AHIARA DIOCESE CRISIS: THE UNTOLD STORIES…27

Explosion of Initiatives … [viii] [updated]

With the laying of the foundation stone for a two-storey large dormitory building in Mater Ecclesiae Seminary Nguru, the new diocese and her resourceful shepherd had gotten themselves deeply immersed in a complex construction enterprise. There were large scale constructions springing up in many places in the diocese. In Nnarambia, Enyiogugu, Nguru and a few other places across the diocese, sophisticated constructions largely unheard of in the history of Mbaise land were rising up in quick successions and with amazing speeds.

As beautiful buildings rose all over the diocese another aspect of Bishop Chikwe was introduced to the people Mbaise which they had hardly known before. The new bishop of the new diocese of Ahiara Mbaise was not just a tools and a digital man by nature, he was also a great man of construction with immense ingenuity to match. Bishop Chikwe had become all of a sudden a builder of great structures. Also, with numerous constructions dotting many locations in the diocese, Bishop Chikwe transformed himself into a construction supervisor par excellence. Every evening he would drive from one location to the other inspecting the nature and pace of works in those construction sites. Thanks to the industry of the new bishop and his very loyal flock, Ahiara Diocese was suddenly transformed into one huge construction site.

But the primary concentration of the bishop had to be the new diocesan centre at Nnarambia Ahiara, the seat of the diocese. He was determined to see that work at the new diocesan centre never stopped even for one minute except perhaps on Sundays. He would visit the centre a million times during the day. His entire heart appeared focused on making sure that the centre was ready in no distant time. People often wondered why the bishop appeared a little obsessed with moving the diocesan headquarters to the permanent site which was the new diocesan centre. They suspected that he might have an undisclosed purpose for building the centre with such a breath-taking speed.

However, what many people saw as a kind of obsession on the part of the bishop especially with the building of the diocesan centre was in fact his total commitment to lifting the new diocese and transforming her image from that of a rural setting to a more modern Mbaise land. And that had been the life-long aspiration of the Mbaise people. There had always existed in the history of Mbaise people that desire for a messiah-like figure who would work day and night to lead the entire Mbaise land from its stone-age outlook to a more modern place. From the earliest part of the 20th century, Mbaise people had always been longing and praying for a messianic figure that would deliver them from the tunnels and trenches of darkness they were cast into by the colonial masters. Then Bishop Victor Adibe Chikwe appeared!

Bishop Chikwe being a patriotic Mbaise man met the people’s expectation of a messiah-like personality. He fitted most perfectly the bill of the personality Mbaise people had always prayed for. He understood his special call as the shepherd of rural Ahiara-Mbaise diocese. Bishop Chikwe understood that his mission in Mbaise was not just that of being the spiritual leader of the people. But by his call as the shepherd of the overwhelming majority of the Mbaise population living in one of the most rural areas in Nigeria, he had equally been called to become their all-round leader that would bring to them not only the light of faith but also the bright light of modernity and economic well-being. And from the get go the new bishop determined to meet the people’s expectation in that regard.

Until his arrival in the scene, nothing like Bishop Chikwe had ever happened to the Mbaise landscape before. The new bishop was a change agent and a game-changer par excellence. From the very start he determined to chart a new course for Mbaise people that had suffered most tremendously since the arrival of the colonialists in the territory that would eventually be named Nigeria. As a naturally multi-tasking leader, he would embark on giving the entire Mbaise land and the new diocese in particular his ALL. And he would continue to give them everything he had got until nothing was left to give. And when there was nothing else to give to the people he had loved so much, he gave them his entire existence on earth. And that was translated as his death on that fateful midday of Thursday, September 16, 2010.

As construction in the new diocesan centre raged, Bishop Chikwe appeared to have privately established a deadline for moving into the new bishop’s residence. Initially he would keep his plan close to his chest. However, as time went on it would become obvious that he had a deadline in view. But he hardly disclosed such to anyone except perhaps to some of the senior priests who were working closely with him. What everybody saw and was perhaps struck by was the fact that work at the new diocesan centre was progressing at a jet-speed.

Around the middle of 1990 Bishop Chikwe announced to the priests of the diocese that he would be publicly celebrating the Silver Jubilee of his priestly ordination in 1991. And he made it clear especially to some of his advisers that he would want to host the Silver Jubilee celebration at the new diocesan centre. And that he would love to host the celebration from the new bishop’s house he was building with that ferocity.

That announcement would catch many people unawares. Not many saw his determination to move into the new diocesan centre by early 1991 as feasible. People were wondering what rabbit the bishop would pull out from his hat to enable him get the diocesan centre and the new bishop’s residence ready for such a huge celebration that would attract to the new diocese many bishops and prominent guests from all over Nigeria. A good number of people would adopt a-wait-and-see attitude to the bishop’s steely determination to push forward with zeal and speed to meet the deadline he had set for the completion of the bishop’s house.

But people were beginning also to learn not to doubt the iron-clad resolve of the new bishop to transform the new diocese. Whenever he set his mind towards accomplishing anything, people doubted him at their risks. And with regard to his mission to give the new diocese a facelift, his motto was clearly “forward ever and backward never”. He was such a person who would remain optimistic and self-assured until his death. So, as it became clear that he was determined to host the celebration of the Silver Jubilee celebration of his priestly ordination at the new diocesan centre in 1991, work at the new site took on a new urgency. But that would in no way remove or even diminish his attention to the other construction sites throughout the diocese where work was going on at an equally fast pace. The new bishop appeared to have it at the back of his mind that every construction work in the new diocese would have to be done with a jet-speed.

As the year 1991 set in, being the year for the celebration of the bishop’s priestly ordination Silver Jubilee, he appeared anxious to get the centre ready. There were still lots of work to be done at the bishop’s residence which was the main focus of the entire construction. But even the compound of the centre was still in such a terrible shape. The remnant of the former elementary school building that was at the middle of the compound was still there. The building was being tentatively used as a sort of store for the building materials that were being used at the site. The palm trees in the disputed piece of property at the compound were still standing. The complex bishop’s residence was nowhere nearing completion. Many began to wonder how the bishop was going to meet his self-imposed deadline. But as usual, the bishop sported still his chronic optimism that the entire place would be ready. Work continued to progress unabated with a rocket speed.

When the countdown for the celebration of the Silver Jubilee entered its final two weeks, many of those things thought impossible before began to wear a different look. The compound became transformed overnight. The remaining elementary school building standing at the middle of the compound was torn down and the entire arena put in sparkling shape for the open-air celebration of the Holy Mass of the Silver Jubilee. The entire arena was leveled and became something like an open stadium. The beauty of the new structures that were standing in the vast territory became much more resplendent and a cynosure of eyes for passersby.

Also, a few entry and exit gateways were constructed to lead in and out into the new bishop’s court that was gradually coming alive. What was happening was almost a miracle. Within a matter of few days, the massive building that constituted the new bishop’s residence was painted for its beauty to shine out across the entire villages of Umuezereugwu and Umunnachi in Nnarambia Community. Motorists passing thru and fro from Aba/Okpala axis to Ahiara/Aba-branch direction could not help but stop for a moment to wonder about a magnificent building complex that had suddenly risen at the middle of nowhere in the heart of Nnarambia Community.

About a week to the Silver Jubilee celebration, the bishop moved the entire staff of the diocesan chancery into the new bishop’s court to the amazement of many in Ahiara Diocese. He would wait until the eve of the Silver Jubilee Celebration before moving himself into the new bishop’s court. Standing ready at the new diocesan centre was the bishop’s court made up of a fully fitted building complex that was state-of-the-art and some modern stretches of bungalows serving as domestic quarters. The bishop had made good his promise to begin the new diocese of Ahiara on a virgin territory with state-of-the-art facilities.

The well-attended Silver Jubilee celebration would bring lots of surprises to the bishops from across the Nigerian nation who had traveled back to Mbaise land partly to assess the level of progress in the once starkly rural Diocese of Ahiara Mbaise. Many would get to the diocesan centre with mouths agape at what Bishop Chikwe had accomplished within a very short space of time spanning only three years. Guests to the Silver Jubilee Celebration could not contain themselves in amazement. They were full of praises for Bishop Chikwe and the entire people of the Diocese.

The celebration of the Bishop Chikwe’s priestly Silver Jubilee would end on such a high note for the new diocese. There were lots of joy on the air that the new diocese was moving on the right track and in the right direction. Many quests to the Silver Jubilee Celebration would leave Mbaise land with wonder and high praises. The news of the rapid transformation the diocese was undergoing would reach as far as the Vatican. It turned out that the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II had not forgotten about the rural Diocese of Ahiara he had erected in Nigeria against the resistance of many of his top aides.

Previously in this series we had noted how the saintly Holy Father, Pope St John Paul II had on that ordination day, January 6, 1988, stopped at the reception booth of Bishop Chikwe after his ordination at St Peter’s Basilica and noted that he had created and erected Ahiara Diocese against the best advice of his trusted aides and had commended the new diocese to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, and handed it over to Bishop Chikwe whom he had admonished to endeavour to become a great shepherd of the new diocese. Shortly after the Silver Jubilee Celebration, Bishop Chikwe participated in the Ad Limina Visit to the Holy Father embarked upon by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria [CBCN]. The Ad Limina visit that year would become a great moment both for Bishop Chikwe and for Pope John Paul II who never forgot about the grace-filled incident during the ordination of the new bishop of Ahiara Diocese at St Peter’s Square.

When Bishop Chikwe returned from the Ad Limina Visit to Rome that year he reported to the diocese that Pope John Paul II [now Pope St John Paul II] had greeted him personally with the news that he [the Pope] had heard that he [Bishop Chikwe] had built a mini-Vatican in his diocese. That was the measure of enthusiasm the new diocese of Ahiara was generating all across the world at that time. And that commendation by the saintly Holy Father would apparently put more fire in the stomach of Bishop Chikwe. He returned home from Rome and became fired up to achieve more for his new diocese. To observe a fully healthy Bishop Chikwe at work in Ahiara Diocese was always a moment of great joy and a source of great inspiration to all.

Immediately Bishop Chikwe settled in his new residence, he set his eyes towards repeating his feat with the building of a state-of-the-art chancery office. The diocesan architect then, Architect Festus Njoku had at the instruction of the bishop produced the building plan for the new secretariat of the new diocese. Bishop Chikwe pounced on it with what had almost become his habitual pace for building up structures in the new diocese. Work began immediately in the one-storey secretariat complex. Night and day the new secretariat building was rising. Optimism became sky high in the new diocese. Nearly every parish was taking a cue from the bishop as the leader. Parishes began to be built up with amazing speeds.

As construction works were springing up all over the diocese, a young architect from Nnarambia Ahiara Community, who was rounding off his studies in the university, began to take interest in liturgical architecture. He had an ambition which was to try and become the architect that would produce the best building plan for the Cathedral of the new diocese. The up-and-coming architect, Emmanuel Njoku, was perhaps inspired by the great works of Architect Festus Njoku who had provided the building plans for both the bishop’s house and the secretariat complex. In view of the trend Bishop Chikwe was following, there was hardly anyone in doubt that once he finished the building of the secretariat he would jump into the building of the cathedral.

In fact, Bishop Chikwe alluded to it in his speeches quite often. He often said that there would be no rest in the diocese until a magnificent Cathedral stood at the heart of the diocese as a symbol of the inimitable faith of the Mbaise people. So, the young architect from Nnarambia, Emmanuel Njoku wanted to get the call from the bishop to be the architect that would provide the Cathedral’s building plan. As a result he kept returning to the bishop with all sorts of impressions. And the bishop kept sending him all over Nigeria to view and review many other liturgical architectural structures that were all over the place. The bishop once directed him to observe with keen interest the Church of St Leo’s in Ikeja Lagos. He told him that such might provide him an inspiration of what he would like as the structure of the Cathedral to be built in Ahiara Diocese.

When finally Arc Emma Njoku produced a building plan Bishop Chikwe felt comfortable with, the next challenge became getting it approved by the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples at the Vatican. To get the go-ahead order from the Congregation would take quite a few disconcerting years. According to a confidant of the late bishop who does not want his name included in this write-up, Bishop Chikwe made the trip to the Vatican Office several times with his application and Cathedral building plan seeking for approval of the Congregation without any success. At times it appeared that there was an individual within the Congregation who did not want the Cathedral project to begin in the diocese.

But Bishop Chikwe persevered. He would make the trip to the Vatican Office for about four or five times. He was at each time left frustrated by the responses he got from the officials of the Congregation. There was a general feeling at the Congregation that Bishop Chikwe was going to apply for funds as well to begin the construction of the Cathedral. This misconception frustrated Bishop Chikwe and the entire diocese that looked forward to the commencement of the construction of the Cathedral.

The building plan of the Cathedral would eventually be approved only when Bishop Chikwe assured the officials of the Congregation that he would not need any dime from them in order to build the Cathedral of the diocese. He told them that he was only asking for their approval of the building plan and nothing more. It was only at that time that the building plan was eventually approved and Bishop Chikwe rushed home to begin the construction of Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral with local resources and efforts.

One wonderful thing about Bishop Chikwe was his determination to build up Ahiara Diocese with local talents and professionals. He was a firm believer in the abundance of talents and professionals in Mbaise land. Bishop Chikwe loved to patronize up-and-coming professionals from Mbaise land. No other place was that made most manifest than in his decision to use an inexperienced architect from the host community of Nnarambia for the drawing of the modern Cathedral of the new diocese. Many people saw that decision as a great risk.

But Bishop Chikwe saw it as an effort to uplift Mbaise land not only structurally and economically but even intellectually. He was a firm believer in the fact that Mbaise land has everything to help her take her seat among the most talented and educated people in Nigeria. So, he did not see the need to employ foreign expertise for his constructions in the new diocese when Mbaise land had more than enough professionals to get the jobs accomplished. And He exemplified it in his choice of Architect Emmanuel Njoku provide the drawing of the building plan for Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral.

To be continued……