AHIARA DIOCESE IN CROSSHAIRS: THE REAL STORIES …21 [EXCERPTS FROM A BOOK IN PRINT]

Chapter 8: Hell Breaks Loose [i]

On the morning of Saturday, January 12, 2013, the entire compound of St Brigid’s Church, Nnarambia, Ahiara, the old Cathedral Church of Ahiara Diocese, was packed full with protesters, many of who were donning black attires, carrying rosaries on their right hands and placards on their left. The placards had inscribed on them various messages such as “Okpalaeke: rejected as bishop in Mbaise”; “Okpalaeke, go home”, “Okpalaeke; Not needed and Not wanted”, “Give us our own son as our bishop”; “Mbaise deserves a bishop like other dioceses”. The whole mass action had been fashioned as a prayer rally. So, while the prayer procession progressed, protesters used the occasion to communicate to the press that had amassed to cover the occasion their rejection of the bishop-elect.

The peaceful rally had been organized so that it would make news headlines around the world. It was being staged against the backdrop of an allegation that the crisis in Ahiara Diocese was being instigated and sponsored by a few priests and lay people. But the rally was meant to demonstrate to the public that the demand for a bishop from Mbaise for Ahiara Diocese in place of the rejected bishop-elect was indeed a mass movement. Many Mbaise indigenes both at home and in diaspora had been asking for such an action since the crisis began. Many had demanded a bold mass action that would send a message to the bishops of Nigeria and to the bishop-elect that the crisis was not a fluke but something that would last as long as the bishop-elect continued to stake a claim over the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese.

As the protesters began their prayer rally, a press conference was organized. It was addressed by the new president of Ahiara Diocesan Indigenous Priests Association, Rev. Fr Austin Bernadine Ekechukwu alongside the de facto leader of the resistance movement, Monsignor Don Okoro [now late]. Fr. Ekechukwu pulled up the press release and read it down for the journalists present to hear. Some spare copies of the press release were distributed to the members of the mass media to take along with them as they left the scene.

By the end of that day, there was no doubting the fact that the rally had become a great success and a shot in the arm for the resistance. Local news media organs like the Heartland F.M., Hot F.M. and Orient F.M. were broadcasting the news of the rally across Imo State and beyond. The local tabloid newspapers like The White Paper, The Trumpeta, The Announcer, The Red Parrot, The Horn, etc., were having a field day with the news of the rally. The bigger national newspapers like The Guardian, Thisday, Vanguard, Daily Independent, etc., sent in their reporters and were getting ready to deliver the news to the rest of the world. The national radio and television networks sent in their local station representatives to cover the rally. Everything had worked out as planned by the members of the Caucus.

To deliver the entire news raw to the rest of the world, the press release was sent by email to Mbaise sons and daughters all over the globe. Some of them would get the release publicized through their email lists to many places around the world. Others preferred to post it on their Facebook pages or Twitter. Within a twinkling of an eye the press release announcing to the world the total rejection of the newly appointed Msgr. Peter Okpalaeke as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese had gone viral and was in the offices of major news media organs across the world.

The press release immediately turned a favourite hit for many websites across the world. Every little search on Google easily turned out an uncountable number of websites that were making use of the press release in one way or the other. Members of the different E-groups and chat-groups around the world made some parts of the contents of the press release the topic for their discussions.

As was expected, the Nigerian news media did their job of publicizing both the prayer rally protest and the press release. The next day, most Nigerian newspapers, radios and televisions carried the news. Some of them like the National Mirror of January 13, carried it under the headline; “Imo Catholics reject Pope’s appointee”. Others like the Daily Nation tilted their own headlines: “Imo Catholics reject Pope’s choice of Bishop”. The National Mirror’s report states:

Catholic priests and members of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara in Mbaise Local Government of Imo State yesterday rejected the verdict of Pope Benedict XVI in the appointment of a Bishop for the Diocese, accusing Cardinal Francis Arinze of imposing on the people, a stooge. Clergymen, who gathered at St. Brigid’s Catholic Church in Ahiara, in protest of the appointment of Monsignor Peter Okpalaeke from Anambra State, as the Bishop-elect of the Diocese, maintained that the imposition of the Bishop on the Diocese will not “promote the spiritual wellbeing and the precious faith of our people”. Addressing newsmen, the President of Ahiara Diocesan Priests’ Association, Rev Austin Bernadine Ekechukwu, said that the outright rejection of the Vatican’s choice (Okpalaeke), was not borne out of disrespect for the Pope or the hierarchy of the Church, but “we strongly contest his suitability for Ahiara Diocese given its uniqueness and pastoral realities”. According to them, his appointment against the wish of the people in the Diocese, sends a “reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of about 500 Catholic Priests that trace their origins to the soil of Mbaise, a Diocese that has been globally acclaimed as the “Ireland of Nigeria”.

The Vanguard Newspaper report on the rally contributed by Owerri Bureau Chief, Chidi Nkwopara declares thus; “Mbaise Catholic priests reject new bishop.” And it narrates

Priests and lay faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Ahiara, Mbaise, yesterday, staged a peaceful demonstration against the appointment of Monsignor Ebere Peter Okpalaeke as the bishop-elect of the diocese. Apart from the peaceful demonstration staged at Mbaise, the priests and lay faithful handed out a six-page press statement signed by eight persons, including the President and Secretary, Ahiara Diocesan Priests Association, Rev. Fr. Austin B. Ekechukwu and Rev. Fr. Dominic N. Ekweariri respectively."We, the priests and Lay faithful of Ahiara Diocese state quite clearly that we have nothing whatsoever against the person of Monsignor Ebere Peter Okpalaeke and do not per se oppose his choice as a bishop of the Catholic Church, but we strongly contest his suitability for Ahiara Diocese, given its uniqueness and pastoral realities", they stated. While denying that it was alleged disunity amongst the priests of Ahiara Diocese that led to the appointment of a priest from Awka Diocese as bishop-elect, the priests also challenged anybody to provide any evidence to the contrary. "The appointment of Monsignor Okalaeke contradicts natural justice. It sends a very reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of the 500 Catholic priests that trace their origin to the soils of Mbaise, a diocese that has been acclaimed the Ireland of Nigeria. "In unequivocal terms, we restate our resolve to resist any attempt to forcefully impose him on us as the bishop of our beloved diocese". Meanwhile, some critics have not only slammed the protesting priests but also accused them of being myopic about the universality of the Catholic Church. An Mbaise man, who simply identified himself as Ambrose, reminded the priests that "they are carefully trying to set a very bad precedent in the Church".

As the news of the prayer rally, the protest and the press release became a very popular topic on the internet it was picked up by the world press. From America to Europe and as far as India and Latin America, the crisis in Ahiara Diocese became a topic for worldwide discussions.

The notorious torn in the flesh of the Catholic Church, the leftist and widely read American newspaper, NCR – National Catholic Reporter, was among the first to pick up the news of Ahiara crisis and publicize it worldwide. In its January 15, 2013 edition, reported by Robert McClory, in NCR Today, it declares in its headline: “Nigerian diocese opposes bishop appointment”.

Robert McClory report reads:

Priests and laity of a Nigerian diocese are openly opposing the Vatican's selection of a new bishop. In a six-page statement and in a demonstration in the city of Mbaise, the appointment of Msgr. Ebere Peter Okpalaeke, who comes from another diocese, was repudiated as a contradiction of "natural justice ... and a reprehensible signal about the status and reputation of the 500 Catholic priests who trace their origin to the soils of Mbaise, a diocese that has been acclaimed the Ireland of Nigeria." The statement noted that the opposition has nothing personal against the appointee, "but we strongly contest his suitability for Ahiara Diocese, given its uniqueness and pastoral realities." It's far too early to draw any conclusions from this uprising except to note that it mirrors the legendary and long-ignored saying of the fifth-century pope, Celestine I: "A bishop should never be sent to a people who do not want him."

The NCR report would become such a watershed in the crisis as it brought the situation of Ahiara Diocese to the attention of the world. Also, it did reveal a fifth century principle that appeared to support the demand of Ahiara Diocese. According McClory in the report, the crisis in Ahiara Diocese “mirrors the legendary and long-ignored saying of the fifth-century pope, Celestine I: A bishop should never be sent to a people who do not want him.”

To demonstrate how far and fast the story of Ahiara Diocese had travelled, a popular Catholic newspaper in Bombay India would pick it up and publicize it in that part of the world only four days after the prayer rally protest at St Brigid in Nnarambia Ahiara. The Voice of Bombay’s Catholic Laity of January 16, 2013, drew its report completely from the Vanguard news report. But it did show how wide the news of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese had spread.

The virtual and viral spread of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese sent jitters down the spines of the bishops of Nigeria. All the while, many of them had thought that what was happening in Ahiara Diocese was a tempest in a teapot. Some of them had boasted that the crisis would be crushed as it was led by just a few disgruntled priests and lay people. The Anambra priests, the lay people and the bishops of Nigeria had underrated the uprising greatly. Many Anambra priests and lay faithful openly boasted that as Mbaise was a rural area, and not economically viable, they would easily overrun it and do whatever they wanted with it.

On their part, the Nigerian bishops believed they had seen the Ahiara-crisis’ type of movie before in Nigeria. They believed that they knew how to tackle a diocese that was not cooperating with the appointment of her new bishop. According to some of the bishops, it was as easy as allowing the government of Nigeria to do what it did best for the Church. For this group of bishops, since the 70s, the government of Nigeria had been helping the Church out when it ran into trouble as a result of the selection of her bishops. When the Church ran into a crisis in the ordination and installation of a new bishop because some of the people of the dioceses concerned disagreed with the appointment, the Nigerian soldiers would be sent in with force to help procure his ordination and/or installation.

However, when Ahiara Diocese crisis became a worldwide affair and engendered worldwide discussion on the highest media sets across the world, it became obvious to the bishops of Nigeria, especially the bishops of Owerri Ecclesiastical province that they had a very big problem in their hand. When the Cable Network News [CNN] started mentioning Ahiara Diocese crisis during her discussion on world affairs, it acted as a kind of an alarm clock triggered off to frighten the Catholic bishops of Nigeria.

Realizing how far the news of the crisis in Ahiara Diocese had gone, the bishops of the province, led by His Grace, AJV Obinna, quickly called an emergency meeting in the diocese. Archbishop Obinna and the bishops of the province would arrive in Ahiara Diocese for an emergency meeting with the priests and laity on Monday, January 14, two days after the mass action. The meeting which was attended by the representatives of the 73 parishes of Ahiara Diocese also included, Archbishop AJV Obinna, Bishop Lucius Ugorji and Bishop Emeritus Orlu, Most Rev Gregory Ochiagha.

Introducing the issue for the meeting the archbishop raised an alarm over what was happening in Ahiara Diocese. He regretted that the crisis in the diocese had gone virally worldwide through an “ill-advised” mass action which he “vehemently disapproved of” and “condemned in its totality”. The archbishop regretted that the publication of the crisis in both the Nigerian newspapers and in the internet had done an enormous harm to the cause of Ahiara Diocese. He urged for restraint in handling the burgeoning crisis in the diocese.

Archbishop Obinna reiterated the fact that he and the rest of the bishops of the province did their best to help Ahiara Diocese get a bishop she would like, and which would have averted the explosive situation that was raging in the diocese. He regretted that after all their hard work the decision had gone contrary to their wish. His Grace noted that now that the announcement had been made by the Holy Father, there was nothing anybody could do about it again other than to comply and pray. He urged Ahiara Diocese to sheathe their swords and listen to the Holy Father because they owed him obedience as Catholics. He noted that it would not pay the diocese or the Catholic Church in Nigeria any dividend if the matter was driven into schism on the part of the diocese.

As the archbishop urged the representatives of the parishes of the diocese to accept the decision of the Holy Father and allow the Pope’s appointment for the diocese to stand, there was uproar among the people in the audience. Both the men and the women from the different parishes of the diocese insisted that there would be no going back or compromise in the total rejection of Msgr. Okpalaeke as the bishop of Ahiara Diocese. They told the archbishop point blank that Ahiara Diocese had reached a point of no-return in the matter; that they would insist on having a bishop from Mbaise as their bishop or nothing else.

In a moment that would prove quite remarkable during the meeting, Archbishop Obinna narrated his conversation with the Cardinal Prefect of the Office of Evangelization at the Vatican, Fernando Cardinal Filoni. According to him, he [Archbishop Obinna] had reached out to Cardinal Filoni by telephone a few days before the meeting of that day. According to him, during their conversation, Cardinal Filoni had opened up to him on how the selection of the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese was made. Archbishop Obinna told the pastoral council audience at the meeting that Cardinal Filoni had revealed to him over their telephone conversation that the first name among the final three names submitted to the Holy Father for his final selection of one of them as bishop was an Mbaise man. Quoting Cardinal Filoni, Archbishop Obinna said that when that list-topping Mbaise priest was approached for his consent to be appointed bishop of Ahiara Diocese, he [that Mbaise priest] declined citing personal reasons. According to Archbishop Obinna, quoting Cardinal Filoni, it was only when that unnamed Mbaise priest could not be persuaded to accept the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese that the opportunity was passed on to the second person on the list, being Fr Ebere Peter Okpalaeke of Awka Diocese, who eventually accepted.

Archbishop Obinna’s story would generate such an intense furor among the priests and lay people present at the meeting. The entire cathedral became rowdy and difficult to control. Many thought that Archbishop Obinna had finally unravelled the great mystery behind the offer of the Ahiara Diocese bishopric to an Awka priest. For many in the audience, it was not the priests of Ahiara Diocese who were to blame for the crisis but that potentially unpatriotic Mbaise priest who refused to serve his fatherland as a bishop. Everybody began to question who such an Mbaise priest might be.

For the priests present at the meeting, they would begin to pound their chests saying that Archbishop Obinna’s story was both an exoneration and a vindication of the entire Presbyterium of Ahiara Diocese that had been unfairly criticized for their alleged role in forcing the hands of the Vatican to give the bishopric of the diocese to a priest from far away Awka Diocese. Some of the priests claimed that the story of Archbishop Obinna had exonerated them from the allegation that the priests of Ahiara Diocese were to blame for the bishopric crisis. Until that point in time, the whole diocese had been abuzz with the claim that it was the priests of Ahiara Diocese who had caused the whole crisis with their infighting and insistence on some candidates from certain communities of the diocese. According to the popular allegation that was being told all over the place, the priests of Ahiara Diocese had caused the crisis by destroying one another and their great bishopric candidates through petition writing.

But when Archbishop Obinna told the story of his conversation with Cardinal Filoni of the office of Evangelization of Peoples at the Vatican, he was asked and he seemed to affirm that it was not petition writing that had steered Ahiara bishopric to Msgr. Okpalaeke per se, but the refusal of an Mbaise priest to take up the responsibility, as Cardinal Filoni had alleged. As Archbishop Obinna made this declaration, the priests of Ahiara Diocese especially those in the audience started to claim vindication. Many of them started to shout that they had been exonerated and vindicated.

However, Archbishop Obinna’s story would generate tension in another front. Everybody was intent on unmasking that potentially unpatriotic Mbaise priest who refused to serve his fatherland as a bishop. All attention was focused on Fr Polycarp Ekeji Ndugbu, the former rector of St Joseph Major Seminary, Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, who had had so many inquiries circulated about him by the Apostolic Nunciature. Fr Ndugbu, who, since completing his tenure as the rector of St Joseph’s Major Seminary Ikot Ekpene, had been residing in the United States of America, was initially believed to be the one who was approached for the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese and he refused. All sorts of stories and even threats started to circulate about him. People began to cast unkindly look at him. The only saving grace for him from being terribly embarrassed was that he lived far away from home.

The suspicion around Fr Ndugbu would swirl for a very long time until he sent over some information across the diocese from his brothers, relatives and friends at home that no individual ever approached him for the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese. Through his relatives and friends, Fr Ndugbu would deny with vehemence that he was ever approached for such a job for his homeland. He challenged anybody with any proof to the contrary to come forward and present it. Fr Ndugbu said most emphatically that anybody claiming that he was approached for the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese and he declined was in fact lying against him.

The denial of Fr Polycarp Ndugbu of having been approached for the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese would complicate things a little more. There was no other person available who could agree to having been approached for the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese. But the question remained for the archbishop to answer: if one Mbaise priest declined the offer, why was it not offered to another Mbaise son who could have readily accepted it? What necessitated the bringing of a priest from far away as Awka Diocese, a diocese not within Owerri Province, to fill the vacant See Ahiara Diocese?

The alleged story of Cardinal Filoni through Archbishop Obinna became so contentious that people started to say that either the cardinal was not being fully candid when he made the claim to Archbishop Obinna, or a priest from Mbaise was not being truthful enough when he could not come forward to own up the rejection of the bishopric offer. The whole situation looked quite surreal with many Mbaise people, especially the lay people claiming that it was Cardinal Filoni who perhaps was economical with the truth in the situation as there could hardly have been any Mbaise son who was approached to shepherd his kinsmen and women as a bishop and he refused.

However, the conclusion of so many people from Mbaise from that day onwards was that lying had entered the bishopric crisis in Ahiara Diocese. Many people began to believe that somebody out there was lying about what was happening in Mbaise as the issue of the bishopric was concerned. According to many, to save face, some people either from the Nunciature-Office of Evangelization in Rome axis, or from among the priests of Ahiara Diocese, were terribly lying about the reason why the bishopric of Ahiara Diocese was offered to a priest from another diocese and another province.

Having discovered a lie in the very heart of the crisis, many vowed to press the cause as far as it would go so as to uncover the source of the lie. Many priests vowed that they would never relent until the Vatican provided the name of the Mbaise priest that had rejected the offer, or they would take it that Cardinal Filoni had not been candid enough when he told Archbishop Obinna that an Mbaise priest had previously rejected the offer made to him to become his people’s bishop.

However, one of the greatest moments of the meeting would come when the former pastoral council chairman of Ahiara Diocese, Professor Paschal Enyeribe Okorie of Ihitteafoukwu, Ahiazu-Mbaise, asked a question that kind of pushed further the inquiry about the appointment of Msgr. Okpalaeke as the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese. Professor Okorie asked Archbishop Obinna how the name of Fr Peter Okpalaeke from far away Awka Diocese, somebody who had never been to Ahiara Diocese, or worked in it, could migrate into the short-list of possible bishopric candidates for Ahiara Diocese.

Finding this question a little uncomfortable to answer, the archbishop told the audience that the responsibility of preparing the final three-name list from where the Holy Father made the choice of Okpalaeke was that of the Papal Nuncio to Nigeria, Archbishop Augustine Kasujja. The priests and laity of the diocese would deduce from that answer that it was the Nuncio, Archbishop Augustine Kasujja, who had arbitrarily inserted Fr Peter Okpalaeke’s name in the Ahiara list and ultimately caused him to be chosen ahead of any other potential candidate of Mbaise origin. In other words, it was the Nuncio who was solely to blame for the crisis in Ahiara Diocese.