called a medical doctor; then, someone who undergoes training in African and traditional religions can be called a native doctor. But you know, people always attach a negative connotation to everything about traditional religion, and that is wrong. It is wrong to say that native doctors are evil people.
Why do you think people have the impression that native doctors are evil?
This is part of the misconception that people like me want to spend their time, resources, and life to correct. Traditional religion is not bad; some people practicing it are bad because they are bad people in their own right, and not because the religion is bad. By the way, researchers have categorized native doctors into three categories – ‘dibia afa’, ‘dibia aja’, ‘dibia ogwu’, but it is far more than that.
However, people think that traditional religious practices tend to negatively influence practitioners.
It is not true. The religion of our forefathers does not tend to corrupt any practitioner. It is not the religion that negatively influences or corrupts practitioners; it is the person you associate with. Possibly, it is when you have had an association with a bad native doctor that you get corrupted.
Essentially, the African religion that I know does not corrupt anybody, just as Christianity does not corrupt anybody. But you can meet a bad pastor, or a bad man or woman of God, those who always harp on tithes to hoodwink people, and those who commit all kinds of things on their altars, shortchanging people and taking advantage of their vulnerability.
However, when another pastor comes in and trains under such a person, what do you expect? Of course, the person picks up that idea. So, it is about the person in the shrine or the altar and not the shrine or altar that corrupts.
Many believe that your dropping the cassock might have been influenced by discoveries through reading, travels, or dreams. Which of these influenced your conversion?
All of them did. Life is a process. The only thing constant in life is change itself. Change happens to everybody. If a person tunes themselves to the way of change, then that person will be able to identify what shapes their destiny. Sometimes people run away from change, but people can become so fixed and stagnant that they don’t give room for any change.
Yes, everyone is a product of their environment; the environment could be bad, or it could be good. I trained as a Catholic priest, and it was a wonderful experience. My years in the seminary before I became a priest were wonderful, and if I look back and remember my formation and my experience as a priest, I feel pride, and I don’t regret any of the encounters I had.
In the same way, I don’t regret anything I have done today, and I will not regret anything I do tomorrow. So, at the moment, I am proud of whatever decision I have made for myself today.
Everyone is a product of their environment, whether it is in travel, studies, dreams, or encounters. I am strong in my decision because I commune with God, and I had a personal encounter with Him. A lot of factors were responsible for my conversion, including travels, experiences, studies, and revelations with God, and all these factors played a role in this process.
In your new role as a traditionalist or native doctor, how do you intend to impact society compared to your former role as a priest?
My role has not changed. Nothing has changed in me; possibly only the nomenclature has changed. As far as I know, my motto has always been ‘For the good of humanity’. It is just the mode or platform that has changed. Formerly, I was doing it in the Christian way, now, I am a traditionalist. What is the essence of the mode or platform that will be counterproductive to your destiny and encounter with God?
Religion divides; we should be talking about our spirituality; our relationship with God is the essential thing. The only difference is that this is being done through different platforms. I remain who I am, and even though I find myself in traditional religion, the only thing that has changed is the gown or the cassock, as you may choose to call it. Beyond the change of cassock, nothing has changed; it is the same person. My service is to humanity, and not to human persons.
A lot of people think that, unlike in the past, today’s native doctors have introduced the practice or worship of ‘okeite’ (related to a deity for money-rituals), which has become widespread among youths in Igboland, thereby fuelling the get-rich-quick syndrome. What is your opinion about this, and how do you think religious institutions can tackle this issue?
Generally, morality has declined in this part of the world. Even here in the university, you see things among the youth that are bizarre, and you begin to ask yourself, ‘How did we get to this stage?’ It is not just about ‘okeite’. Generally, morality has declined among our youths, both male and female. If you ask me, I will say there is a culture of quick money, miracle money that crept into Igbo society.
It didn’t begin with ‘okeite’; it didn’t begin today. It has been there for decades. And how did it come in? It came in because a certain form of religion crept into our society. I keep telling people that the two problems we have created for ourselves are the advent of Pentecostalism. I don’t mean Pentecostal churches, but that brand that admits miracle money, and you can see it in how they use it to bamboozle people, trying to capture their emotions and mental states to hoodwink them to do their bidding.
Before you left the priesthood, was there any doctrine you detested in the Christian faith that made you suddenly abandon it?
I did not have any issue with doctrine. My motivation is personal, and as a matter of principle, it has nothing to do with doctrine. I have absolutely nothing against any doctrine because for me, whether it is in traditional religion or Christianity, doctrine plays a role; doctrine is about the creation of ideas and narratives that will mold you towards an end.
The end is the worship of God. Christianity molds and fashions its doctrine to be in sync with the path they are mapping out for the end in view, which is a better worship of God and a better relationship with God. Don’t forget also that traditional religion has its doctrine; it may not be written. Every religion has its doctrine. Some are written, and some are not written.
Will you want to be involved in voodoo or magic to make you influential?
What is magic? Native doctors don’t do magic. Magic is a universal phenomenon. Anybody can do magic – Christians can do magic; traditionalists can do magic. Magic is science; researchers have come to believe that science is that activity that was once magic.
Like what traditional rainmakers are doing, people say they are magicians, and they ask how someone can make rain fall from the sky. That is a layman’s understanding, but people like me have studied it and I can tell you it is pure science. What the white man has done is to codify it, and it now has a scientific formula, but magic is the in-thing for ancient religions. Every religion practices magic.
So, would you say you have found fulfillment in your newfound religion, and how did your family, who are Christians, receive the news of your conversion from a reverend father to a native doctor and a rainmaker?
I have said that I don’t regret crossing over, and whatever I have done is the decision I have taken. In this part of the world, it is not so easy for people to take this bold step. The white man does it because they understand that life is a continuum, but in this part of the world, because of our brand of religion, such a decision seems to taste sour.
Nobody will jump at that option when presented, but I can tell you in all honesty that my family is my greatest support in this movement of leaving the priesthood because they understood me. I don’t know how. For me, it is still a miracle. There were things they were discovering. I can tell you that my family members have been my greatest support.
Some were not too quick to say yes, but over time, they said, ‘If that is what you want, so be it.’ There was no objection from anywhere, and even if there was, it was my life, and I don’t owe anybody any explanation. I was the one who chose to go into the priesthood, and when I felt it was no longer what I should do, I had to make it clear that it was time to leave.
How long did it take before you made that decision?
It took a very long time before I made that decision. When I told my family members all the processes I had gone through before the very day I made the decision known to them, they approved it and said if that was what I had decided, they would respect my decision.
Did you officially inform the church that you were leaving, and what was their reaction?
Yes, I did. I was not obliged to inform the Catholic Church, but I wrote to my bishop officially, telling him the reasons I did not think I would be able to perform any longer as a priest and that I wanted to take my gentle bow.
What about your congregants, some of whom may see you as a role model? How did they feel or react?
Life is about me; I am the one living my life. Some people look at me as their role model, and I feel for such people. There are really quite a number of them, and I really feel their concern. But this is about my personal decision and self-preservation, and it is in everybody.
There were reports that you were married while being a priest. How true is that?
I can tell you in all honesty that the report is not true. I did not have any wife as a priest; I did not have any children as a priest.
Are you married now, and when did you marry?
Yes, I am. I got married when I left the priesthood.
When exactly did you leave the priesthood, and how has the experience been?
I left in 2022. When it comes to the relationship with God, you cannot time God. So, asking me how long I have been in traditional religion is like asking me when I began to worship God. It means timing God, and you cannot time God.
Traditional worshippers have appealed to the government for their public holidays, just as Christians and Muslims enjoy their public holidays. Do you agree with them?
They have not formed a quorum; when they do, I am sure the government will listen to them.
As a lecturer in African Traditional Religion at the University of Awka, how do you feel about African sciences not being recognized?
It is the truth, and that was part of the reason I went into this research. Our practices and research are being lost because we are not documenting them for posterity. I have always challenged my students to look deeper into African values and given them assignments to encourage them to explore African reality because no one else will do it for us. If we wait for the white man to do it, it will not happen. I can boldly tell you that African culture, esoteric practices, spirituality, and magic are all good.
