Dunamis Church.
There is a mixed reactions on the new gigantic huge building. Some applauded the development while some refer it as waste of money. Many southern Nigerians said it would have been better had if the building is situated in Port Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar ,Awka, or any other place in southern Nigeria.
Below is an article on it:
I was a first year undergraduate student 
of UNN more than a decade ago when I tuned in to NTA to watch Paul Enenche of Dunamis Church vibrating under his own anointing. Frankly, dude was good in his magical skills as well as oratory. I did pay him some attention for some long minutes to observe his styles. Throughout that ministration, Enenche’s number — (maybe his personal number or not) — appeared frequently at the base of the TV. Enenche himself severally asked anyone who needs “prayers and counseling” to call him with that number. Curious and critical of Nigerian pastors, I decided to experiment with the number. I sent a text message to the number saying that I need to be prayed for and counseled.
Man replied me that I was held down by too many wicked demons and that I should make some payment for “prayers and counseling”. I replied again in this manner: “I think you are fraud, pastor”. No reply came again till today.
More than 10 years after, man has grown in the scam business and has proceeded to build “the largest church Auditorium in the world” and not the largest hospital or largest science research centre or largest hub for startups and young people’s businesses. Not any of those, but the largest space for clapping and singing — in one of the poverty-paralyzed addresses of the mankind.
In Igbo land, the orthodox churches, including the catholic church, are competing with each other in acquiring new lands and erecting more churches and halls that have no direct effect or impact on the life and human development of its poor congregants. The era of getting free landspaces in or around “evil forest” where Okonkwọ and Ụnọka were taken to rot because of their abominable deaths has gone. These churches, since the early 21st century, get money and buy landspaces to the tune of millions, build churches to high tastes where people go and clap and sing and leave. Yet these churches have some of the worst hospitals and hospital facilities that were even built and provided by the early Irish and English missionaries in the early 20th century. They couldn’t maintain the hospitals and improve on them as handed over by the missionaries, instead they build more new churches, halls and rectories. If you’re a keen observer of the early and mid 20th century Igboland with regards to church, you’d notice that the white missionaries endeavored to build more public facilities than churches. Observe that there were many “central schools” in different Igbo towns that served for both school (during the week) and church (weekend). That is a signification of the priority in their efforts at human development. Also, observe that the government saw there were many schools, hence their thirst for taking them over. If the missionaries had built more church buildings, government wouldn’t have had any interest in taking over of schools. I wish a postgraduate student of history or religious studies would undertake to analyze and show the exponential increase in number of churches in Igbo land since 21st century. Taken together, Nigerian religious circle (Christianity in particular) is more interested in making more money than in building people and lifting many from poverty through realistic and direct people-oriented projects.
If you ever have a loved one or yourself get cancer, you’d then realize that there are only two radiotherapy machines in the whole Nigeria, and you’d then understand why there should less church buildings that cost so much but worthless for humanity and more research and problem-solving centres that would save lives.
“Largest church Auditorium in the world” in one of the poorest nations of the world is a big disgrace and not anything of honor or pride. Remain ashamed together with Enenche himself!
By
©CHIJIOKE NGOBILI, 2018