AHIARA DIOCESE CRISIS: THE UNTOLD STORIES…10 [UPDATED]

The Creation of Ahiara Diocese

As the 1980s dragged towards the finish-line, the struggle for the creation of a diocese for the Mbaise people steamed full-speed ahead. An attitude of do-or-die appeared to have crept into the whole struggle. Mbaise people of all cadres became more and more determined than ever before to press harder for a diocese of their own.

The battle intensified by the day and was fought with all kinds of weapons including petitions, delegations and all what not. Everybody in Mbaise seemed worried that the long and sustained struggle for the diocese had not produced the desired result. People began to lose patience and the criticisms of Bishop Unegbu became even louder and sharper.

On his part, Bishop Unegbu, being a highly private and reserved person was not showing his hands on what he was up to. He hardly confided in anyone his progress or lack thereof in that regard. The whole diocese appeared to have been left in the dark on the progress of the demand for a diocese in Mbaise land.

The general attitude on the part of Mbaise people was that Bishop Unegbu was not doing nearly enough to help them realize their dream of a diocese of their own. And this only made people’s anger intensify and spread even wider. But Bishop Unegbu appeared to care less about what Mbaise people thought about his efforts on the quest. He did not seem to care whether people understood his efforts or not. He was doing his own thing secretly under the radar.

Because Bishop Unegbu was largely not opening up to many people on the project of creating the Mbaise diocese, rumor and anecdotes filled the entire space. Many were saying all sorts of things in that regard. Hardly anyone who had interest in the proposed diocese said a lot of favorable things about Bishop Unegbu. The rumor mill was filled to the brim.

Some were saying that Bishop Unegbu was determined to frustrate the demand for the creation of the diocese until his retirement. According to them, as he was hell-bent on frustrating Mbaise people, he was determined to pass on the decision to create the diocese to his successor. Many others manufactured many other reasons why the diocese had not been created. In every rumor and anecdote he was being cast as the villain in the whole struggle. As a result, the relation between Bishop Unegbu and Mbaise people continued to be on a downward spiral.

But one of the very few favorable rumors about the creation of the diocese filtered in around late October or early November 1987. It related how Bishop Unegbu became highly indignant and disgusted with the delay in announcing the creation of the new diocese for the Mbaise people that one early morning he and his driver Peter Okwute jumped into their car and drove straight to the Port Harcourt Airport. According to the storyline of the rumor, Bishop Unegbu alighted from his car and hopped into the next available flight and headed straight to Lagos.

Bishop Unegbu allegedly stormed into the office of the Pro-Nuncio in Lagos at that time, Archbishop Paul Tabet and his secretary Msgr. Pietro Parolin [now Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the secretary of state]. He cursed them out for delaying the announcement of the diocese for Mbaise. He allegedly told them that their delay with the announcement was causing a great damage to his name.

After blasting them for the delay, Bishop Unegbu was said to have hopped right back into the next available flight and landed back in Port Harcourt to be picked up by his driver waiting for him.

Though nobody now seems to be sure of the details of this purported stormy encounter between Bishop Unegbu and the officials of the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos in late October or early November 1987, one thing seems certain. A frosty relation did develop between the Apostolic Nunciature in Lagos and Bishop Unegbu after the rumored encounter. This would last all through the period of the announcement of the creation of the new diocese. And it tended to suggest that Bishop Unegbu, contrary to rumors and criticisms, was in fact working very hard and doing his very best to get the diocese created earlier but had been frustrated by the officials at the Nunciature in Lagos and their counterparts at the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at the Vatican.

In the days leading to the creation of the new diocese, there was nothing extraordinary that was happening in Owerri Diocese. Many pro-Mbaise Diocese activists had almost given up hope that the diocese would be created that year that was fast running to a close. So, that November 18, 1987, of the actual creation of the Diocese in Rome, passed quietly without anybody in Mbaise and Owerri realizing that a breakthrough had been struck in the Mbaise’s quest for a diocese. Perhaps only Bishop Unegbu and the new bishop-elect, Msgr. Victor Chikwe might have gotten an earlier hint that something was about to happen. But the rest of the people knew practically nothing.

The announcement of the creation of Ahiara Diocese on November 18, 1987 would reach Owerri Diocese only on December 1, 1987. That was light years before the instant messaging revolution caused by the invention of the internet, and instant news sites that communicate news within a twinkling of an eye.

On the evening of December 1, 1987, Bishop Unegbu with his driver, Peter Okwute drove to St Brigid’s Parish, Nnarambia Ahiara. He instructed the assistant parish priest, the newly ordained Fr Anthony Nwachukwu to take off that same evening and notify many of the elite of Mbaise to meet up with him at St Brigid’s Church Nnarambia Ahiara the next morning being December 2, 1987. Fr Anthony Nwachukwu, not knowing what had happened, took off immediately and notified some Mbaise clergy and lay leaders.

The next morning being Monday, December 2, 1987, the invited guests converged at St Brigid’s Church, Nnarambia, Ahiara. Then Bishop Unegbu walked into the church and broke the news of the creation of Ahiara Diocese with Msgr. Victor Adibe Chikwe as her bishop.

The unexpected news was greeted with thunderous ovation by those present. From there news quickly spread all across Mbaise and beyond that a diocese had finally been erected in Mbaise land with the name “Ahiara Diocese”. The joy of the moment was infectious. Mbaise people danced all over Mbaise land. Both priests and lay people could no longer contain themselves as joy and celebration spread like a wild fire all across the Mbaise land.

However, even in the midst of the great jubilation there was one particular issue that caught the attention of some of the priests especially the younger ones like yours truly. In the document detailing the boundaries of the new diocese, the boundary between the new diocese and the mother diocese of Owerri had been left unmentioned. This was strange and appeared to have been intentionally left that way.

There was no clear demarcation between Owerri and the new diocese. The new diocese was said to be bordered in the South by Imo River and Ngwa land; on the West by Obowo; on the North by Mbano. But the boundary communities of the west side of the new diocese were not mentioned all. This was absolutely unconscionable. Nobody knew exactly what that omission portended.

Some of the priests interpreted it as both a devious set-up and an insidious invitation extended to Enyiogugu community, the last Mbaise community on the west side, to buck the trend of Mbaise communities and clans enlisting en masse in the new diocese. This became a source of a grave concern to many priests who saw it as a booby trap for the new diocese.

In fact, many people who did not know how the desired Mbaise Diocese was renamed Ahiara Diocese believed that one of the reasons Ahiara Diocese might have been preferred over Mbaise Diocese was to tempt many communities especially those at the border to opt out of the diocese and perhaps leave it entirely for Ahiara people. This interpretation scared the hell out of many Mbaise people. Nearly everyone that noticed it prayed that the new diocese might avoid being confronted with such a problem that early.

The reason for both the people that set the apparent trap and the people who had noticed it that early to worry so much was that should Enyiogugu Community decline joining the new diocese, it would cause an enormous crisis throughout Mbaise land. Not a few people believed that the hand of somebody who did not wish the new diocese well was behind that apparent trap. But everybody appeared totally relieved when the patriotic citizens of Enyiogugu community not only enlisted whole-heartedly in the project of the new diocese but became her great vanguards.

Until that point in time, the news of the creation of Ahiara Diocese by Pope St John Paul II was the best thing that ever happened to the people of Mbaise. It was a hard-won victory. It restored the confidence of Mbaise people. It made them realize that if they fought in unity and common purpose they would win their fights in spite of any obstacles placed on their way. In other words, the announcement of the creation of Ahiara Diocese with Bishop Victor Chikwe as her first bishop became more or less the rebirth of Mbaise nationalism and confidence.

To be continued ….