•Bleeds from head, hands while prophesying
•Pulls down evil shrines, trees •The story of Sister Martina Oforka
From ALOYSIUS ATTAH, Onitsha (princemmy@yahoo.com)
Call this one another wonder of the century in Nigeria, and you would not be far from the truth. A Catholic nun in a remote Enugu village bleeds mysteriously on her forehead, palms, eyes and feet like the re-enactment of the passion of Jesus Christ during crucifixion by the Jews. Not only that, she receives revelations about many hidden things thereby unearthing and destroying several charms believed to have been used to chain the destinies of men.
On Holy Thursday, few days to Easter Sunday of 2012, this reporter embarked on a tortuous 12-hour journey to Umuagbedo Agu, Amachalla community in Nsukka, Enugu State.
In a local primary school in the community, the Last Supper mass, according to Roman Catholic tradition, was in progress. Time was 10:30 pm and a sea of heads covered the entire field. A woman with blue wrapper tied round the waist was discussing with a lady, telling her that she was already noticing signs and was afraid that if the priest did not end the mass before midnight, the passion may meet her inside the school field.
The officiating priest, identified as Fr. Ekwueme, finished the Eucharistic consecration and Sister Martina joined him in sharing the Holy Communion. There were so many people at the mass and sharing the communion lasted long. At a time, Sister Martina became restless and stopped.
The mass dragged on till about 11:59 pm. Suddenly the sister shouted in pain and beckoned on her assistant, Eucharia, to come and hold her hands. Sister Martina’s two hands had suddenly ruptured through the skin on the back of her palms and she started bleeding immediately. It looked exactly as if nails had suddenly and pierced through the two hands, leaving a gaping hole that bled leaving her reeling in pain.
In the twinkle of an eye, she ran to her house some metres away from the venue of the mass, causing a stir. Those who noticed the uproar also ran after her to occupy vantage positions for the event of the midnight.
This reporter joined the running crowd and ended up in one of the rooms of a four-bedroom bungalow she occupies. It was later realized that the room serves as her chapel where the priests working at Holy Cross Parish, Ikpamodo, the mother parish of Amachalla Station, have already established for her the monstrance containing the blessed Eucharist for perpetual adoration.
On reaching the room, the crowd surged forward, but the local security provided by Men of Order and Discipline Movement (MOD), a paramilitary security of the Catholic Church, controlled the situation.
Sister Martina went into deep agonizing pain, shouting for help as the blood continued to ooze out. A medical doctor, Sylvanus Nnadi, came in handy. The doctor tore a bandage and soaked the bleeding hands and legs with it and tied them to control the bleeding.
Suddenly, an unusual aura and aroma pervaded the entire room. The blood had begun to smell like red wine used in Eucharistic mass by Catholics. By this time, Fr. Ekwueme had concluded the mass in the primary school and with other worshippers trooped to Sister Martina’s compound. Fr. Ekwueme was also joined by Fr. Aaron Okogu and Fr. Samson.
Sister Martina, who was already lying on the rugged floor, began to bleed again from her forehead. Like a replica of the Mel Gibson film, The Passion of Christ, she began to manifest strange acts that baffled everybody. She moaned in great pains, as if an invisible hand was driving a crown of thorns down on her head.
At a stage, she began prophetic prayer. In a state of complete loss of her surroundings, she prayed for priests for continuous life of chastity. She also prayed for the sick, saying there was angelic healing going on. She said God was angry over the widespread of abortion in the world today. She mentioned the name of a small child and her mother, Perpmario Ebere, who was among the crowd and requested that they should be allowed to come inside the room to see her. She also requested to be given the Holy Communun.
A priest gave her one piece of host, but surprisingly, when she opened her mouth again, the white communiun was mixed with blood. Her white apparel had been soaked with blood by now and at a time she momentarily passed out. She also gave several messages about Nigeria, the church, leaders of the community, and plans by occult people to harm the children of God, among others. The drama continued amidst prayer and singing by the large crowd outside the compound and adjoining houses till the early morning hours when people began to disperse.
One week later, this reporter visited Sister Martina who was hale and hearty attending to guests. After introduction, she said: “Oh, whatever happens during the passion time is beyond me. It is a divine encounter and I cannot explain what I did then. Besides, I don’t talk to the press.
However, for the past one year and three months, Sunday Sun had been following the life, person and activities of Sister Martina. During the holy week of last Easter, precisely the Holy Thursday preceding the Good Friday, the scenario was almost the same, if not more severe. The passion was also witnessed by three Catholic priests and about four reverend sisters from another convent. This time, Sister Martina charged Ovoko women in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State, who were having challenges of faith in their community to fast and pray. She told the women that they will emerge victorious in a court case coming up the following day, which eventually came to pass.
Last week, Sunday Sun visited Sister Martina’s place again. She vehemently refused to talk, but one of her assistants intervened thus: “Press man, you have bothered sister for so long and you should realize she is not seeking publicity. She can’t talk to you, but at least I authorize you now to write what you see provided there is no exaggeration and sensationalism in your report.”
Who is Sister Martina?
Born September 28, 1975, Sister Martina Oforka hails from Oraifite in Ekwusigo Local Government Area, Anambra State. Her parents, John and Joy Okoma Oforka, died when she was tender in age. Sister Martina was trained by some benefactors and contacts with some reverend sisters in Enugu. After her secondary school education, she joined the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour Congregation founded by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ede in Elele, Rivers State. She left the congregation by divine revelations in 1996, but eventually was consecrated a Religious in the Order of Virgins on October 6, 2000, by Bishop Ayo Maria Atoyebi, Catholic Bishop of Ibrin. Ten years later, on March 2, 2010, the Holy Father and now Pope Emeritus, Pope Benedict XVI, granted her papal blessings.
According to Mrs. Rose Onyekewlu, who was Martina’s benefactor, she started manifesting signs of a special breed at the age of nine. She initially stayed with her half brother, John Oforka, but at the age of 9 she went with some relations to the monastery. When she returned, her brother, who was a Pentecostal, insisted that Martina should stop saying the Hail Mary and must join him in his church, but Martina refused and was sent out of the house as punishment.
Mrs Onyekwelu disclosed that as a house help to some women, Sister Martina did her secondary school at Holy Rosary College, Enugu, and was supported by Rev. Fr. Simeon Eneh, then a seminarian who sent her to one Madam Ukoh through the help of Rev. Sister Maria Goretti of the Daughters of Divine Love (DDL) congregation.
“When she finished her WASC in 1992, she came home and told me that the Mother General of DDL sisters wanted her to teach in a nursery school as she prepared for JAMB. She taught in the nursery school for some time and joined the Sisters of Jesus the Saviour, Elele, founded by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ede. I persuaded her to stay with the DDL Sisters but she told me she was attracted by the Eucharistic Adoration and Marian procession at Elele. She said she was going to write to the DDL Mother General and other sisters, including the one she takes as her second mother, Sr. Bernadine Ikeji, to tell them she had joined the sisters at Elele.
“One day, we visited her at the Elele Convent and she told me that as she was praying, Christ told her that the place was not for her. The next time I visited her she told me that Christ was telling her to leave the place, but she refused and as a result, she had been having malaria which refused to get better despite all treatment.
Another day, I saw her at home and she told me she had left Elele. I asked her if she was expelled and she said nobody expelled her; that she left on her own. What convinced me was that the sisters from Elele were coming to beg her to come back, but she refused.
She eventually left home for Port Harcourt to see her ‘mother’, Sr. Bernadine Ikeji, from where she began to manifest this passion signs.
Sister Martina and Stigmata
Sunday Sun learnt that Sister Martina first manifested the signs of stigmata on March 2, 1997. At first, it started with flagellation, a mysterious beating whereby an invisible hand will cane her seriously, leading to wounds, pains and marks on her body. It was so severe then that it took series of prayers of supplication before it was changed to passion and bleeding on the head, hands, feet, side ribs and eyes. Since 1997 till now, Martina experiences such strange signs all through the Lenten season before Easter, Holy Thursdays preceding Good Fridays and every November 1, known as All Saints Day by the Catholics, preceding the November 2, also known as Holy Souls Day.
In Onitsha, Sunday Sun met Rev. Fr. Dr. Benjamin Udeh, a lecturer and chaplain currently at Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe, who was undergoing further studies at the Catholic Institute of West Africa (CIWA), Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the very place Sister Martina first manifested such signs.
Fr. Benjy, who saw it all and had followed the life and ministry of Sister Martina since then gave an eye-witness account.
“On the last week of February 1997, Sister Martina came to CIWA, Port Harcourt, to see her sister, Rev. Sr. Bernadine Ikeji, and saw me there, too. She later went back to Enugu to see another sister and returned on March 3, 1997. That same day she told me the story of her encounter with the Lord thus: she said while she was in Enugu on March 2, 1997, she was sleeping in the living room of the DDL convent at Uwani, Enugu, when around 12 midnight a picture hanging on the wall fell down. When she woke up and moved to replace it, she turned on the light and another picture also fell mysteriously. It was then that a voice from no specific direction spoke to her saying: “My child, I came to you several times but you refused to come, why?” This was repeated three times and she replied: “Lord, if you are the one calling me, I am tired of you because your ways are full of suffering”.
“To cut the long story short, I was reluctant to believe the story at first until events prove that the Spirit of God was moving in her. I heard her confession that night and gave her communion around 2:30 am on March 4, 1997, and everything began to happen very fast.
“I observed that night that whoever wanted to speak to her, either our Lord or Our Lady, speaks through Sr. Martina’s mouth and she responds. This is because one would hear Martina speak and also hear her respond.
After the communion, our Lord told her, “On March 13, 1997, I will give you Holy Communion; I will also give you another holy communion to give to my chosen ones, the priests, to show that I am the Lord their God who is consecrated on the altar. Martina then said, My Lord, I am not worthy to do that.” Then the Lord said, “I am the Lord who sent you, you will receive this communion on Thursday, March 13, 1997.”
“After this encounter, she then began to suffer the passion of our Lord. At a point, it was too severe for her to come out for morning mass. On March 11, 1997, after the morning mass I sent Holy Communion to her as she was still in a trance. When I came, she muttered into Sr. Bernadine’s ear as she was too weak to speak out, to ask me to pray one Our Father, One Hail Mary and one Glory be to God, and I did so. She then asked for another priest, Fr. Alphonsus Okoji, of Abakaliki Diocese, who was asked to repeat the same prayer. I then gave her communion, and she told us to kneel down before the small altar there and repeat the prayer. We did and she then called on us, and brought out her tongue, and behold, the sacred host was still on her tongue, but swollen, the surface was whiter than usual. From the lower part it began to pour out blood. We were surprised as the bleeding was such that one needed not be confused it was anything else.
Again, on March 13, 1997, after the morning mass, between 8 am and 8:30 am, I brought her holy communion as she was in serious pains and too weak to walk. She was in a trance and told me to repeat that prayer for the sins of the world, which I did. She then requested that three other priests be called in, four priests came. She told them to say the same prayers individually, they did so. Then she said: “When you receive one sacred host, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are contained in it. We are three persons but one God. It is I who fed the multitude with few loaves of bread.”
She then brought out her tongue, and I gave her the small host (Holy Communion). She told us, five priests and Sister Bernadine, to kneel down and repeat that prayer for the sins of the world. We did that, and then she brought out her tongue. To our greatest amazement, the one host has turned into three equal hosts of the same size and shape with the one I gave her. This was witnessed by five priests and one Rev. Sister, namely: Fr. Mathew Arinze, Isele-Ukwu diocese; Fr. Alphonsus Okoji, Abakaliki Diocese; Fr. Uchenna Maduka, Okigwe Diocese; myself, Fr. Benjamine Udeh, and Sr. Bernadine Ikeji, of DDL congregation.
On another occasion, we were at a vigil when she received Holy Communion from heaven straight into her mouth and another two large hosts, which she dropped inside the empty ciborium to the amazement of all of us.
More strange happenings
Sunday Sun learnt that Sister Martina later left Port Harcourt and settled in a remote village in Enugu-Ezike, Enugu State, through divine direction. There, her gift manifested in several ways and she continued to do wonders.
Fr. Benjy and another brother, who pleaded anonymity, gave Sunday Sun insight on how she relocated.
“On the night of September 14, 1996, the Lord spoke to Sister Martina saying, ‘You have finished the work I told you to do here. Pack now and go to another place where I will show you. There you have a lot of work to do for me.’ The message was repeated again in 2007 with a specific instruction that the place she was going to settle was a strong hold where many people’s destinies had been destroyed and tied down by evil forces.”
Sister Martina first alighted at Obollo Afor and trekked many miles to Enugu-Ezike without asking questions. On divine direction, she settled at Umauagebedo Agu, Amachalla community, where she lived in a house already in ruins as a result of mysterious deaths. The house, a four-bedroom bungalow, had been deserted as many members of the household had all died except one man who was on the run for his safety and doing menial jobs in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Terror to demons
In the course of investigations, Sunday Sun gathered that Sister Martina soon settled down to work in the community and began to show signs and wonders under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Her prayers not only restored life in the deserted compound but the surviving young man who lived like a fugitive returned home, got married and his means of livelihood was revived.
Martina was to embark on several land cleansing prayers, both in the community and other places far and near. In some places, she mysteriously detected dangerous charms buried beneath the ground, which had been causing havoc to people. She not only exhumed those charms but destroy them liberating such families spiritually from the bondage of both seen and unseen evils.
At Inyi community, there was a time evil people held sway in the area. They killed women randomly, harvesting their vital body parts, which they allegedly sold to a syndicate in far way Abuja. The situation was so tense that even when members of the community knew those behind the atrocities, no one dared lift a finger against them for fear of being dealt with. Then, while the storm raged, no one dared walk alone at night in the community, but on getting information about the situation, Sister Martina decided to confront it headlong.
“She would storm the community around midnight, preaching the gospel of repentance to perpetrators of evil and also daring the hardened among them to challenge her. Sister Martina waged a relentless war against these evil men and with the grace of God she succeeded in running some of them out of town, some repented while others were arrested and prosecuted in Abuja. She rallied some women of the community who rose against such evil practices, marched in black attires alongside Umu Ada Igbo (Igbo maidens) in Enugu. Today, Inyi community is free from ritual killers and rapists. Not only that, she also succeeded in attracting a parish house with resident priests to the community, which helped in turning around the spiritual welfare of the once dreaded community,” Anthony Ugwuanyi said in Nsukka.
A nun and her ‘children’
Though, Sister Martina has vowed perpetual chastity, her house brims with several children and the aged.
Some of the children were picked up from the gutters dumped by teenage girls with unwanted pregnancy. One of the children named Paschal, who is now four years old, was found in a carton behind the fence of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).
One of Sister Martina’s assistants said she was praying one day when she got a revelation that a little baby boy had been thrown away to die in the bush. In the same revelation she was given a phone number to call a priest she’d never met before, who was studying in the university. She instructed him to go to a specified location behind the campus and pick up the baby. The priest complied and saw the whole thing as directed and since then Sister Martina has been taking care of the boy. Paschal and other children who lost their parents at infancy are being taken care of by Sister Martina in her home.
Loving the poor and afflicted
Some residents of Amachalla and Enugu-Ezike, who spoke with Sunday Sun, revealed that Sister Martina had also felled many evil trees hindering people’s destinies. Currently, there is a museum in her compound where assorted destroyed charms, shrines, occult materials and masquerades are kept.
Francis Uja, former secretary of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, said he was rescued from a deadly poison through the prayers of Sister Martina and has been monitoring her activities for many years. He disclosed that many deadly shrines in some surrounding communities in Enugu State and beyond had been destroyed by the mystic nun.
“Here, we have seen a shrine made with four human heads and known as egunakpa ike destroyed by Jesus Christ through her. There is another one called abadainyi, oke okpo and an evil tree known as ebe ato, which the progenitors used three human beings to plant. This tree had caused untold havoc and anybody that wanted to fell it died in the process. But when the community consulted Sister Martina, the tree not only fell after prayers but the remnants became as firewood for many people. There was also a time she destroyed a charm in which it was alleged that a child was killed, fried and put inside a coffin by the owner of the charm who was a deadly witch doctor.
But the most significant thing in the life of Sister Martina is that she doesn’t charge any money for all this selfless service. She feeds more than 40 people in her household and yet does not complain. Right now, she runs a nursery and primary school in our community and that is the only school within this area where children have access to computer training and high standard of learning.
A strong benefactor of Sister Martina’s ministry, Anselm Okonkwo Onu, who is currently building an orphanage for Sister Martina in his community, Ogbodu, was said to have met Martina at a crossroad in his life. The Bangkok-based businessman had experienced series of misfortunes abroad and was contemplating returning home empty-handed when somebody recommended him to Sister. Martina. The nun prayed for him and later visited his homestead where another evil tree, oho Ogbodu, was later cut down. Before the cleansing, it was gathered that all young men who wanted to build houses in the community died mysteriously, leaving behind uncompleted buildings everywhere. New cars and other goodies of life were rare commodities in the area, but after the prayers and cutting down of the tree, which condemned four Dormers engines, fortune began to smile on Anselm and all his seized assets and opportunities were restored. In appreciation Anselm returned home and built an ultramodern multi-million naira church for his people and erected a modern orphanage and residence for the nun. He had earlier bought a Sienna bus for Sister Martina, but surprisingly, in living her ascetic and lowly lifestyle, she doesn’t drive the car which is still parked in the old bungalow. Another businessman benefactor to Sister Martina, Idoko Didymus Sunday, described the sister as a blessing to this generation. He likened her to departed saints of old like St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Padre Pio of Italy.
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