AHIARA DIOCESE CRISIS: THE UNTOLD STORIES…13

Triumphal Return

Shortly after his ordination in Rome, the brand new bishop of the brand new diocese of Ahiara, Mbaise, Bishop Victor Nzeadibemma Chikwe, returned home to a triumphal reception at every juncture he would be met. The whole scenes were unlike anything that had ever happened in Mbaise land or about Mbaise people before. It appeared as if the people of Mbaise, having won a major victory in a hard fought war, were returning home to share the booty. Those who could not make it to Rome to witness the ordination live struggled to outdo one another in being among the first to catch a glimpse of the new bishop stepping into the Nigerian territory. At every airport the new bishop was billed to touch down Mbaise people massed in their largest numbers to welcome him.

The new bishop would be welcomed at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, by a mammoth crowd of Mbaise citizens resident in Lagos. The gathering featured who was who among Mbaise people resident in Lagos at that time. Mbaise people of all cadres were all there to celebrate the fact that a great milestone had been recorded in Mbaise history with the creation of Ahiara Diocese and the ordination of an Mbaise son as her first bishop.

From Murtala Muhammed International Airport, a long motorcade sped off ferrying the new bishop to a venue where a raucous reception was organized in his honour by Mbaise citizens in Lagos. There at the place of this first reception, Many Mbaise people opened their minds and hearts in celebration of the great accomplishment of witnessing in their lifetimes the long desired establishment of a Catholic Diocese for the Mbaise people.

After spending a night or two in Lagos, the new bishop and his very large entourage of Mbaise people, which included all those who had accompanied him all the way from Rome, and those who were joining the flight from Lagos, flew into Port Harcourt Airport for another round of a raucous hero’s reception in the Airport Arena. The scene was magical.The Port Harcourt Airport Authorities were generous enough to Mbaise people.They allowed all of us especially priests and prominent lay people from Mbaise land to move into the secured areas of the airport so that we could glimpse firsthand the new bishop as he alighted through the front door of the Boeing 737 of the Nigeria Airways Aircraft that flew in him from Lagos.

It is not easy to forget, even after nearly three decades since it happened, the image of the new bishop disembarking from the Boeing 737 Aircraft. He donned his red sash around the hip area upon his immaculate white cassock with his Episcopal Skull cap to match atop the crown of his head. The once simple Monsignor Victor Chikwe that had left for Rome a few days earlier had transformed into a glorious bishop that was coming down from the aircraft in splendor. People cheered and roared upon beholding him for the very first time.

As the new bishop glimpsed the mammoth crowd hollering and waving at him, he raised both hands of his up in apparent appreciation of the large crowds that were shouting a joyous welcome home to our Lord Bishop. Renting the air was the joyous chant of the victory song of the Igbo people, Nzogbu Nzogbu Enyi Mba Enyi, Nzogbu, Enyi Mba Enyi. Yes, Mbaise people everywhere believed that with the creation of their own diocese, and with the ordination of their own bishop from among their brothers, they had achieved something that deserved the loud singing of the popular Igbo song of conquest: Nzogbu Nzogbu... It is a traditional Igbo victory song celebrating the defeat and in fact the conquest of one’s enemies.

Then the new bishop majestically descended from the aircraft and was almost carried aloft over the shoulders of the senior priests and prominent men and women of Mbaise who had gathered in their large numbers at the airport to welcome him.He was led to the Airport VIP Lounge for a brief moment.There and then there was a little ceremony of reception by the VIPs of Mbaise who had gathered for the occasion. Leading the pack of dignitaries on that occasion was the lion of Mbaise Catholicism at that time in the person of Chief Donatus Onu.However, there were many other distinguished Mbaise citizens from all walks of life.The whole gathering was ecumenical in nature in the sense that Mbaise citizens of all faiths and all endeavours from the cities of Port Harcourt, Aba and Owerri participated in that airport ceremonies.

After exchanging banters, pleasantries and congratulatory messages, it was time to embark on a long and joyous journey back to Owerri. Meanwhile, as the brief welcome ceremony continued in the VIP Lounge of the Port Harcourt Airport, the long and winding motorcade back to Owerri started to form and to leave. Everybody understood that it was going to be a very long and tortuous journey back to Owerri. But hardly did any one feel the pain of how exerting it had been to get to Port Harcourt to become a part of a very historic occasion of welcoming the first Catholic bishop from Mbaise land, and the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara in Mbaise land. For every Mbaise person that came to Port Harcourt that day for that ceremony, the whole pain was all worth it.

The long motorcade that brought the new bishop from Port Harcourt to Owerri stretched miles upon miles. The journey snaked slowly through the rough terrain that was the long Owerri-Port Harcourt Interstate Highway. It would take several hours to finally get to Owerri City. At the arena of the famous Assumpta Cathedral another huge crowd of Mbaise and Owerri peoples including the new bishop’s former parishioners from Mount Carmel Parish Emekuku were on hand joyously waiting to welcome him and to catch the first glimpse of him as a bishop.

The scene at Assumpta Cathedral premises would become another sea of heads.The whole compound of Assumpta Cathedral was packed to the brim by every cadre of Catholics.There were fathers, mothers, youths and even school children who were vying for the little spaces in front of the secretariat of the then Owerri Diocese. The new bishop alighted from his vehicle and was greeted with a thunderous ovation by the large crowd.And with that the triumphal return to Nigeria of Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe was concluded. The crowd went home singing the praises of God and the new bishop. The joy the whole ceremony of receiving Bishop Chikwe to Owerri had brought to Mbaise people everywhere can only be imagined today. There is no way to truly describe what happened on that day because it was magical and almost indescribable.

To be continued ….