He trained us strictly with lashes to see that we know almost every part of hymns with their different tones. He told us to drink eggs to see that our voices be changed to all tones required… Each time one missed practice the person should be caned severely by him.
– Dorothy Nwosa of Ifite Ukpo
I remember once when he flogged a schoolboy because he wanted the truth: “Tell me if you passed or failed.” (He had failed but sneaked into the next class.) “Ipassigo pass or ifailigo fail? Ipassigo pass or ifailigo fail? I was an eye witness. But he also knew how to reward people, although he looked so fierce. When was in Standard One, he spoke English to us, and we replied in English. He was so pleased that he gave us three pence. We bought moi moi. You can’t imagine the joy we felt.
– Bishop Simon Okafor
As a young man I found him too rigid. Very few young men could serve under him. Let me give you an example of his rigidity. It was his regulation that no woman, even one’s own mother, could enter a male teacher’s house, and vice versa. This applied even if your mother came…. One day I asked him about this. He laughed and said: “There is no badge on your mother’s face to show that she is your mother.”
– P.N. Okeke
Many teachers were not willing to work under him because he demanded the life, not of a priest, but of a hermit.
– P.N. Okeke
He had no money. He punished himself, and almost starved himself. He never drank, though he kept beer in the house for guests. He would give his visitors drinks, but he himself would have a bottle of water and a glass. But you would see him laughing so much you would think he was drunk.
– P.N. Okeke
