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 DAILY GUIDE has learnt that Pastor Nicholas Opoku-Agyeman of the Agric Nzema Calvary Baptist Church, who stunned the entire residents of the Garden City by ending his life via suicide last Monday, was suffering from ‘high blood pressure’ and not HIV/AIDS as it is being speculated.
The pastor, whose bizarre action of taking his own life has come as a big embarrassment to the Baptist Church in Ghana and Christians in general, was even seeking medical treatment at a local hospital.
Associate Pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church and a confidante of the departed Man of God, Rev. Elisha Antwi-Boasiako categorically stated that “apart from the (high blood) pressure that Pastor Opoku-Agyeman reported to me, he was not suffering from any other ailment”.
This pronouncement from the close friend of the deceased pastor therefore rubbished the wild speculations that Pastor Opoku-Agyeman perhaps ended his life because he had the deadly HIV/AIDS disease and wanted to avoid the stigma and embarrassment associated with the ailment.
Residents of Agric Nzema, situated on the outskirts of Kumasi, were on Monday evening shocked to the marrow following the horrendous news that Pastor Opoku Agyeman had shot himself in the chest with a pistol to end his life.
The deceased did not leave any note or disclose to anyone- not even his wife Charity Opoku-Agyeman or five children- why he took that weird action, leaving room for people to speculate about the real motive for his action.
Barely 24 hours after the renowned Man of God had shot himself, rumours started spreading in the Garden City like wild fire that the Baptist priest had HIV/AIDS, hence the decision to end his life.
Speaking about the shocking demise of his dear friend on Angel FM, Rev. Antwi-Boasiako, who did not talk about the HIV/AIDS issue, stressed, “As far as I am concerned, he was not suffering from any other ailment apart from (high blood) pressure”, confining the rumour to the dustbin of history.
According to him, the deceased pastor had been in the pastoral business for 32 years and he possessed traits of a true servant of God; “so this suicide comes as a great surprise to all of us.
“He was quiet, unassuming and an accommodating person whom we all approached for comfort and prayers whenever we were in great dilemma, for spiritual support; and we are indeed baffled by his actions.”
Meanwhile, another pastor friend of the deceased, Pastor Nathaniel Dumfeh, has also emphatically debunked speculations that Pastor Opoku Agyeman was a womanizer.
“I have known him in the church for about 20 years and I can boldly say that I have not seen him chasing women, not even once. In a nutshell, Pastor Opoku-Agyeman was not a womanizer.”
He added that Pastor Opoku-Agyeman and his dear wife were in a good relationship and living happily.
“Pastor Opoku-Agyeman was always with his wife both in church and at any public gathering,” he told Fox Fm.
Pastor Dumfeh, who claimed to have known the deceased pastor for 20 years, also debunked rumours that Rev Opoku-Agyeman was a drunkard. “He did not drink alcohol; he was a father and very accommodating.”
On what he would say about Pastor Opoku-Agyeman when he was alive, he noted that the deceased pastor’s lifestyle and everything he did on earth portrayed “a true Man of God and we are bewildered by this suicide action.”
From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
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