Congregation abandons sick Reverend

Culled from Punch:

A parish Reverend of an orthodox church in Bariga, Lagos has become incapacitated after a strange fall at the entrance of his church.

The fall had turned into a bone problem on which the family’s wealth is being expended.

Mr. Amos Oladipupo, 55, a father of two, told Punch Metro that since the sickness refused to abate, his church members had also abandoned him.

“I used to have over 50 members, but by the time I returned from a long treatment I discovered I was left with only five church members,” he said.

Narrating the incident amid tears, he said, “It had just rained that day, and I wanted to take something outside.

“I suddenly fell on the pavement at the side door of the church.

“I initially experienced a little body ache, but I ignored that because it was expected after a fall like that.

“I became worried after  the pain kept increasing. It became so unbearable that I had to see a doctor who told me it was rheumatoid arthritis, a critical bone problem and that I would require an operation”

Asked if he had not prayed on the matter, he said, “Many pastors and prophets together with some church members have had vigils and prayers for me. I think it is their prayers that have sustained me till today.”

He said he had struggled with the condition for three years with pain killer drugs until his doctor advised him in April 2012 that he might not survive the trauma if nothing urgent was done to save the situation.

Oladipupo said in his desperate bid for relief, his doctor helped to arrange with his friend, a specialist in the traditional method of bone setting who was coming to the private hospital he was using.

He said there was a conflict between the two men when the bone specialist failed to share the money he was collecting from him (Oladipupo) with the owner of the hospital. This made the owner of the hospital to also push him out while the bone man told him to stop calling his phone number.

Oladipupo, who hails from Abeokuta in Ogun State and has two children who are both secondary school students, appealed to Nigerians to save him from dying.

He said, “I cannot walk, I crawl with my hands to enable me move around, and life is really unbearable. The doctors said I need N1m for the operation to save me. I don’t have a kobo. Nigerians should help me. ’

The Public Relations Officer of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Bariga branch, Mr. Moses Olutoye, told our correspondent that Oladipupo before the accident used to be a fervent and zealous prophet before he was incapacitated by the accident.

He said the division within CAN in the state had made it impossible to get help for him.