Reverend Father accused of attacking church with ‘thugs’
•He replies: I am a victim, obeying lawful redeployment
order
•Police seek Cardinal Onaiyekan’s intervention
By CHIDI NKWOPARA, Owerri
Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Imo State has not known peace
since the pioneer bishop, Rt. Rev. Victor Adibe Chikwe, died
in September 2010.
The practice is that the process of selecting and
consecrating a successor commences immediately after a
bishop is out. In this instance, the process became so slow
that even the ordinary man in the street got to know that
“something was definitely wrong” in the house of God. For
more than two years, the Holy See was unable to announce
a successor to the late Bishop Chikwe.
*Some of Reverend Father Akanekus’s men allegedly
brutalised
Mbaise monarch, Eze Desmond Oguguo, a Catholic, used
every opportunity available to him to plead that a bishop be
appointed for the diocese. Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI,
on Friday, December 7, 2012, announced Monsignor Peter
Ebere Okpalaeke, a priest from Awka Diocese, Anambra
State, as the Bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese.
Apart from the appointment being a shocker to priests of
the diocese, members of the laity keyed into the stout
objection raised by the priests. They were unanimous in
asking the Holy See to reverse the appointment of
Okpalaeke. This was not reversed, while the laity, propelled
by their priests, never re-considered their stand on rejecting
Okpalaeke as their bishop.
When it became clear that the priests were adamant over
the issue, the Catholic Church decided to move the
consecration of Okpalaeke to the Seat of Wisdom Seminary,
Ulakwo, Owerri North local council area of Imo State. A tight
security was weaved around the venue of the event by
security agencies.
But after the consecration, Okpalaeke was not allowed to
move into the Bishop’s Court in Nnarambia, Mbaise. The
priests equally refused to recognize him as their bishop.
The former administrator of the diocese, Monsignor Theo
Nwalo, in a paper titled, “Responding to the current
problems in Ahiara Diocese”, noted that the pronouncement
of Okpalaeke by the Papacy elicited sadness and anger
instead of jubilation and joyful celebration.
“Being a native of this diocese and having served in this
diocese all my life, I must report that I have never seen
Mbaise people this angry before. There is anger all over the
place. And people seem to be preparing for the worst”,
Nwalo stated.
“The Catholic faith in this once bastion of the Catholic
Church in Nigeria has suddenly come under a very severe
criticism and threat, especially since the announcement of
Monsignor Peter Okpalaeke as our Bishop-elect”.
He expressed the fear that “the situation will grow worse if
nothing is done to resolve the problem quickly, so that
priests and ordinary Christians could return to practicing
their faith in peace and joy”.
Nwalo was being prophetic in the piece he wrote several
months ago as the disagreement over the bishop-elect took
a dangerous dimension October 16, 2014, when priests
allegedly engaged in free for all.
Sunday Vanguard investigations revealed that Rev. Fr.
Januarius Chima Ahaneku went to St. Brigid’s Catholic
Church, Nnarambia, at about 7.15pm, following his posting
to the parish by the Vicar General of the embattled diocese,
Rev. Fr. Clement Ebii.
While Ahaneku was accused of storming the parish with
some people and assaulting the resident priest, Rev. Fr.
Marcellinus Nweke, Ahaneku countered that he was there on
legitimate posting.
Nweke explained that he had to alert the police and the
people when his brother priest allegedly “exhibited an act
unbecoming of an ordained Catholic priest”.
“They started harassing us, using hammer and some iron
bars to break the doors to enter. Some of us even sustained
injuries. I dislocated my left shoulder”, he said.
The resident priest alleged that the police recovered pump
action rifle, double barrel gun and an electric shocker from
Ahaneku and his friends.
In his own account, Ahaneku said he presented a letter from
the Vicar General deploying him to St. Brigid’s Parish as
Acting Parish Priest, and he never attempted the use of
violence as claimed by Nweke. He explained that the men,
who were arrested by the police as thugs, merely
accompanied him to the Parish, to assist him settle down
with his belongings.
“The parish priest left without the knowledge of the Vicar
General/Delegate of the Diocese. So, I was detailed to go
there and take care of the souls of the parishioners. I didn’t
go there with thugs”, Ahaneku said.
The obviously angry priest went on: “When Fr. Nweke came
out, we greeted each other and I explained my mission to
him and he said he was not informed of the posting and
insisted that the Vicar General should call him.
“The Vicar General called him severally but he refused to
pick his calls. I took him to my car and showed him my
authority, the letter I was given and after reading it, he said
there was no problem.”
Continuing, the priest recalled that as he was trying to move
his belongings into the parish house, with the help of his
friends, Nweke started making calls.
“They first raised false alarm to the police that some armed
robbers invaded their house. In a matter of minutes, several
people stormed the place. A lot of them were carrying
machetes and other dangerous weapons. I wanted to leave
in my vehicle but my brother priest stood in front of my car,
insisting that I will not move an inch. In order not to smash
him or commit any crime, I left the vehicle there”.
The Sports Utility Vehicle, which Ahaneku drove to the
parish was vandalized by angry youths who rushed to the
parish and was still in the custody of the Church at the time
of going to press.
The Vicar General of the Diocese, Ebii, however, confirmed
that Ahaneku had his approval to report to St. Brigid’s
Catholic Church.
“Fr. Ahaneku was sent there officially to go and do pastoral
work. He had a legal paper from me”,Ebii said.
Interestingly, The Guide, a tabloid published by Ahiara
Catholic Diocese, in its volume 16 number 22, flashed a
screaming headline: “Outrage: Pro-Okpalaeke hoodlums
invade St. Brigid’s Church”. The management of the paper
not only used unprintable words against their Ahaneku, but
also tongue lashed John Cardinal Onaiyekan in their “Guide
Comment”.
Reacting to the publication, a villager, who simply identified
himself as Nnaemeka, said: “What was interesting about the
publication was that the paper published the photographs of
the alleged thugs, drenched in their own blood. The paper
was however silent on who inflicted the varying degrees of
bodily harm on the citizens”.
After showing Sunday Vanguard the photographs of vehicles
allegedly used by Ahaneku and his friends and published by
The Guide, Nnaemeka wondered how supposed thugs would
go to battle with their expensive vehicles. In the meantime,
Imo State Police Command has appealed to the
Administrator of Ahiara Diocese, who doubles as the
Archbishop of Abuja Ecclesiastical Province, His Eminence,
John Cardinal Onaiyekan, to find a lasting solution to the
Ahiara Diocese crisis.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Andrew
Enwerem, made the appeal while reacting to the St. Brigid’s
Church, Nnarambia incident.
“It is most shocking that priests can get to the level they did
in the last episode. The Catholic Church and its priests are
supposed to show good examples for others to follow”, the
PPRO said.
Enwerem said the Owerri Area Command was already
handling the matter, while some people have been arrested
in connection with the incident.
Source: Vanguard Newspaper.
Friday July 31st, 2015
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